'When I sold, I was lost': 80-year-old pharmacist has no plans to retire

He tried it once but it wasn't for him.

Being a pharmacist is more than a job for Mr McLeod.

"I enjoy it. If I didn't enjoy it I wouldn't be here. I'm not doing it because I have to," he said.

And Mr McLeod still has no plans to ever retire - not until he really has to.

"I get the comment: 'Oh you're still here, you haven't retired yet'. My answer is: 'I'm on the good pills. It keeps me going'. They get a laugh out of that," he said.

"I got absorbed into pharmacy right from when I was a kid."

From age 11, he started working as a delivery boy for a pharmacy in Lava Street - a store that no longer exists but was opposite where Coles supermarket is now.

He did that until he finished school. Mr McLeod did his pharmacy training - both here and in Melbourne - which was in the process of transitioning away from apprenticeships.

He got his Bachelor of Pharmacy in 1969, and returned to Warrnambool to work at a pharmacy in the T&G building on the corner of Lava and Liebig streets.

In 1980, he got the chance to manage a little pharmacy in what is now the Target centre - something he did for about 18-months before he bought it.

While it was called Target Pharmacy, it had nothing to do with the retail giant, Mr McLeod said.

When Target wanted to expand and take over the whole space in Koroit Street, he moved across the road into what was a furniture shop in the then Meade's Arcade.

He changed its name to Don McLeod's pharmacy and he operated that until 2009 when he sold it.

But selling to Direct Chemist Outlet wasn't an easy decision. At 67, he thought it was time he should be finishing up.

"I hated selling because I'm on my own. I never married and I was actually married to pharmacy. I just loved it," he said.

"It took me a couple of days to sign those papers.

"When I sold, I was lost."

Having never played sport, a friend suggested he take up bowls.

"He said 'you can play Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and if you haven't had enough you can play Saturday, Sunday'," Mr McLeod said.

"I got into bowls and I love it. But there's only so much bowls you can play."

Knowing how hard it was for Mr McLeod to walk away from the business he loved, the new owners later offered him a job - something he jumped at.

Mr McLeod, who has been a life member of the Pharmaceutical Society for 55 years, has worked full-time until recently.

Even then, he still works about 20 hours a week at both Direct Chemist Outlet near Target and at Soulsby and Struth Pharmacy in Liebig Street.

And he hasn't stopped learning, this year going to Melbourne to a vaccination course so he can complete tasks like administering flu injections.