This Parisian pharmacy has become an
essential address to find drugs and parapharmacy at reduced prices. Diving
behind the scenes of this institution.
As every year, beginning of July, it is the
affluence at the corner of the streets Bonaparte and Four, in the 6th
arrondissement of Paris. Between Asian tourists laid in clusters by tour
operators and Parisians who came to stock up on sunscreens and Biafine before
the holidays, there may be more than 8,000 to pass the door of this pharmacy in
one day! "It's war," mumbled one of the clients, nudging a dozen
people to access one of the 32 boxes. If the façade of Citypharma does not pay
mine, it is nevertheless the pharmacy of all the superlatives: 100 million
euros of turnover per year, twice more than the second of France, place Monge,
and 66 times more than the average pharmacy. More than 40,000 references packed
in narrow corridors,
On the ground floor, about thirty advisors,
placed on their shelves by the flow of customers, guide and preach for their
brand. On the first floor, despite the 16 cases, you have to endure more than
half an hour of waiting before being able to give a prescription to a pharmacist.
"It is nice to tell them that the refund is the same price as elsewhere,
they come anyway," laughs one of them. It must be said that customers
often leave with a shampoo or a cream. Because here, we come above all for the
price: Bioderma shower gel at 6.59 euros per liter, Avène spray at 5.99 euros
or Fervex at cost price. "We are on average 30 to 70% cheaper than
elsewhere," blows a pharmacist, playing the communication manager. She
will be the only one to say two words to us. Right here, journalists are not
welcome. The owners, the brothers Sdika (Didier and Philippe) and Marc Knafo,
prefer to make fruitless grow the bright intuitions of their predecessors.
It is Madame Fouhety who, in the 1980s,
gave a first turn to this lambda pharmacy by displaying prices sold off in the
window. Then her husband, owner of two hotels, had a genius idea: to pass his
Japanese customers by his French pharmacy. "Since then, it's all Paris
that benefits from the enthusiasm of Asians for our pharmacies", welcomes
a competitor. Change of hands in 2001: Michael Elalouf, apothecary businessman,
creates a first floor, enlarges the pharmacy on the rue du Four by buying a
salesman of pens and brings in three young associates, the current owners, who
finally take power in buying back his shares ten years later.
Pharmacy
Mall- Prices lower than competitors
The secret of their success lies in one
word: volumes. Giant baskets at the entrance, lots of two, three or four
products on the bestsellers, advisers honed for sale, and in all languages.
Here, a Brazilian who comes for his cure for osteoarthritis, twice cheaper than
in his country, often cracks for something else. "I made a cashing at
1,400 euros with one of them," says a pharmacist. Thanks to these volumes,
Stephanie Sdika, the wife of Didier, can negotiate the best rates in France
from the labs: 15 to 20% lower on average. "And if a customer proves that
he found cheaper elsewhere, we must give it to the chief to put it under the
nose of the lab," says an interim. The manufacturers of cosmetics or
medicine align themselves quickly. They even provide half of the counselors on
the ground floor. Always it saved for Citypharma.
But while some large pharmacies mount
export channels to Asia or remove some of their transactions to defraud the
tax, here we do not joke. Can not buy more than 10 bottles of thermal water to
avoid resales, no troubleshooting without a prescription, etc. "We are
hyper-regulated for fear of controls," blows a pharmacist employee. For
them, the days are exhausting. "As soon as you put on the blouse, you can
not do 3 meters without being alpaca," said one of them. Fortunately, they
turn on three or four positions in a day: top order, advice in front of the
phyto, crates down. Soon they will have to climb one more floor. The second
floor offices were moved to the third floor to free up a sales area. How far
will they go?
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