This branch of McKay Pharmacy is situated in an ideal location, especially if you are a patient at…read morethe adjoining Regency Medical Centre. This is incredibly convenient; as you can receive your prescription from the doctors and usually collect it within 10 minutes. The dispensary staff are extremely efficient, working in a factory line-esque manner to ensure that prescriptions are ready for customers as soon as possible. However if there is a slight delay, there is more than plenty to occupy yourself with. Upon entering the shop, it is hard not to ignore the wall of perfumes and cosmetics. As well as perfumes, McKay also sells a large range of toiletries- most of which are usually priced at 99p. There is also a refrigerator stocking energy drinks, as well as a library of pamphlets relating to medical conditions. Although McKay is slightly muddled in its layout, it location (coupled with its professionalism as a dispensary clinic) makes it a winner in my view.

I want to give this chemist shop 2 and a half stars because it has some good pros and some bad…read morecons. Let me start with the cons. I have to go in here every once in a while to collect prescriptions - I won't get into it but I'm fine. I hate the place for prescription collection. The girls behind the counter don't smile or even really make eye contact. There is no personality or feeling in the place and the queues - there must be a lot of sick people in Ards because the shortest amount of time I've had to wait in here was 10 minutes and the longest was knocking on twenty-five! The reasons I like it are that firstly they sell household produce as well so you can pick up some kitchen roll or some cleaning products while you are in. Secondly they seem to have nice little sales on every time I'm in - not everything just selected makeup and perfume and the reductions are good. there was a bottle of Kylie Minogue perfume reduced to £8.00 the other day and I was tempted. To summarise call in if you have time to wait and don't expect anything pleasant except maybe the sale counter. I'm more of a Boots girl myself.

In a shopping centre that has a Boots and A Superdrug Semi Chem faces some stiff competition, but…read moreit manages to overcome this competition. How I hear you ask? Well In my opinion it is a little different to all of the other chemists, firstly it is not a typical chemist, you can not pick up your prescription in Semi Chem but you can pick up you deodorant, aftershave and maybe even some hair wax. But you can do all this in Boots? Yes, but Semi Chem is like the lovechild of Boots and Pound land as it provides all your personal hygiene items for around about a pound. Semi Chem also always have special offers on Aftershave sets, so if you want to smell like David Beckham did when he played for Man Utd I would go to Semi Chem and pick up a bargain. The staff are always really good in here too, Boots is the snob of the Chemist world whereas Semi Chem is the warm friendly next door neighbour that you can share your troubles and a cup of tea with and come out smelling of roses or just lynx.

Ards Shopping centre was the scene of this very story, its an epic so hold on to your hats. Reading…read morethis will be an epiphany moment, the event in question was for me. Its all about the Boots card baby! About 5 years ago I went Christmas shopping with my big brother who is 6 years my senior and when we got to the counter to pay the lady asked him did he have a Boots card and I expected a flat out "NO" but to my surprise he whipped one out of his pocket proud as punch. On the way out of the shop, after I picked up my jaw from the floor, I said, "Mate, don't you know they are just for girls?" He replied, "When you get older and start shaving you will get one I guarantee it!" Needless to say I laughed and shock my head. But five years on...and It appears Ian my big bro has indeed had the last laugh. He was right. The Boots card is an epic, better than the blue blockbuster or the Sub Club. Now when the checkout girl doesn't ask me for it I get offended. Anyway you can rack up some serious point, last year I bought pretty much all my Christmas presents fro Boots and any aftershave I needed. This made me around £20 in points...now you may laugh and say that's not much but it is amazing for the odd meal deal here and there. So although I wouldn't say that Boots is the best pharmacy around o certainly not the cheapest but its advantage card is the business. When I leave the house I tap my pockets and say in my head, Keys? Check. Wallet? Check. Phone? Check. Boots card? You bet'cha!

If there's one thing that's better than buying makeup, it's buying reduced makeup. Being a typical…read morefemale, I know I appreciate getting a bargain when it comes to cosmetics. Or a bargain when it comes to anything really. But especially makeup. You can imagine my delight when I discovered a brand new Bourjois mascara with £2 off the RRP, plus a half price Bourjois concealer (which fortunately came in the right colour...I hate when you can only find the darkest shade available when you're like a 'milk-bottle-without-the-milk' shade). Grabbing the two before some other nonexistent customer claimed that concealer, I quickly walked over towards the till and was met by an incredibly pleasant sales assistant. Yes, the world is a much nicer place when people are amiable and smiley... Since I'd been to the other chemists just down the road (review to follow), I hadn't the need to pick anything else up, and quite frankly, I was so overjoyed with my little find that I had no notion of looking any further. The pharmacy itself is a bright, clean and well-stocked one, with many of its prices incredibly good. I mean, it's not everyday you come across a half price Bourjois concealer...trust me.

I went to collect a prescription yesterday and they had to order one item which was expected in…read moretoday. I was on my way to Dublin for a few nights so I phoned to say it would be Friday before I could collect it. I was just about to leave when the door bell rang and the member of staff I had been speaking to yesterday was standing at the door with my prescription. It was definitely service with a smile and they undoubtedly went the extra mile. Amazing service could not recommend this chemist and the staff more highly.

One of a total of nine village pharmacies in Co. Antrim, the chemist in Whiteabbey could be worse,…read morebut it could be better. The staff at times seem some what snooty. I recently had to pay for a vaccination (for tick borne encephalitis, nasty I know!) and little did I know this would end up costing me £75! Had I known, I'm sure I would have gone with money in the bank, but jobless at the time and about to embark on a mission to Romania I was near enough broke. The woman looked at me like I had six heads. How dare I come to her shop with no money (Hello! It's a chemist!?!) I just wasn't too impressed. It used to be owned by the loveliest man called Mr Gracey. Ah back in those days I could have collected the script and paid in a few days, but oh no. Not on her watch! So they've definitely lost points there. Other than that, how different can any chemist be? It's certainly not got the lovely community feel of my local chemist (See Merville) so I don't think I'll be bothering with here any longer.

I was calling by with a friend for a quick collection for a prescription. My friend sat in his car…read morewaiting for me. It took a while before I was asked what I wanted and they were sterile in personality and not such a friendly face. They did all commuicate with each other for a while and after lots of questions they eventually said it wasn't in yet. After 2 phone calls and convincing them that it should be here, I eventually spent 30 minutes in total in that shop when my friend came in to see if I was still alive! The wee stocky woman (shop assitant) with the spikey hair was nasty looking, not helpful, very abrupt, tried to come across more important than she was. Thankfully the younger guy who was friendly and helpful did get the order, while the wee stocky woman walked off making excuses to the chemist and didn't even come back to speak or apologise to me. The young guy gave real good advice about how to double check about orders etc next time and really redeemed this store from getting no stars! Thanks matey!

This is a little pharmacy within an estate community, the staff are a very pleasant and happy to…read morehelp you with anything you need. The pharmastist is happy to help you,to advise if its something they can help with via over the counter medicine or if you need to see a doctor. All in all a great family pharmacy.

Not the biggest of chemists but you can get everything you need. Parking can be hard in newtownards…read morebut it is free.