Extending an Existing Pharmacy Shelving System: How Add-On Bays Work and When to Use Them

Most pharmacy operators will recognise this situation: the store has grown, the product range has expanded, and the existing shelving is no longer keeping up. The instinct is often to plan a full refit but in many cases, the smarter and more cost effective solution is simply extending what you already have. Gondola shelving is designed from the outset with this in mind. Add-on bays are the built-in growth mechanism of any modular system, and understanding how they work can save a significant amount of time, disruption, and budget.

Browse our complete range of pharmacy shelving solutions to see what’s available for your fitout.

What Makes Gondola Shelving Modular in the First Place

Gondola shelving is engineered as a connected system, not a series of standalone units. Each run is built around a set of core components, uprights, base decks, back panels, and shelves that work together across multiple bays and are designed to accept additional bays without structural modification.

Starter bays form the beginning of a run and include both uprights. Add-on bays extend that run by sharing an upright with the adjacent starter bay, eliminating hardware duplication and reducing the cost per bay as the run grows. This shared upright design is what makes gondola shelving genuinely modular: the system was built from the outset to grow.

It is worth establishing this clearly, because extending an existing gondola run with add-on bays is not a workaround or a compromise, it is exactly what the system was designed to do. The bays connect seamlessly, the shelving runs remain structurally sound, and the visual result is indistinguishable from a run that was installed all at once.

See our full gondola shelving range for bay specifications, heights, and configuration options.

Five Signs Your Pharmacy Has Outgrown Its Current Shelving

These are the most common situations that bring pharmacy operators to Shopfittings Direct looking for an extension solution rather than a full refit. If any of the following sound familiar, add-on bays are likely the most practical first step.

• A new product category has been added, natural health, baby care, cosmetics, or an expanded vitamins range and there is nowhere logical to merchandise it within the existing floor layout
• Products are being double stacked or pushed to the back of shelves in ways that reduce visibility and customer access, which affects both the shopping experience and sales
• Seasonal stock is regularly displacing core range products rather than being accommodated alongside them, leading to disrupted planograms and lost sales on permanent lines
• Browsable products are ending up in the storeroom because there is no display space available on the floor stock that customers cannot see cannot sell
• The store has relocated or expanded into larger premises, and the existing shelving does not fill the available floor space or define the aisle structure that the new footprint requires

None of these situations necessarily requires a full refit. They are the exact scenarios that add-on bays are designed to resolve. Before ordering, however, it is worth understanding exactly how add-on bays work and what to check to ensure compatibility with your existing system.

How Add-On Bays Work and What to Check Before Ordering

Add-on bays share an upright with the adjacent starter bay, meaning there is no doubling up on structural components at the join point. The result is a seamless extension of the existing run at a lower per bay cost than adding a new starter bay. The connection is designed to be flush and structurally integral, so the extended run performs identically to the original.

Compatibility is the critical factor. Add-on bays must match the following specifications of the existing system before an order is placed:

• Height — common pharmacy shelving heights are 1200mm, 1500mm, and 1800mm; mismatching heights creates structural and visual problems at the join point
• Bay width — 900mm and 1000mm are the most common widths in Australian pharmacy fitouts; shelves, base decks, and back panels are all sized to the bay width
• Back panel type — slatwall, flat pegboard, volcano punch panel, or mesh; each type uses different accessory systems and must be consistent across a run
• Colour and finish — particularly important in front-of-store, health and beauty, and cosmetics areas where visual consistency across the run is commercially significant
• Load rating — worth confirming if the new bays will carry heavier product categories than the existing run was originally specified for

When Add-On Bays Are the Right Solution

Add-on bays are the right call in most situations where a pharmacy’s shelving capacity has been outpaced by its product range. Specifically, they work best when:

• The existing shelving system is in good structural condition and the components match what is currently available from the manufacturer
• The floor plan allows for a longer run in the same aisle without compromising customer flow or emergency egress requirements
• The goal is to expand display capacity in a specific zone rather than reconfigure the entire store layout
• Speed matters, add-on bays can be dispatched quickly and installed with minimal disruption to trading, which is a meaningful advantage in a pharmacy that cannot afford significant downtime
• Budget is a consideration, extending with add-on bays is significantly more cost-effective than replacing bays or commissioning a full fitout rebuild

Add-on bays can also be ordered incrementally — one or two bays at a time as the business grows,  rather than committing to a large order upfront. This staged approach works well for independent pharmacies managing capital expenditure carefully across a financial year.

When You May Need to Think Beyond Add-On Bays

Add-on bays are not always the answer. There are situations where a broader fitout conversation is warranted, and it is worth being clear about what those are.

• The existing shelving is a different height, width, or back panel configuration to what the store now requires in which case extending the current run creates an inconsistent result
• The floor plan itself needs to change aisle repositioning, new category zones, or a fundamentally different layout that the current run configuration cannot accommodate
• The existing system is worn, damaged, or no longer meeting commercial load bearing standards and should be replaced rather than extended
• A new store section is being introduced a dedicated natural health area, an expanded cosmetics wall, or a new dispensary adjacent zone that calls for a different shelving format or back panel system entirely

In these situations, a partial refit is often the most practical approach  and even then, add-on bays are likely to remain part of the solution for the runs of shelving that are still performing well. Shopfittings Direct can advise on when to extend and when to replace, and help design a staged approach that protects the investment already made in your existing system.

Accessories to Order Alongside Your Add-On Bays

New bays need to be retail ready on arrival. Ordering accessories at the same time as the bays avoids a second freight cost and means the extension can be fully merchandised as soon as it is installed. The key accessories to consider alongside your add-on bay order include:

• Additional shelves, hooks and prongs — sized to match the existing system, ensuring the new bays are configured consistently with the run they are extending
• Data strip pricing label holders — for consistent shelf edge presentation across the extended run
• Shelf dividers for categories with smaller product formats — such as vitamins, lip care, and travel size toiletries, where dividers improve product presentation and reduce facing collapse
• Slatwall accessories — additional shelves, display bins, and hangrails,  if extending a slatwall backed gondola system where the new bays need to carry a different product type to the existing run

How Shopfittings Direct Supports Pharmacy Shelving Extensions

Shopfittings Direct has been supplying modular shelving systems to Australian pharmacies and chemist stores for more than 20 years. Standard gondola components are held in stock at our Smithfield warehouse for fast dispatch, with same day delivery available across the Sydney metro area, priority overnight freight to Canberra, and nationwide tracked freight to all other states and regions.

Our Smithfield showroom at 24 Sammut Street is where operators can compare their existing system specifications against new bay configurations in person before ordering a practical step that eliminates the risk of specification mismatches on larger extension orders.

For larger extension orders or multi store rollouts, we recommend requesting a quote so we can confirm specifications, advise on component compatibility, and ensure the order is complete before it ships.

Conclusion

Extending with add-on bays is the most practical and cost effective way to grow a pharmacy’s display capacity without the disruption or expense of a full refit. The system was designed for exactly this purpose and in most cases, the existing investment in gondola shelving can simply be built upon rather than replaced. The key step before ordering is confirming compatibility: height, width, back panel type, and colour finish. Get those right, and the extension is straightforward.

To get started, visit us at the Smithfield showroom, request an obligation free quote, call the team on (02) 9608 5122, or email sales@shopfittingsdirect.com.au to discuss your extension requirements.