Arafath Medical Store- Sampat(FT13163)

Some days back my stock of medicines got over. I with one my friends went to Mahabalipuram for refilling my stock of medicines. I had heard about a store called Arafath Medical store. I went to the store for getting my medicines. Unlike other medical stores, the store seemed to have a very wide range of medicines. 

The store had 3 staffs in all at the time I went. One was dedicated for billing and the other 2 to take care of the customers. It was one of the big medical stores around the place. Few things that I felt good about the store:

1. One of the persons working there, understood English very well and was very helpful

2. For the comfort of the customers, the store was air-conditioned

3. The store was located in a prime location

All the racks of the store had an Alphabet marked on it. After the alphabet, there was a list of medicine that was in there in the rack. This helped the staff in locating the medicine and responding the customers fast.  I had been there to buy a dose of antibiotic. The medicine that I went for was one of the best selling antibiotics. Fortunately there were just 2-3 strips of that medicine left. After I took the strip, the person noted down the name of the medicine, so that they don’t fall short of that.

Some observations regarding the buying pattern:

1. Most of the customers there went for over the counter drugs.

2. Some of the customers who went there were unaware of the medicine that they wanted. They told their symptoms to the storekeeper and he suggested them the medicines. To many such customers he was giving pills without any packaging. They maintained a bottle of such drugs which they kept for selling loose.

3. Apart from medicines, the store had a very good stock of many FMCG products. Many people like me going to the store for only medicines, ended up buying other items as well.

After I got the medicines that I wanted, I went ahead and started checking the expiry dates of all of them. Seeing this, the person helping me, started getting agitated and said it’s not required as they have a very strong mechanism to track and take care of such expired medicines.

As per the shopkeeper, the peak hours of the operations are the evening hours. The majority of customers visiting them are tourists.When there is a request for a medicine which is not available with them, they try to arrange it from other places. For regular customers they give credit facilities as well.