BURNABY, British Columbia — Peoples Drug Mart plans to cease operations this month as a pharmacy group.

Interim chief executive officer Mark Dickson said Friday that the 45 independently owned stores in the Peoples Drug Mart network will operate under new banners.

Dickson attribued Peoples’ demise after 41 years to the continued squeeze on pharmacy margins across Canada.

Coping with the pressure requires retail pharmacy banners to operate with scale, he said, “and increasingly national scale is needed.”

Plans call for Peoples to cease operations on March 24. Most members have chosen a new banner and are engaged in a transition to the new name, according to Dickson.

The group’s stores, all in British Columbia, include the 4,000-square-foot Peoples Drug Mart format and the 1,500-square-foot Peoples Pharmacy format.