Hebe focuses on drugstores – the pharmacy chain will disappear from the Polish market
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polski
Jeronimo Martins Drogerie and Farmacja, which operates a chain of drugstores under the Hebe brand and a pharmacy chain under the Hebeapteka brand, announced the closure of the pharmaceutical business. As a result, the pharmacy chain is closing down and 290 people will lose their jobs with it.
Pharmacy sales without economies of scale
The decision to liquidate the pharmacy chain is related to the restrictions that have emerged on the Polish pharmacy market. As a result, the company could not implement its plans to achieve the necessary scale effect in this industry. The chain decided to focus exclusively on drugstores, as the format with the greatest potential for development of the cosmetics business.
As a result, 47 pharmacy outlets were closed and group redundancies were started. According to the company, 290 workers, representing 8.7% of the company’s total workforce, will lose their jobs. All employees of pharmacies, depending on their length of work and other factors, will receive a package of benefits up to 3 times the legal requirements.
Stunting of the development of the Polish pharmacy market – effects of AdA
The “Pharmacy for a Pharmacist” Act had a significant impact on the pharmaceutical market in our country. Before the entry of this act, a dynamic expansion of pharmacy chains took place in Poland – however, in the years 2018-2020 a decrease in their number is recorded. It is worhly of note that the role of various forms of affiliation, which do not mean capital ties (e.g. shopping group, virtual chain) is growing.
At the end of 2019, the number of pharmacies and pharmacy outlets in Poland decreased compared to the number recorded a year earlier and amounted to about 13,800. This means that over two years more than 1,100 outlets were closed.
