When you're building a new or remodeling an existing pharmacy there's so much to think about that one of your very first considerations should well be whether you feel it would be advantageous to retain the services of a pharmacy design firm. This is an economical way to bypass any number of potential mistakes often made by those less experienced in the area of successful pharmacy design/construction. Depending on the expertise of the available professionals in this area, their influence on your new project should allow you to make the most of your ideas and the resources you have to turn them into reality.
First Things First
It's not unusual to find those in the beginning stages of a pharmacy build or remodel – or the building/remodeling of any retail space for that matter – to put the selection of their retail store fixtures on the back burner until the project is nearing completion. This may cause problems for a couple of reasons:
- Waiting until the latter part of a project to purchase your retail store fixtures may find you too tight on funds to support the desire to obtain the kind of top-quality fixtures you really want because your budget's been depleted. This is a classical error that could have you regretting the choice of your lower-quality shelving and fixtures for many years to come. Choosing low-quality store fixtures out of necessity can be avoided by setting aside your shelving/fixture budget at the beginning of a project.
- The use of certain shelving installation configurations can save on some construction costs when, for example, a run of gondola shelves acts as a wall that need not be otherwise constructed. Additionally, the placement of switches and outlets, emergency exits and restroom doors needs to be done in proper relation to the display fixtures you'll be installing.
Choosing the Appropriate Pharmacy Fixtures
While just about every retail store will employ some types and number of retail store fixtures, pharmacies are generally fixture intensive, with most merchandise lending itself well to shelf display. Pharmacies also require specialty shelves and fixtures in their back-end area where prescriptions are filled and stocks are kept, some of which are required to be secured under lock and key. Work stations used by the pharmacist and pharmacy technicians should be selected with attention given to promoting an efficient, streamlined workflow. Unlike the front-end shelving, which should be attractive and inviting to create customer interaction, stockroom shelving need only be sturdy, accessible and basically utilitarian.
Choosing shelving and fixtures for the front-end merchandising area will depend upon what type of floor plan layout you'll be utilizing. The most common of these include:
- Grid floor plan, also called the straight layout
- Loop floor plan, also called the racetrack or combination layout
- Free flow floor plan
The Grid floor plan is most typical in pharmacies, with gondola shelving being placed in the center area of the store, used to create aisles and arranged in such a way as to develop a natural foot traffic path through the store that will take shoppers through most of the different, individual departments. Wall-mounted shelving can be placed on perimeter walls and used to display a variety of merchandise, either on bracketed shelves fit onto pegboard or slat wall backings or displayed with the use of any number of accessories such as hooks, hangers, baskets, bins, etc.
Plan early on for your store fixtures to ensure you get not only what you need but what you want. Few factors have as much impact on your store's personality as the display fixtures you choose to use.
