independent pharmacies

[pharmdeep]

I rarely see any posts from people working at independents. Anyone in here or any owners ? Im noticing a huge uptick in new pharmacy openings around me. I have no idea what's going on. A cvs just closed down by me and an independent opened in it's place. What am i missing ? Did it suddenly become a profitable business ?

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[RXDOC1986]

Where is "around me"?
I live in an upscale suburb of Atlanta, Johns Creek, GA. I have seen an uptick in Independents. At least in this case, these indies are either ethnic, meaning they cater to their own people (here its Indian, Korean, Vietnamese), and those groups keep all business within their community, or they offer services not available at chains, like compounding or DME's.

 

[pharmdeep]

Where is "around me"?
I live in an upscale suburb of Atlanta, Johns Creek, GA. I have seen an uptick in Independents. At least in this case, these indies are either ethnic, meaning they cater to their own people (here its Indian, Korean, Vietnamese), and those groups keep all business within their community, or they offer services not available at chains, like compounding or DME's.

It seems that most of the pharmacy owners here are either Indian or Jewish and they typically own multiple pharmacies. Korean and Chinese owned pharmacies typically serve their own ethnic communities as you said. I believe there is some trend im missing as i don't have much knowledge of reimbursements. Either those successful pharmacy owners are seeing more opportunity and expanding or a lot of pharmacists are realizing they can just open their own instead of working for someone else. I think its a combination of both.

 

[RXDOC1986]

It seems that most of the pharmacy owners here are either Indian or Jewish and they typically own multiple pharmacies. Korean and Chinese owned pharmacies typically serve their own ethnic communities as you said. I believe there is some trend im missing as i don't have much knowledge of reimbursements. Either those successful pharmacy owners are seeing more opportunity and expanding or a lot of pharmacists are realizing they can just open their own instead of working for someone else. I think its a combination of both

You might be on the right track, my knowledge, is extremely limited, as I have never worked in retail.

 

[pharm B]

We have a few independents by me in a rural area. I feel like their math is quite fuzzy when it comes to accounting (especially with regard to 340B products). I don’t understand how they’ve stayed open, but I do know the owners are living quite well. I imagine if the poo ever hit the fan, the PIC would be left to deal with while the owners ride off into the sunset.