Revamped pharmacy provides personal care

AN array of new services have been brought to one of the region’s northern pharmacies following a recent change in ownership.

Briddon Hardwick, who previously served as manager of Smythesdale Pharmacy, located within The Well, took over as owner in October.

Since then, he’s been quick to implement some changes.

“Within the first month, we’ve changed the flooring, put new shelving in, new branding, and tried warm up the place a bit,” he said.

“We also put a consult room in the corner which allows us to do vaccines, medication checking; it’s a space where if you need to talk about something privately, we can go in and have a chat.

“It futureproofs the place a bit. We’re also offering price matching to make sure people stay local.”

The pharmacy’s services have also grown to include delivery both around and outside of Smythesdale, with the latter option costing $5.

“There’s not too many pharmacists that’ll go out to Linton, which we’re happy to do,” Mr Hardwick said.

Vaccination services are also set to be on the way, which Mr Hardwick predicts will become available later this month.

Originally from Ballarat, Mr Hardwick studied biomedical science at the University of Ballarat before earning a Master of Pharmacy in Queensland, and returned to the region where he worked at Crawford’s Pharmacy for eight years until 2020.

He relocated to Tasmania during the pandemic, where he owned and operated North Hobart Pharmacy until mid-last year.

Having worked at the Smythesdale Pharmacy full-time since February, 2023, Mr Hardwick said his transition into running the business has been a smooth one.

“The previous owners Julian and George are both Melbourne pharmacists and had two other pharmacies there so that took up a lot of their time,” he said.

“We were pretty self-sufficient over here so it wasn’t much of a change.”

Mr Hardwick said he enjoys the intimate relationships of a small regional pharmacy.

“The difference with here and North Hobart is it’s myself, my wife, and two other workers, whereas there we had about 15 staff,” he said.

“I’d much prefer to work in this type of environment rather than a busy store. It’s much more personal.

“I probably know most people and I get to know them by their first name, which makes helping them very easy.”