PROFILES

Anyone who has visited a French dispensary will be familiar with the pharmacists and pharmaceutical assistants. But they will know less about the business developer. This is Romain Courio’s chosen profession. The Raphaelesque 33-year-old, a graduate of ESSEC international business school in Paris, started out by pursuing a career in consultancy. All that changed three years ago, when his father, Hervé Courio, and his partner Arnaud de Longueval, invited him to write a new chapter in the history of Pharmacie Cap3000. It was a stiff challenge. The famous dispensary, located in the Saint-Laurent-du-Var, is the largest in Europe, with a 2,500-sqm retail space and a 1,000-m back office. The idea was to update the offer and layout of the quintessentially French pharmacy. “We wanted to modernise it and mark the occasion by focusing more closely on our patients and partner laboratories. There was a real sense of expectation from our customers,” says Courio. The result is a vast, American-style drugstore, with multiple spaces dedicated to sections such as beauty, herbal products and a prescription counter, along with branded retail concessions designed like those of major department stores. Filorga, Arkopharma, Nuke, Patyka, Caudalie and Avène have already come on board. “Today’s patients have changed. They are better informed and expect real added value when they ask for advice. Their approach to health is holistic, and taking care of themselves becomes a philosophy of life. So, we put a lot of emphasis on training our pharmacists and consultants. For example, we are currently organising a session on CBD – cannabidiol, a molecule found in cannabis. I believe we must position ourselves at the cutting edge of therapeutic innovation.” Pharmacie Cap3000 attracts around 3,000 visitors per day, with a greater influx expected as international tourists start returning to the Riviera. It is now stabilising its model. “Unlike the Internet, major retail chains or drugstores, we must capitalise on our expertise, know-how and the quality of our advice. The relationships we foster have a human dimension that we want to cultivate.”

By Raphaëlle Elkrief