CHEMISTS; UNIQUE AS BUSINESSMEN AND PROFESSIONAL MEN

Press, Volume C, Issue 29691, 8 December 1961, Page 21

CHEMISTS; UNIQUE AS BUSINESSMEN AND PROFESSIONAL MEN

modern business trends followed The attractive design and appearance of the modern chemist IS nOt acci dental. Although chemists have an important responsibility as part of the public health system through dispensing pharmaceutical benefits they are also business men selling a wide variety of goods to the public.

In the unique position of being both professional men and businessmen the member of the Chemists’ Service Guild are as concerned with maintaining their professional standard as providing a full service to the public from their shops. The modern chemist shop with its rows of shining bottles, brightly packaged medicines, toiletries, perfumes, cameras, and the numerous other items on display, is vastly different from the old type shop with chemical smell, ornate jars and old-fashioned remedies. Remedies made personally by the chemist were replaced by those of the large manufacturing chemist founded on the resources of modern science and large research laboratories. Goods which were once the sole perogative of the chemist were now being sold by other businesses. To meet this challenge of the increasing importance of the retail side of the chemist's business, the Chemists’ Service Guild was formed to allow its members to pool their ideas

and information for the improvement of the chemists’ business, OLD SHOPS The old shops with their own glassware made specially for them, mysterious bits of equipment lying on the shelves, had an air about them faintly reminiscent of the days when apothecaries produced all sorts of wonderful drugs which were claimed to be the cure for a startling variety of diseases. But as the dispensing of drugs and medicines became more scientific and the number of goods available to the public increased, the chemist, like other businessmen, had to change with the times. The trend towards larger shops where goods can be displayed properly has been noticeable in Christchurch in recent years. Old established firms have altered their premises to what is now almost typical of the chemist’s shop. Bright and airy shops which are in line with modern trends where the displaying of the articles for sale has become in-

creasingly important RETAIL COURSE The guild advises its members on displays and sales technique and in 1962 in conjunction with the New Zealand Institute of Management and the Technical Correspondence School of the Department of Education will make a twoyear training course in retail administration available to its members and their staff. It is hoped that this retail course will supplement the training that the younger

chemists have had for their professional qualifications to allow them to fit into the dual role demanded from a chemist. However, the guild is not concerned only with the retail side of its business. Unlike other businesses it has a considerable responsibility in selling some of its goods. Drugs harmless by themselves can become dangerous when taken by some persons, or in too large a quantity. The chemist while selling these goods still has professional rules which put the ethics

of the profession before sales. The annual conference of the guild provides a meeting ground for the guild, which looks after the commercial side of retail pharmacy and the body which administers the professional side, the Pharmacy Society of New Zealand, and the Pharmacy Board.