Pharmacist cousins Donna Pearman and Aleathea Rabain started People’s Pharmacy believing that the community was not being well served by existing shops.

Exactly 40 years later, the Victoria Street location has grown from 900sq ft to about 10,000sq ft, not including offices. Items such as food, baby things and toys sell well, and this May, they added a third location in the Hamilton Medical Centre.

However, changes to the industry mean they are facing all new business challenges, including more competitors.

“We have gone from about 12 other pharmacies to more than 20,” Ms Pearman said. “In the last five years alone the numbers have mushroomed.”

Customer traffic patterns have also shifted.

In the early days, most people started work in the City between 8.30am and 9am.

“There would be an onslaught of people coming in to get a paper,” Ms Pearman said. “These days people are using technology much more and that has an impact we never could have imagined.”

People can now get their Royal Gazette online without ever changing out of their pyjamas. They can also order their beauty products and toys on the internet.

“Bermuda needs more energy put into retail, but it is hard in the current economy,” said Ms Pearman’s daughter, Tamara Richardson, the company chief executive.

“There are less people working in town, and there are not as many businesses open,” she said. “You can see that if you walk around and just look at the real estate. All of that has an impact on foot traffic here.”

With fewer customers out there, and staff spread over more locations, People’s has tightened its operating hours.

“We used to be open about 83 hours per week,” Ms Richardson said. “For our main store, we have reduced hours to 65 hours a week.”

Moving into the future, People’s is looking to optimise its facility.

“The team and I are always mulling over what the best use is for our space,” Ms Richardson said.

She would like to see People’s offer more food options.

“There is not a lot of selection on this side of Hamilton, especially on the weekends,” she said. “We do have a deli that offers prepared hot food. It would be nice to see that expanded to offer healthier options, and more ready-to-go sandwiches and salads.”

They are also considering the addition of self-checkout.

“That would allow our staff to spend more time on the floor liaising with the customers,” Ms Pearman said. “They could concentrate more on explaining our new products and helping customers pick out what they need.”

This month, the firm planned to mark its anniversary with a celebration among staff. Next month, it will be doing a community thank you, with a sale from November 25 to 29.

“Every day, a different department will be on sale for a few hours of the day,” Ms Richardson said. “That leads us into Christmas, our busy season.”

The business moved away from doing post-Thanksgiving Black Friday sales several years ago.

“When we did them, there were so many people it was unmanageable at times,” Ms Pearman said.

Eager customers formed a line wrapping around the block, bringing out negative energy in some people. Meanwhile, staff worried for some of their elderly customers caught up in the long queue.

“Not all money is good money to make when you know people are getting at each other,” Ms Richardson said. “It was too much for our staff.”

They stopped doing it, offering a sale event the week before Black Friday, instead.