If you have been looking to buy a health or beauty product, the chances are you will have shopped at a Boots somewhere in the UK. The pharmacy and retailer is a stalwart of Britain's high streets, where it has served generations of customers for decades. But now it is set to enter its 178th year under new ownership after an £7bn deal was agreed this week - here's three ways it could affect your shopping experience.
Upgrading its portfolio of 1,800 stores is high on the list of Boots' new owners, Wittington Investments. This is the holding company of the Westons - a wealthy and retail-steeped Canadian family who used to own Selfridges and currently own several large retailers across the Atlantic. The UK branch of the family also controls the owner of Primark, Associated British Foods (ABF).
What Boots stores might look like in the future has not been disclosed. Business has been good for Boots in recent years, and new-look beauty areas in some of its bigger shops have given shoppers more of a department store experience, according to Sofie Willmott, an associate director and analyst at GlobalData Retail. Since the opening of its first beauty-only store in 2023 in the Battersea Power Station development, it says it has redesigned over 180 beauty halls, while also opening its first fragrance concept store and an Opticians dedicated to luxury eyewear.
"They should invest in the rest of the chain because they've got such a big store portfolio that I think some of the smaller stores have really lacked investment over time, and I think that is something that they need to kind of catch up with," Willmott says. A more "consistent" look would also be an improvement, Willmott adds. "At the moment there is a bit of a disconnect." Jackie Naghten, a retail industry veteran who has worked for the likes of Top Shop, Marks & Spencer and Debenhams, thinks Boots' stores need to be made "more functional" by not having their health hubs "squeezed in the corner".
But Yasmin Trimble, 22, who buys beauty products from Boots, likes how the easy stores are to navigate. "You can get everything you need...it is not confusing. It has got a cleaner aesthetic to it as well." Boots was an early adopter of the loyalty cards commonly offered today by companies offering points and discounts to customers who sign up.
Its Advantage card, launched in 1997, is unlikely to go away and remains popular. Naghten doesn't think they would get rid of it. "It's the best-value store card in terms of bang for your buck." The card offers shoppers three points for every pound they spend.
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