premises because of uncertainty over the discussion on Independence. But principal, Ms Donna Pearman, said that planning stages are continuing, and there is still an expectation that they will break ground on the project soon.

Plans included a substantial redevelopment of the Victoria Street premises, more than doubling the storefront space. People's Pharmacy Ltd. also intends to undergo a significant computerisation programme, after a lengthy period of study. Ms Pearman said: "We are getting ready to computerise the entire operation. That again is a major, major operation. We will be going to point-of-sale and integrating that with the back office and an inventory package. "We have spent years looking at it, because once again, it was something that we had to put on the back burner, while we were watching the Independence debate. "We will have identified a package for sure now by the end of the year. Again, this decision too will involve a lot of money, so we want to make sure that it is the right package.'' Ms Pearman is at the head of a family effort. Her partners include father and mother Mr. and Mrs. Norris and Ilis Pearman, sister Mrs. Venetta Symonds and sister and brother-in-law Mrs. and Mr. Marva and Vandyke Allen. Ms Pearman said that family support has been a key to the success of an enterprise that has been able to avoid being in the red for each of its first ten years. But it is hard to believe that the woman, with the weight of a busy pharmacy on her sturdy but graceful shoulders, is actually a grandmother. At 43, Ms Pearman still believes that there is a way of getting every drop, sometimes "150 percent'', out of most things in life. The grandmother of a seven-month-old child and mother of two (a 22-year-old son Dion and a 19-year-old daughter Tamara), Ms Pearman is a graduate of Berkeley Institute, the Sixth Form Centre and Dalhousie where she obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy. The scholarship student is a fast track learner in the business world, too. She is overseeing a dozen full-time employees and another half dozen part-timers, comprising a staff that has seen little turn-over, and one that she describes as being second to none. It is a larger payroll than when the business first opened with just five full-timers. From the very beginning, People's Pharmacy has always been open to the public 83 hours a week. This October 31, will be its 11th anniversary. She remembers her scouting mission around the neighbourhood, getting the feel for the sort of business she could garner by opening the doors on the site near Joell's Alley. She noticed at the time that there were a number of doctor's offices nearby and the Government Clinic was across the street. After making a success of its first decade, the firm will now take its biggest risk yet, with expansion plans. Her eyes widened with a youthful smile as she disclosed: "We are ready to double the size of the shop. We are going to add on to the existing location. We are going to have three floors. We are going down under for the warehouse, so we will have much more warehouse space.

"Then we will expand along the sidewalk, the front of the shop, doubling the size of it, and we are also going to go up a floor. "We had purchased this building and we bought the building and land on the adjacent lot. We'll knock that building down and expand the pharmacy right along the roadside, increasing our frontage, and providing more accessible parking. "It could get up to a million dollar expansion, and we were originally projecting to have it ready for next summer. It will probably be a few months later, now. "We had decided to delay the plans, take a step back for just awhile and let the (Independence) issues settle down in Bermuda. Why make the major investment at a time when everybody is nervous. "Business is nervous. Employees have to be nervous. People in general have to be nervous. Many people have seen this period as a time to hold onto their dollars. Who knows what tomorrow brings.

The Independence issue, coming along as we appeared to be coming out of the recession, caused us to step back and delay.'' The company survived the recession fairly well. There were no staff cutbacks. But the firm remained competitive, taking direct action to maintain consumer demand, cutting some prices and absorbing some of the increased costs, delaying price increases.

"We've made money every year of operation. But during the recession, we had to watch our mark-ups, lowering them in some cases. "We made less money during the recession, but we felt we had to make less money to survive through the recession. We had to keep people coming into the pharmacy. We really appreciated out staff hanging in with us during the recession.'' The latest expansion will be the fourth that the company has had since opening. They do not close while the work is being done. "We leave that to the architects and the construction workers. We just tell them that we don't want to close.'' They are working on the plans now, feeling that they may be able to move once the referendum is over with. Donna Pearman is not just looking out for the success of her business. She also looks at the contributions she can make for the community good. It's a feeling that was perhaps delineated quite recently.

She sits on the Pharmacy Council, the advisory board to Government under the Pharmacy Act. The business is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and the Employers Council. But she told us: "I visited Casemates the other day. The thing that really struck me was the overwhelming proportion of young black men. In some cases, I sensed that some had no real shame about being in prison. "I've thought a long time about the possibility of getting into politics. But I don't know that I want to get into the whole PLP/UBP thing.

But I'd like to do something in an area of the community that will make a difference, something that will stand on its own. "I see the physical abuse faced by women in society. So many women are suffering mental and physical abuse. I don't understand why women take it. So there are a number of areas I've been looking at, because I've also thought about the type of abuse that men suffer from women.'' She spends a lot more time in the back office these days, after the store was originally built around her. She even tries to take a little time for herself these days. This summer she intends to spend some time cruising Bermuda's waters on her 20-foot Bayliner, which she so appropriately named "Belladonna''. PHOTO MS DONNA PEARMAN -- She is at the head of a family effort. Her partners include father and mother Mr. and Mrs. Norris and Ilis Pearman, sister Mrs.

Venetta Symonds and sister and brother-in-law Mrs. and Mr. Marva and Vandyke Allen.