Prague, September 5, 2014 – Starting from the 1st of November, eight pharmacies from the youngest pharmacy network, Harmonia will be operated by Česká lékárenská holding, a.s., under the Dr. Max trademark. Pears Health Cyber s.r.o., which operates a total of ten pharmacies the first of which was opened in 2011, has sold them to the largest pharmacy chain in the Czech Republic.
Owner of Pears Health Cyber s.r.o., Vladimír Finsterle explains,
“We began developing the network of Harmonia pharmacies three years ago inside remodelled Albert shopping centres. Back then the step signalled the last opportunity to develop a pharmacy network with a different concept from pharmacies introduced to Greenfield land. We gradually set about merging the traditional world of stores and the online environment; i.e. Harmonia and the largest online pharmacy in Central Europe, Lékárna.cz. We opened nine pharmacies (Svitavy, Beroun, Trutnov, Vyškov, Krnov, Ždár n.S., Prostějov, Přerov and Hranice). Unfortunately we were unable to meet our planned expectations. We found ourselves having to adapt to reality more and more, especially in terms of falling prices and margins on prescription medicines, the local position in the shopping network of several towns and the palpable savings made on behalf of customers. This offered us further encouragement to seek out other solutions for our stores. We have achieved significant economic improvements and market share over the past year. Holding on to the stronger toys network and continuing in running our pharmacies already in place, finally proved to be the best option available.”
PHC won’t be revealing the sale value of the pharmacies however V. Finsterle has indicated that the funds will be used to strengthen the company’s main business and to develop the Lékárna.cz and Mojalekaren.sk e-shops.
The company will continue to operate under the Harmonia trademark at pharmacies in Žďár and Chrudim which will continue to serve as distribution points for the www.lekarna.cz e-shop. The Harmonia brand will continue to remain under Pears Health Cyber s.r.o. ownership.
