In its quest to meet the ethical medications needs of Victoria Island residents, Alpha Pharmacy & Stores, has opened a new branch on the Island.
The event, which was well attended by pharmacists, representatives of other retail pharmacy and members of the host community, took place on Thursday, 17 February 2022, at the venue of the new branch at 31B, Ologun Agbaje Street, VI.
In his remarks, Tajouddin Ansari, vice-president, marketing &operations, Kilitch Drugs, India Ltd, lauded the consistency of Alpha in ensuring the provision of rare ethical drugs for their customers across the country.
Ansari, who said his company has been into partnership with Alpha for over 10 years, expressed his satisfaction with the location of the new branch, saying it is strategically situated for the ease of patronage by clients.
“This is a very nice place for Alpha Pharmacy and it will boost their business more, because they have the strength of influence. We have been in association with Alpha for over 10 years, and we always ensure we give them quality medications for their clients. I’m sure this new outlet will open more business opportunities for better services to them”, he enthused.
Speaking on the reason for opening the VI branch, Managing Director, Alpha Pharmacy, Pharm. (Sir) Ike Onyechi, narrated how they have received the call for over 15 years to come and open an outlet on the Island, in order to make patronage easy for residents of the area, who have been journeying to the Ikeja branch for purchase of their medications.
He particularly mentioned that consultants at a foremost IVF clinic on the Island were sending patients to the Alpha branch at Ikeja, consistently for about three years for all their medications- a development that propelled the company to establish an in-house pharmacy for the clinic. Thus, when the opportunity presented itself, he said, they seized it to site the outlet
“There has been a call for about 15 to 16 years to come and establish a branch on the Island. People have been coming from here to buy from our Ikeja branch. They have been saying come to the Island, come to the Island, even before other big branches started springing up.
“Then, some of our consultants for three years sent their IVF patients to our Ikeja branch to buy their medications. The IVF clinic is located around Tiamiu Street, in Bar Beach axis of the community. After some time, they complained about the distance, so we set up a small in-house pharmacy for them. The opening of this branch is the best service we can give patients of that clinic”, Onyechi stated.
Explaining further, he said though the IVF clinic was the fulcrum of their launching on the Island, but it has opened up the services of the retail outlet to other clients in the community, as residents can easily move in here to get their medications at their own space. Notwithstanding, he said their home delivery service is still open for residents who prefer the service.
For the Executive Director, Alpha Pharmacy & Stores, Mrs Chinelo Onyechi, the desire to render more services to Nigerians informed the decision to unveil the branch. She noted that although the company has a Lekki branch, but this new outlet is basically for VI residents, which offers them better opportunity of shopping other items along their medications, as Alpha is known for a lot of supermarket.
Lady Nkiru Illoh, a foundation customer, who has known the pharmacy for over three decades expressed delight with the ceremony, saying she has known the retail outlet with the provision of rare ethical medications since inception as they have been affecting peoples' lives positively.
“The opening of the branch is in furtherance of what they have been doing in affecting peoples' lives. I have known them for the past three decades. They have been affecting our lives positively in medication supplies and stores. They started from Allen Avenue to the main headquarters on Adeniyi Jones, to Lekki, Airforce base and here.
“Any rare ethical medication you are looking for, if you don’t get it in Alpha, you can’t find it anywhere. Everything they do is done humanely and with the fear of God. It’s my prayers that they continue to expand and they don’t regret opening this place”, she prayed.
Earlier, Pharm. Ernest Okafor, led the guests in an intense praise and worship session in dedicating the outlet to God.
On their new space, he assured their customers of their continuous services and satisfaction. “We promise our usual quality of service, providing you with quality products to save lives. It is Alpha, it’s the quality you know, the products you know, it is the growth that we are after. We promise you that expectation of your life line, we keep to it as much as necessary”, he pledged.
Alpha Pharmacy and Stores Limited was founded in 1985. From its humble beginnings as a small outlet on Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos, the retail outfit has grown into a large community pharmacy store and a respected wholesaler/distributor of rare ethical products.
Presently, it has nine branches strategically located in the north (Abuja), east (Enugu), west (four branches in Lagos) and south (two branches in Port Harcourt) of Nigeria for ease of distribution to numerous customers.
