We are Chapman & Wood Chemist, a community pharmacy in beautiful Wingham NSW. Meeting the needs of the local community for over 100 years, as well as a growing number of people farther afield, our team of 30 friendly locals love making your visit enjoyable and memorable.
Read on to learn a little about where it all began…
Local pharmacist Mr Gillett rents space in what was affectionately called the Elephant House from Wingham property tycoon Mr Hill (we still have original records of scripts dispensed from this era for Wingham’s early pioneers).
A month after a big fire tears through Wingham, Mr Gillett purchases 22 feet of burnt rubble on Isabella St in a literal “fire sale” and builds his own pharmacy.
Embracing new technology he gets a telephone connected, and the pharmacy is assigned the phone number “1”.
Allan Chapman purchases the pharmacy, and in 1955 is joined in partnership by Ian Wood.
Chapman & Wood Chemist is born.
The first and last time anyone saw Mike wearing a pharmacy jacket was when he posed here for the Manning River Observer photographer, taking over the business from Mr Wood.
Mike builds a new pharmacy in its current location. Everyone pitches in and we move the entire shop’s stock and contents down the street in Bi-Lo trolleys over a weekend.
It’s the 1990s and we are Instagram-ready!
It’s the end of the tech boom, e-commerce is dead. Mike and Justin decide now would be a good time to “get online,” and in April 2001 enter the Internet Age and launch a website.
Like-minded folks gather on our lively online forums – the first of their kind in Australia – to discuss their health issues.
Tough times, and Mike amalgamates the town’s other two pharmacies into Chapman & Wood, employing all their staff.
This prompts the first of two major renovations; the second occurs in 2014, and includes the addition of specialised areas for preparing Webster Paks, packing online orders and compounding medicines.
Our fifth major website overhaul in 17 years, integrating the knowledgable, friendly service and competitive prices which form the cornerstone of our business into a site that is fun and easy to use no matter whether you are local or from afar.
