One of the great husband and wife partnerships in Australian business has gone on to the next phase in their lives, with Terry and Rhonda White selling their remaining businesses.
What started with Mr White’s first pharmacy at Woody Point on the Redcliffe Peninsula north of Brisbane in 1958 grew into one of Australia’s largest franchise chemist chains.
Along the way the couple helped change the nature of pharmacies and create the modern multibillion-dollar sector of the retail market.
“It’s been a long journey. It’s such a detailed business, it takes time to extract yourself out of it because of licensing rules and things of that nature,” said Mr White, who is now 87.
“But we’ve completed the sale of that part of the business and we are now looking forward to the next stage of our lives.”
Both pharmacists, the Whites met at a training course and married in 1961, and soon after Rhonda opened her first pharmacy at Clontarf, near Woody Point.
They owned a string of pharmacies and in 1994 established the franchise business Terry White Chemists and grew to more than 225 locations.
That business merged with Chemmart in 2016 and two years later the White family sold their remaining stake in what was renamed TerryWhite Chemmart to Australasian healthcare group EBOS for $50m.
TerryWhite Chemmart has grown to become one of the nation’s most recognised pharmacy brands with over 540 locations across Australia.
In February this year, the Whites sold their remaining pharmacies at Australia Fair on the Gold Coast and the Myer Centre in the Brisbane CDB and have now also sold their pharmacies services business – White Retail Group – to EBOS.
To honour their contributions, EBOS is hosting a dinner for the Whites at the Emporium Hotel in South Brisbane on Thursday night (September 21).
Their partnership began after Rhonda was hurt playing golf and a concerned Terry sent her flowers. “He was pretty persistent and I think that’s probably why we’re where we are today. Terry’s drive and persistence is pretty incredible. And as I say I love the way he’s always right even when he’s not,” Ms White said.
Over the years they also raised a family and Mr White had a 10-year stint in politics, becoming a Queensland cabinet minister before going on to become leader of Queensland’s Liberal Party in 1983 until, he said, “the people of Redcliffe had the good sense to vote me out”.
“That was a period of time when Rhonda was CEO and took over full management of the business and my son (Anthony) who was a chartered accountant came into it as well,” he said.
“Rhonda has been the heart and soul of the brand and done a remarkable job. Without her operational skills I doubt that we would have got off the ground the way we did. It’s been a wonderful journey – and to do that with your wife.”
Mr White said post-politics they saw an opportunity to develop a national pharmacy franchise. “We were very fortunate to run into a whole group of people who were already working in pharmacies and were looking for the opportunity to do something with their careers,” he said.
“Franchising gave a business opportunity to so many young people.”
Mr White said pharmacies are part of the community and on the healthcare frontline.
“In 2014, together with the Queensland government and other pharmacies in Queensland, we were proud to bring the Queensland Pharmacist Immunisation Pilot program for flu vaccines to life, setting a path for pharmacist-led vaccination services,” he said.
“I’m excited to see scope expanding and look forward to seeing pharmacists prescribing for minor ailments as part of the Far North Queensland Scope of Practice Pilot – a future we have always imagined and worked towards. Pharmacies have the capacity to free up the public system and help them do the jobs they should be doing instead of being clogged up.”
Mr White said he would be kept busy compiling and digitising his business and political documents for the State Library, while the couple will also be building a large family home on Hamilton Hill in Brisbane’s eastern suburbs.
Ms White said she had a few ideas on what to do in her spare time and much of it would centre around her family and their new home.
“All good things come from the family,” she said.
Ms White said pharmacies were an essential part of the community.
“I think pharmacies while being very accessible have been undervalued,” she said. “At the heart of our success has always been our belief in people: our customers, our staff, and our partners.
“We’ve striven to make a difference in their lives and empower them to take charge of their health, their careers and their businesses. The legacy that Terry and I have built will live on through those we’ve been lucky to have met and to have been inspired by.”
The family will remain linked to the TerryWhite Chemmart brand, with son Anthony the CEO and an executive director.
