By the summer of 2024, the Podorozhnyk pharmacy chain plans to expand its network to 2 thousand pharmacies, said Taras Kolyada, CEO of the chain.
“We currently have 1763 pharmacies. In 2023, we opened 400 new pharmacies. By the summer of 2024, we will grow to 2 thousand pharmacies,” he said in an interview with Forbes.
Mr. Kolyada said that the chain is currently expanding at a fairly rapid pace: “In 2019, we opened 486 pharmacies, and now 400 pharmacies a year is a normal rhythm for us.”
At the same time, he noted that “we usually have 150 outlets in back closer – somewhere we are doing repairs and looking for people, somewhere we are signing a contract or waiting for the lease with the previous owner of the premises to end.”
“Landlords perceive a pharmacy as a stable business and are ready to cooperate. We are building the coverage of the country. For us, the key is to penetrate the regions, small towns from Chop to Seredyna-Buda, from Reni to the north of Chernihiv region,” he said.
In addition, Kolyada said that in 2023, sales of Podorozhnyk across all channels increased by 40-50% compared to 2022.
At the same time, Kolyada predicts that in general, “the trend for network expansion in Ukraine is still there, but the redistribution of the market will favor system operators.”
According to Kolyada, the average investment in opening a pharmacy is up to UAH 3.5 million.
