Dr. Max is coming to Brăila Plaza

Dr. Max, the pharmacy chain, is coming to Brăila Plaza, the retail park developed, built and operated by NestPlus on Strada Industriei 17M in Brăila. The park opens on 3 December 2026.

The pharmacy joins dm on the health-and-beauty side of the park. Kaufland and Lidl are already trading on the site, and Action, JYSK, PEPCO, Sinsay and TEDi are among the brands covering everyday needs. For shoppers, that means a prescription, vitamins or skincare can be picked up on the same trip as the weekly shop. Dr. Max already has several pharmacies in Brăila; the new one extends the chain's presence in the city.

Dr. Max Group was founded in the Czech Republic in 2004 and is backed by the investment group Penta Investments. Its six core markets are the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Poland, Italy and Serbia, and, according to Economedia, it is present in 18 European countries in all. In July 2026 the group reported more than 3,300 pharmacies, plus a joint-venture investment in more than 580 others, over 22,000 employees and 13.2 million customers, and described itself as Europe's largest pharmacy chain by number of units. In 2025 group revenue rose 15% to 6.3 billion euro, with EBITDA of 365 million euro, according to Forbes România.

Dr. Max entered Romania in June 2017 by acquiring the Farmaciile Arta chain, with 31 pharmacies. In December that year the takeover of A&D Pharma was announced; the deal covered the Sensiblu and Punkt chains and the Mediplus distributor. The Competition Council cleared it in April 2018, creating a combined network of 613 pharmacies. In February 2020 the Dr. Max brand was introduced in 418 of the group's 618 pharmacies in Romania. In February 2023 the remaining 200 Sensiblu pharmacies also switched to Dr. Max, retiring a brand that had for 25 years named the country's second-largest pharmacy network. In April 2023 A&D Pharma changed its name to Dr. Max România.

The network has kept growing, largely through acquisitions. In May 2023 the Competition Council cleared the purchase of Gedeon Richter's pharmacies in Romania and the Pharmafarm distributor; at that point Dr. Max had more than 850 pharmacies in the country. By 2024 the network had reached almost 1,000 pharmacies, according to Ziarul Financiar (May 2026), and according to trade-register data cited by Economica.net (June 2026) it now has more than 1,100. In September 2026 the Competition Council also cleared the acquisition of 18 pharmacies previously run by Marcos Provit. According to Ziarul Financiar (July 2026), Dr. Max has the largest pharmacy network in the country. In 2025 Dr. Max România reported net turnover of almost 12.5 billion lei, up 16% on 2024 and its highest level since entering the market in 2017. Net profit was more than 46 million lei, and the company had an average of 5,835 employees.

Dr. Max pharmacies sell prescription and over-the-counter medicines and fill compensated and free prescriptions. They also stock food supplements, dermocosmetics, mother-and-baby products and medical devices. The own-brand range runs to more than 500 products, and the online pharmacy lists more than 30,000. Since 2020, online orders can be collected free of charge in a pharmacy through Click & Collect. For 2026 the company has budgeted 70 million euro of investment in Romania, mainly in warehouse capacity, automation and IT systems, including plans for a new, highly automated warehouse of more than 10,000 m² in Cluj-Napoca. This follows around 300 million euro invested in Romania in 2021–2025. Cezar Zaharia, CEO of Dr. Max România, says the investments are designed around consolidation and efficiency.

For Brăila Plaza, Dr. Max brings a pharmacy, with compensated prescriptions, the chain's loyalty card and free collection of online orders, to a place people already visit for their weekly shop, next to the park's everyday shops and food court, on the same site as Kaufland and Lidl. For Dr. Max, it is one more address in Brăila.