Prescription for success

Outside Pharmacy Over East are Cambell Tanner (left), Paul Glentworth, Jamiee McKibben and Shakayla Bennett. Photo / Paul Brooks

Paul Glentworth has returned to set up business in Whanganui East.
For 12 years he worked with pharmacist Peter Orchard as pharmacy technician before the business was purchased by Trevor Hawkins and Maureen Broadfoot. Trevor and Maureen have now retired, so now, in partnership with pharmacist Jamiee McKibben, Paul has returned to the pharmacy on the corner of Duncan and Moana streets. They've renamed it Pharmacy Over East.

"We met each other at Pharmacy 145," says Paul. That's the pharmacy at 145 Victoria Ave. Jamiee had come from South Taranaki.
"I did my internship in Hawera and Patea, where I grew up ... then my partner [Fion McKibben] was here in Whanganui, working at the hospital, so it just made sense that I moved here and found a job in Whanganui." Jamiee and Fion have since married.
Owning a pharmacy was always Jamiee's goal: Fion is also a pharmacist. "We always dreamed this could be an option but we thought it would be much further down the track. Then we met Paul, who had the wonderful idea, and also the experience over here ... "
When the idea was first mooted it wasn't quite the right time for Jamiee and Fion, and Covid provided a further obstacle.

Jamiee moved to Gonville Pharmacy and, when the time was right, messaged Paul, "What about that crazy idea we had?"
The partnership happened and the two families invested in Pharmacy Over East and moved in on April 1.
"The response has been crazy, overwhelming," says Paul.

Paul and Jamiee are happy with their team which includes Cambell Tanner and Shakayla Bennett. Cambell was part of the Hawkins Pharmacy team and Shakayla had been at Pharmacy 145.
"Trevor and Maureen spoke very highly of Cambell," says Jamiee.
"We are slowly making changes in the shop," says Paul. "Working out what people want. We're building a consultation room in the corner, which will be great for what we want to do in the future." Shakayla is in charge of extending lines of stock.

"We're a good team, because Fion, as a pharmacist, can support Jamiee, and my wife, Paula, is office manager in her job at Loader's so she's doing a lot of things in the background," says Paul.

Paul and Jamiee both have extensive experience in the industry and they have a good idea what works and what they want Pharmacy Over East to look like.
"We're starting how we want to continue," says Jamiee. Her responsibility is huge, because nothing leaves the premises without being double-checked by her, ensuring every prescribed dose is accurate and suitable for the needs of the customer.

As a small, independent pharmacy business, people might ask about the prescription co-payment of $5 per item, payable by the customer. The $5 is a Government tax, says Jamiee, collected by the pharmacy and paid to Inland Revenue. Larger businesses like supermarket pharmacies and Chemist Warehouse that provide "free" prescriptions are able to spread that loss throughout their range of other products. Their shop sales subsidise that payment.

Fortunately, Pharmacy Over East has the full support of the Whanganui East community and has a bright future.