Pharmacy Shelves Design

Pharmacies in Communities

Pharmacies are a vital aspect of most communities. Not only can pharmacists provide advice on minor injuries and illnesses, but for a lot of rural communities that lack larger supermarkets: it’s residents’ nearest stop for medicines. That is why your pharmacy shelves design must cater to those with accessibility issues when possible.

Accessibility

In this context, when we use the word ‘accessible’ we use it to mean how easy it is for customers to access the parts of the shop that they want to. Of course, accessibility isn’t a one-size-fits-all type of solution.

People with different disabilities require different assistance, and even people with the same disabilities might have different limits. Pharmacists can provide expert health advice, and folks need to be able to pick up their prescriptions. This means that it’s safe to assume accessibility is important to your pharmacy clientele.

In terms of pharmacy shelves design, this means refraining from having shelves too high or too low for people to access. It also means refraining from stacking shelves too tightly or making them too deep. Otherwise, customers might have to stretch and twist to access products at the back of the shelves.

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Utilising Good Pharmacy Shelves Design

When considering how to keep your shop accessible whilst also being profitable, space management becomes very important. Shop aisles need to be wide enough for wheelchair users to navigate; which may mean forgoing aisles altogether for some smaller pharmacy practices.

In the absence of aisles, a good design choice for pharmacy shelves design is to keep shelving against the walls of the customer area. Seating can then be placed in the centre of the floor, front-of-house, for customers.

Pharmacy Seating

Seating is beneficial for the elderly and less-mobile customers, whilst also offering the pharmacy a way to shift products that need selling. When customers are waiting for their prescriptions they can consider items placed at eye level whilst seated.

The height of items is also important for accessibility. Try to keep the majority of items within arms-reach of waist height so that it’s available for wheelchair users to pick up.

Remember that not everyone has – or wants – a carer. So if the design of your shop lacks accessibility then that means you’re spending more time on the shop floor, when you might need to be back-of-house.

Easy way to improve accessibility

An easy way to improve accessibility through pharmacy shelves design is by using auto feed drawers. Auto feed drawers are angled so that when a customer removes a product from the shelf, the products behind the slide to the front.

This means that customers are conveniently able to reach the next item without straining and that you can get on with your work; without having to worry about stock rotation.

Inov8 Medical

Here at Inov8 Medical, we have over 40 years of experience in pharmacy design. We’ve worked with some of the largest medical chains in the UK, including Boots and Lloyds Pharmacy. This means we’re accomplished when it comes to pharmacy shelves design and the overall design of your pharmacy.

So if you need expert advice on designing your pharmacy, or if you just need new supplies to optimize your working day then don’t hesitate to get in contact!