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Target Corp. set aside $90 million to pay the 17,600 people who will be left jobless when stores close, but pharmacy franchisees say they are being left high and dry.
Canadian pharmacists who bought franchises to operate inside Target stores thought they were getting into a great partnership.
Instead, some of them struggled so badly they required what they came to call ‘welfare’ payments from Target to stay afloat, after the promised foot traffic and sales failed to materialize.
Winnipeg pharmacist Charles Scerbo was familiar with Target stores in the U.S. and how busy they were.
“I thought, if they operate stores here like they do in the U.S., it’s a slam-dunk,” he said.
He was told to expect to be filling up to 400 prescriptions a week by the second year.
“It never materialized. They failed from the beginning,” he said.
In all, 81 pharmacist franchisees have joined the Pharmacy Franchisee Association of Canada (PFAC) seeking a better deal from Target.
The organization has hired legal counsel to try to get pharmacists more time to transfer their operations and they are seeking an unspecified amount of financial compensation.
“They’re not allowing us ample time to close down,” said PFAC president Dan Dimovski.
“Target is undermining, without regards to the consequences, the Canadian public health care system as it relates to the ability to provide ongoing continuity of care to patients.”
The organization is raising awareness of the problem with provincial compliance and regulators such as The College of Pharmacies.
