e-spaces

While it was the initial intention decades ago, when Clicks was established, for it to be a traditional US-styled drugstore – selling prescription medicines, soda pops and just about any non-health and beauty products that consumers would buy – this move was thwarted by the government.

So Clicks sold only over-the-counter medicines, cosmetics and an assortment of small appliances and tableware.

Pharmacies, on the other hand, were limited to selling drugs, toiletries and make-up.That all changed in 2004.

Privately owned Dis-Chem pounced and New Clicks followed with its Clicks chain. But just as Clicks started putting dispensaries into its stores, then health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang came in with rules to limit dispensing fees, where pharmacists earn their margins.

This move may have had good intentions, but it made some mom-and-pop pharmacies unviable. In some small towns the drugstores closed, forcing the poor to travel further afield for medicines. It now appears that current minister Barbara Hogan may give a little margin back to the pharmacies by pursuing an out-of-court settlement with independent chemists.

But while Hogan, who is also notably a champion of HIV/Aids activists, might be doing a lot to undo the work of her predecessor the Drugstore Cowboy, many neighbourhood pharmacists may not be saved.

Dis-Chem and Clicks’ introduction of the economies of scale that allow deep discounting could be too heavy a blow. This could lead to corporate pharmacy continuing to gain at the expense of independents.

Edited by Peter DeIonno. With contributions by Donwald Pressly, Thabiso Mochiko and Tom Robbins