Unique and original, is how Fahrenberger designers envisioned this new pharmacy. After conducting a geostrategic study to understand and meet the customer’s expectations, define the supply of products and services, Fahrenberger applied an innovative concept; “La Boutique Appartement”. “La Boutique Appartement” can influence client’s perception and their behaviour. By recreating an apartment setting, the pharmacy offers comfort to customers and allows them to easily project themselves and more quickly appropriate products, by imagining them in their own home. High-end brands and low prices are mixed without reservation, to surprise customers and catch their attention.

Trending in the retail universe, “La Boutique Appartement” concept offers an intimate and familial atmosphere, which contrasts starkly with the big-box retail experience that is often cold and impersonal. To reinforce the effectiveness of the concept, Fahrenberger merchandisers and interior designers designed the pharmacy layout, categorized by “universe”. Each “universe” is located according to a true performance strategy. Customer satisfaction was given special attention, with the aim to improve visitor flow, to foster impulse purchases, as well as increase the average shopping basket and the pharmacy’s sales figures.

The creative direction of this project was to offer an original experience that is different than other pharmacies. By removing the negative design norms associated with the traditional pharmacy, this project suggested a new and positive experience, centred on medical and customer care. To achieve that, the designers worked on a contrasting colour palette that aligns more closely with residential colours than pharmaceutical ones. The construction materials used also played a big role in the concept’s success. Raw concrete was used for the floor and selected walls. Recycled and varnished wood panels and backless metal shelving structures were used to enhance the aesthetic value of these materials.

The counter served as a powerful and central element to this project, bringing to the forefront of the pharmacy the role of the pharmacist as a consultant. Traditional and ancestral aspects of the pharmacy, such as the counter, were reused, mixed and modernised to create a new counter experience which focuses on trust, dialogue and human interactions. To ensure the sustained presence of personnel at the counter, delivery and inventory were automated. Fahrenberger has an innovative and complex method of approaching the future of the pharmacy, by placing medical consulting at its core and by developing the vital sales and economic aspects.

Designed by Fahrenberger
Photography by Betty Garcia