A Chemist Warehouse location in Liverpool, Sydney, in 2021. Source: AAP Image/ Bianca De Marchi
There’s something curious about the proposed merger between Chemist Warehouse and Sigma Healthcare.
Chemist Warehouse has about 550 retail pharmacies. Sigma has another 400.
Yet the law limits owners to just a handful of pharmacies per state. Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria allow just five, Western Australia and Tasmania allow four, and South Australia allows six.
The two families that control Chemist Warehouse initially enlisted spouses and cousins to run individual outlets. Once they ran out of relatives who were registered pharmacists and eligible to own pharmacies, they signed up franchisees using contracts that appear to give their head office a fair amount of control.
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