Birthday Bash Print
Wednesday, 12 August 2009 08:57
While Kevin Pietersen and et al went Ashes crazy, they were not the only ones hitting half centuries this summer. John McCrea opened Dundela Pharmacy at 17 Belmont Road on 1 June 1959 and it has grown to become a real community success story. The business, now run by John's son David, celebrated its fiftieth anniversary throughout the warmer months, welcoming everyone from regular and new customers to local celebrities to join in the festivities.
My father opened the pharmacy in the same premises as we are within today, although they were considerably smaller, David told NIPinF. The pharmacy only occupied the front room of number 17 and we have now extended from 17 to 21. We commissioned a full refit by Caem Store Design over the Easter period earlier this year, which was more or less completed in two and a half weeks with the minimum of disruption. The shop was cleared on the morning of Easter Saturday and we re-opened on the Wednesday morning with our enlarged, refurbished dispensary fully operational While in-store promotions, adorning the pharmacy with banners and balloons and holding prize giveaways have been very eye-catching, the refit has most impressed David, his staff and customers.

The shop was overdue a refit, and last September I decided to schedule it to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary, he explained. The shop-fit took up a lot of resources and time, so plans for the 50th birthday celebrations were put on the back burner. However during May I decided we had to celebrate in style; it is such a milestone for any independent business to achieve so I didn't want to do it by halves. During June we ran weekly ballots and in-store promotions. Most of our suppliers had kindly offered to help with sponsorship of these, and I would like to thank them for their support.

Although we were inundated with offers of some fantastic products for prizes, we wanted to give our customers something that they would not often associate with pharmacies but still promote a healthy, active lifestyle, such as bicycles, tennis rackets and even wetsuits. Everyone has been extremely positive about our anniversary celebrations and especially our refit. It did involve changing the locations of some of our ranges and repositioning certain stock and I was concerned that this could be confusing for customers. However, we have had nothing but very complimentary and kind comments.

While the main objective of the refit was to increase the dispensary area, David and his team worked carefully to ensure that the shop floor remained welcoming and navigable. Extending the dispensary made the shop floor smaller, but Caem's clever design has made the area seem larger, with wide aisles, and increased floor space. We also have a large, busy Photo Lab at the back of the shop which had to be considered. The Lab was recently refurbished, so we had to ensure the shop design fitted in with this. We also had to ensure the Lab was kept open throughout the work

Although the refit did not include any structural changes, all floors, ceilings, lighting installations, bays, shelves and air conditioning units were redesigned and replaced, giving the pharmacy a fresh new appearance. The signage was also modernised. We completely stripped out the premises, David said. It was a huge job, however Caem Store Design and their contracted companies were excellent and professionally kept us thoroughly consulted to ensure that what we wanted came to life.

The main objective was to increase the floor area within the dispensary as we desperately needed more space to cope with the increasing work-load. There are at least four and sometimes up to six people working in the dispensary which was at the very least an awkward environment to work in. We have not increased our stock levels and have a large store area upstairs for generics and fast moving lines, which is helping to make the most of the new space. Our staff now have much more room and are finding that the challenging workload that comes with high dispensing volumes is more manageable.

Local advertising and raising awareness about the anniversary were also essential to making this year a very memorable one so we listed several advertorials and articles with publications right through from throughout Northern Ireland to closer to home in East Belfast. Business has also shown signs of growth this year, which of course is unexpected for most enterprises under current economic circumstances.

Dundela Pharmacy is built upon an extremely loyal team of staff, who supersede the pharmacy's history in having well over one hundred years of experience between them! We are immensely fortunate to have a very low staff turnover so to ensure they are happy in the pharmacy is so important. Reta Davis, one of our Clarins experts, has been with the pharmacy for twenty years, as has Andrew Foster, our photo laboratory technician. Sandra Downey, one of our medicine counter assistants, has been with Dundela Pharmacy for thirteen years and her colleague Lorna Windsor, who is also training to become a dispensing technician, has been here for twelve years.

Meanwhile, our delivery driver Trevor Anderson joined fifteen years ago. I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank them for the tremendous loyalty and dedication they have shown, as well as our other great team members including Zara Jennings, Diane Shaw, Lorna Tedford, Pauline Orr, Sarah Fleming, Ricky Orr and pharmacist Lesa McLoughlin for their patience, enthusiasm and valuable involvement in the refit and anniversary year.

I'd also like to pay tribute to my late father, who started the whole thing. I've been back in Belfast and in Dundela Pharmacy for 15 years now, but for the first 35 years he was on his own. His dedication to the local community, and his principled, hard-working approach to business continues to be an inspiration. I am very proud of where Dundela Pharmacy has got to, and of our continued success in the face of increasing competition, and decreasing remuneration. It goes without saying that we wouldn't have got here without the foundations my dad laid over so many years. I like to think he'd be proud too.

NIPinF editor Laure James visited Dundela Pharmacy to join UTV's Julian Simmons and David McCrea as their top prize winners were congratulated. Dorothy Vance, who has been a regular customer at the pharmacy since it opened, was delighted with her set of top quality tennis rackets. My family and I have been using the pharmacy for many years and only recently I was asking David what he could recommend for my father who is suffering from fatigue, Dorothy said. All the staff here are extremely helpful and I couldn't live without their excellent make up counters!

Julie McClean, who was accompanied to collect her impressive range of beautiful garden furniture by her daughter Joy, complemented Dundela Pharmacy on their refit. We are from the Knock area but our Post Office recommended the pharmacy's photography lab to us for when I was getting photographs for my five year old Eva's second passport, Julie said. We are off to Menorca shortly with fully approved photos and I only hope the weather is nice when we return to our new furniture! It is a wonderful prize and was a great shock when we won, so we would like to thank the staff here for organising the competition.

Jennifer Yardley and John Compston were also winners, each presented with a luxury fragrance gift set. The pharmacy looks absolutely wonderful and is much nicer, Jennifer said. I have been coming here for a long time and I've never seen it looking so welcoming, even though it has always been the pharmacy I've chosen to come to. The staff here are brilliant and very friendly, so it's lovely to see them in a nice environment. They're always smiling so they must enjoy their work!