With the new Clarendon Pharmacy opening its doors to the public for the first time President and CEO of Phoenix Stored Ltd. George Grundmuller was on hand to cut the ceremonial ribbon.

Speaking with The Royal Gazette afterwards Mr. Grundmuller talked about the new location of Clarendon Pharmacy in the rapidly growing community of North Hamilton, the growing Phoenix Stores Internet presence where, for instance, people can order over one million books from their bookmart website, and about some future projects being launched this year.

"I've been in charge of Phoenix operations since 1997," said Mr. Grundmuller. "In that time we have expanded considerably. We've taken on Brown and Company and have purchased Stuart's on Reid Street and turned it into P-Tech. Last year we also opened P-Tech Audio Visual and two years ago we created Phoenix Kids.

"Phoenix Kids is predominately a baby store which carries strollers, cribs and bedding. We have the largest selection on the island. There is 3,000 square feet just for babies."

Explaining the Phoenix relationship with Clarendon Mr. Grundmuller said: "We bought Clarendon Pharmacy in 1998 from a gentleman named Nigel Price. We had Woodburne Chemist really close by and when the retail space became available on Victoria Street we felt it was a good move to go in that direction. We believe the city is expanding towards the north.

"When you look around at what Mr. (Gilbert) Lopes and (Sir John) Swan have done with building apartment buildings in the area, along with the Government creating the Economic Empowerment Zone (EEZ) you can see the city is expanding towards the north. Toward the south is the ocean so really you can only go north.

"When we did some market research it also showed when the New Victoria Place building is occupied there will be around 500 people working in there. Across the street is the telephone company, as is Appleby, the law firm, and then the John Swan building.

"There is also a medical practice 200 yards down the road and one block away from here there is a car park so people can find parking. All these findings solidified the decision behind the move. The pharmacy adds a neighbourhood feel and that's what the landlord wanted. He was very pleased that we took up that location.

"We feel the store turned out nicely and we would like to see it thrive as the neighbourhood pharmacy."

Discussing the Phoenix website Mr. Grundmuller noted: " We started our web presence in the late 90s (www.phoenixstores.bm). People can order their prescription refills on there. You can select which pharmacy you want pick it up from and they will have it ready for you. Our customers like this because there is no waiting in line to pick your order up.

"People can also go online and order over one million titles from the Bookmart portion of the Phoenix website. You can search for them similarly to Amazon.com. The cost of the book is lower than Amazon because we ship so many products we have savings in the shipping cost which we pass on to the customer. So really the website is very extensive and covers all our areas such as P-Tech and Brown & Co."

Mr. Grundmuller said the opening of the new Clarendon Pharmacy was a great success and wanted everyone to know Phoenix Stores Ltd. will also be opening a brand new pharmacy in Dockyard on April 20 of this year.