Boots to close down 300 shops across country despite recent profit increase - is your local at risk?
27 June 2023, 20:16 | Updated: 28 June 2023, 10:00
Boots has announced plans to shut down 300 stores across the country in a bid to increase ‘efficiency’.
The high street retailer and pharmacist has announced it will be closing 300 stores across the country as it wants to reduce the company's portfolio by removing stores that are already located near other branches.
The move will see the number of stores across the country fall from 2,200 to 1,900.
It comes despite the retailer’s 13.4% jump in sales in the three months that ended in May, compared to the same three months in 2022.
The retailer has also seen a boost the number of people shopping in the store online, as its digital sales recently rose by a quarter.
Addressing its recent quarterly results, the retailer said: “Over the next year Boots will continue to consolidate a number of stores in close proximity to each other.
“Evolving the store estate in this way allows Boots to concentrate its team members where they are needed and focus investment more acutely in individual stores with the ambition of consistently delivering an excellent and reliable service in a fresh and up to date environment.”
Read more: Major pharmacy chain to close 237 branches in supermarkets today – is your local affected?
The branches will close over the next year and affect the stores that are currently running at a loss. A full list is yet to be published.
James Kehoe, global chief financial officer at Boots’ parent company, Walgreens Boots Alliance, told analysts yesterday: "We will continue to optimise our locations and opening hours, and expect to close an additional 300 locations in the UK and 150 locations in the US."
It comes after the high street retailer already shut a number of stores across the country this year and shut more than 200 over 18 months from 2019.
Earlier this month, Lloyds Pharmacy also announced the closure of 237 branches which were located in Sainsbury's supermarkets across the UK.
Boots has some 52,000 staff currently but it is not yet known exactly how the move will impact employees.
