The Link between Technology and Innovation
the opening of the De Grazia Pharmacy in Campora San Giovanni (IT)
We live in a world undergoing profound transformations and the advent of new technologies is radically changing the way we work. Therefore, having a set of common values is becoming ever more important as the last repository of our humanity. Furthermore, these shared values form the building blocks upon which we construct our identity as a professional.
There are 2 ways to react when faced with this situation:
– isolate one’s self from the world, refusing to accept change by creating an imaginary barrier blocking out all of the changes and consequential difficulties as well as interrupting once and for all your continuously evolving relationship with your customers.
– React passionately with total self conviction and trace out a new direction without looking back twice.
The De Grazia family has always reacted in this way when faced with a challenge, fighting for the survival of the pharmacy’s traditional role at the centre of the community over the last three generations.
The new De Grazia Pharmacy has recently been opened in a modern 2-storey building looking out to sea, 10 years after its first renovation. Measuring over 200 m. sq. and informed by a customer-centred retail philosophy, this new pharmacy looks ahead with optimism.
This pharmacy tells the story of many an Italian family business, where hard work and a tenacious desire to succeed have driven on the business generation after generation. The new pharmacy is the culmination of the family’s hard fought battle for success, where technology meets tradition and speed meets professionalism.
The whole town was present at the inauguration, a show of support for a family tradition that is strengthened with ever passing generation and helps keep the community living and united.
The pharmacy is characterised by large windows that allow passers-by to look into the pharmacy’s interior. This is composed of a prescription area with 3 one-person counters with an aluminium finish, flanked by 2 totem-like columns of sand. The colours of the display units have been chosen with the pharmacy’s seaside location firmly in mind, ranging from azure to bright green. Different shades have been used to distinguish the various different sectors, making each one easily recognisable. The cosmetics department has a one-person illuminated methacrylate counter with ®Ral2 shelving units displaying an extensive range of cosmetics and beauty products whose branding is clearly displayed above the unit on a strawberry-coloured glass tympanum sign.
The pharmacy is visible because the lighting plan was conceived to ensure the pharmacy is well lit and eye-catching day and night (LEDs light up the shop windows turning them into an “urban lighthouse” and attracting a lot of attention). The pharmacy is a pleasant place to shop as the route designed to unconsciously guide customers around the interior gives the customer sea views at various points.
