Chiltern Pharmacy owners Madonna and Michael Beniamine make tough call to sell business of 10 years

Madonna Beniamine and husband Michael took over the chemist in 2012, but have been unable to find a full-time pharmacist to work for them for 12 months.

The couple opened Tangambalanga's first full-scale pharmacy in 2016, but Mrs Beniamine has been required to look after the Chiltern store while her husband mans their second dispensary.

"We were not thinking to sell it at all, but it was getting harder and harder to find pharmacists," she said.

"Michael and I were working together at Tangambalanga, but when no one was able to work, I came here full-time and it's been going for over a year.

"That was the only reason we sought to sell, otherwise we would never give it up because it's a lovely pharmacy and a nice community.

"With time, things got harder. We have two kids and they stopped doing all their activities after school and we would need to arrange someone to pick them up and do stuff after school.

"We live in Wodonga, so we have the house in between so we could look after the two stores, but we had to do it for our family and our kids."

IN OTHER NEWS:

Mrs Beniamine said they chose to keep the Tangambalanga pharmacy because it is bigger and offers a wider range of services, including vaccinations.

She is confident Chiltern Pharmacy is in a good position and it will be a smooth transition to the new buyer.

"We're trying to reassure the community that things will go the same with a new owner. I'm sure he'll be very nice because the people are very nice and support the local business," Mrs Beniamine said.

"We wouldn't have been able to do it without (store assistant) Brooke Strauss. She has worked with us since we first opened at Chiltern and has been a really good addition.

"She's a big part of our success.

"Everyone loves her, she knows everyone and she's very knowledgeable.

"She's been very good to us and it's reassuring for people that she will be staying here and everything will be fine."

Mr and Mrs Beniamine will hand the store over to the new owner by the middle of August.

To read more stories, download The Border Mail news app in the Apple Store or Google Play.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: