Pharmacy Shelving: Custom, Mid-Range or Basic?

With all the choices currently available for the purchase of pharmacy shelving, it may be worth your time and trouble to do some serious consideration in this area before making any final purchase decisions. Although Grandpa often could be heard saying, "Good things ain't cheap and cheap things ain't good," there's still something to be said for the value expressed by good basic shelves if that's all the budget will allow. Buying low-budget shelves, however, may also be a mistake you'll regret having made for years to come. This is especially true if you're tempted to buy someone else's castoffs—used shelving that someone else has outgrown and traded in for something better. Although used shelves can be a great money saver, finding ones that are still in good shape isn't easy, and your choices of available styles may be seriously diminished.

Custom, Mid-Range or Basic

Making the decision to buy new means you have a selection of basic shelving, mid-range or custom-designed shelves made specifically to fit your exact needs. Obviously the custom-made option carries the highest price tag, and this may be something you'll want to consider for just a portion of your pharmacy shelving design, but that's the beauty of it.

As the owner of an independent pharmacy, one of your main goals is to set yourself apart from your chain store competition. One of the best ways to do this is by creating a customer shopping environment through the use of unique shelving and fixture combinations. Mid-range, standard shelving can certainly be utilized in some sections of your store, but you don't want to make the mistake of having the shelving setup mimic what can be seen in just about every other drugstore—straight-edged, sharp-cornered gondola shelving as far as the eye can see with each aisle looking identical to the one next to it.

One way around this repetition is to use the new radius front and curved concave shelves that are now available. These units get you away from the straight, sharp edges and corners and, being mid-range in price, gondola shelves can be used throughout your merchandising space to create advantageous dead-end aisles for increased security and to help focus customer foot-traffic to move along a particular pattern. To add a unique look to your display areas, custom-designed shelving made from materials like wood, chrome and glass can be used to showcase certain items that deserve special emphasis, such as giftware.

Lots of Options

Mid-range shelves come in a variety of colors, styles, lengths, heights and material compositions. Durable spray coatings give them a high-quality appearance, and your color choices can help your shelving blend in with your store and overall branding colors. Modern lightweight gondola shelves make interior rearrangement of your pharmacy shelving easier than ever before, and the addition of end caps, especially those with curved edges that are visible from three different directions, can provide unique-looking displays sure to attract customer attention.

To take full advantage of your many shelving options and to help best express your desire to create a one-of-a-kind shopping environment, you may want to consider partnering with a dedicated pharmacy design firm to assist you in the completion of building your new pharmacy or remodeling your existing one. Whether you go basic, mid-range or custom-made in the design of your pharmacy shelving, this is an investment decision that you'll be living with for years into the future, so getting it right is important. Choose well and enjoy the results.