Inside Dis-Chem’s store of the future — Photos
Dis-Chem has announced the launch of its Melrose Arch Health Hub, which will serve as a template for all its future store designs.
The store will open to the public at 08:30 on Thursday, 7 May 2026 and is Dis-Chem’s 323rd retail outlet in South Africa.
“This is very much not a concept store,” Dis-Chem CEO Rui Morais told journalists on Wednesday evening. “We are specifically talking about the principle of one model, flexible execution.”
The design of the store and technology behind it were developed at X, bigly Labs, Dis-Chem’s Centre of Excellence, which the company unveiled in November last year.
“All new stores from August 2026 onward will be in this new format. We have purposely been realistic about the execution,” stated Morais.
He said that the store was designed with a T-shaped flow to ensure that Dis-Chem’s healthcare features no longer feel ancillary to the pharmacy and retail floor, but were built into the store’s core.
The vertical stem, or centre aisle, stretches from the entrance all the way to the back of the store, where the dispensary is.
This central path is dedicated to what Morais described as “innovation and value creation” — where customers will find seasonal products and specials through Dis-Chem’s Better Rewards programme.
After passing the products on promotion, customers will reach the Health Hub, placed near the intersection of the horizontal and vertical pieces of the T.
The Hub is the welcoming “heart” of the store and a central gateway for patients to enter a digital queue for the pharmacy or clinic services. “You will have a digital experience in a physical space,” said Morais.
The crossbar of the T, the back of the store, visibly elevates the profile of healthcare services, housing the clinics, pharmacies, and financial service options.
Traditional retail items carried by Dis-Chem stores, which range from cosmetics to supplements, remain stocked on shelves running horizontally from the sides of the T-shape.
Strategically, Morais said the new format was a “defensive moat” for Dis-Chem because it prominently highlighted their speciality in healthcare services, setting them apart from competitors.
He emphasised that although future stores may require flexible execution based on size, the fundamental principles of the T-shape healthcare delivery model will not be compromised in any new locations.
The store at Melrose Arch was itself not Dis-Chem’s largest, roughly 800m2 according to Morais, who said it was a “good problem” to implement the new design in a medium-sized space.
Clinics and express doctor consultations
While Dis-Chem outlets around South Africa already feature registered nurses, the pharmacy group said the new store format will add qualified phlebotomists to its staff complement.
Craig Swanepoel, Dis-Chem’s Chief Integration and Growth Officer, explained that this was to reduce the overall cost of care.
These cost savings would allow Dis-Chem to pass on extra value to customers, whether through its Better Rewards programme or simply lower prices.
Swanepoel explained that when a patient goes to Dis-Chem for treatment, they don’t pay the highest fee for a consultation up-front regardless of what care they need.
Instead, they first reach the Hub, which would direct them to a pharmacist. Should the pharmacist not be able to dispense the necessary care, the patient would be referred to the phlebotomists or the nurse.
Lizeth Kruger, Dis-Chem’s Clinic Executive, said that all their nurses were also diabetic-qualified, meaning they could advise and administer care to patients diagnosed with diabetes.
Should the patient need a doctor, such as if the medication they need requires a prescription, the nurse can contact a physician for an “express” consultation.
That is where the nurse acts as the doctor’s eyes, ears, and hands, and they provide a prescription for the necessary medication.
However, if the doctor was not satisfied that they could prescribe medication without a more comprehensive consultation, they could insist upon one via video link.
Nurses could also refer patients directly for a virtual consultation if needed. Should the doctor still be dissatisfied, they could refer the patient for a physical examination.
Swanepoel said the doctor’s practices that supplied services to Dis-Chem were independent, and that all necessary regulatory guardrails were in place.
This ensured there were no incentives, one way or another, for Dis-Chem not to refer patients to doctors, or for doctors to escalate — or not escalate — consultations.
Photos of Dis-Chem’s Melrose Arch Health Hub
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