Boots, owned by US giant Walgreens, announced at the beginning of the year its plans to reduce the number of UK sites from 2,200 to 1,900. Closing 300 stores in 2023 will help “consolidate the business”, the retailer explained.
A total of six Boots sites will permanently close their doors before Christmas, and two of them will be shutting down next week, on October 28.
The company is consolidating “a number of stores in close proximity to each other” in the UK, and explained that affected Boots workers have been offered “alternative roles”.
The decision will allow Boots to “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”.
At least 6,000 stores have closed down in the UK in the last five years according to the British Retail Consortium as a result of “crippling business rates, a wave of administrations during the pandemic, and hesitancy around new openings,” the Retailgazette reported.
