All about Pharmacy Stores in Norway

Working in Norway as a Pharmacist is popular among pharmacists these days yet many people including registered pharmacists don’t know where to start.

In this online guide, you will be able to find information on pharmacy chains, and their pharmacy branches in different cities of Norway.

In Norway, there is a total of 1032 pharmacies, belonging to different pharmacy chains. A large number belong to retail pharmacy chains some are hospital pharmacies and others are independent-running pharmacies.

Svaneapoteket in Bergen, established in 1595, marked the inception of pharmacy services in Norway. This was followed by the establishment of Svaneapoteket in Oslo in 1628, Hygiea in Stavanger in 1650, elefantapoteket in Kristiansand in 1651, and Løveapoteket in Trondheim in 1661.

These pioneering pharmacies were granted royal permits upon their founding. A pivotal development occurred in 1600 when a decree was issued, reserving pharmacy ownership exclusively for trained pharmacists who were private individuals.

This arrangement bestowed upon them a regional monopoly. Remarkably, this framework persisted unchanged for over four centuries.

List of Pharmacy chains in Norway

Retail pharmacy chains are leaders in the medicine sector. Below is a list of pharmacy chains and their websites to look for more information.

1. Apotek 1 – Norway’s Favourite Pharmacy
   This chain currently holds the highest number of pharmacies throughout Norway. A total of 450 pharmacies.
2. Vitusapotek – Smart pharmacy of Norway
   There is a total of 301 pharmacy stores under this chain.
3. Boots Pharmacy Norway
   Being an international pharmacy chain and a more prominent pharmacy chain in Europe. Boots Pharmacy currently holds 149 stores.
4. Ditt apotek: It is a small group of pharmacy chains with 71 stores all over Norway.
5. Other Pharmacies: Aside from the chain of pharmacies rest of them are Hospital and independent pharmacies
6. Hospital Pharmacies

Each of the four regional health authorities owns a pharmaceutical trust that oversees hospital pharmacies and is set up as a health trust.

If you are a Pharmacist and looking forward to working in Norway as a registered Pharmacist you can visit our Guide on how to become a Pharmacist in Norway.

However, some hospitals choose to do business with chain pharmacies. Ditt Apotek owns 33 hospital pharmacies in total.

Alliance Healthcare is the supplier for all hospital pharmacies.

1. Southern and Eastern Norway Pharmaceutical Trust: 19 outlets
2. Western Norway Pharmaceutical Trust: 6 outlets
3. Central Norway Pharmaceutical Trust: 4 outlets
4. Northern Norway Pharmaceutical Trust: 4 outlets

Independent pharmacy owners are few but they have built their businesses for decades. One can find them providing services where competition is low but services are essentially needed.

Norway Pharmacy Jobs

These pharmacy chains are always hiring for new branches as there seems to be a shortage of pharmacists in Norway.

This information is gathered from Norway’s Pharmacy Council website.