Boots has taken a gamble on its Oxford store with a new interior that could be the future mould for the chain. John Ryan asks if it will pay off

It’s been quite a year for Alliance Boots. No sooner had the old Boots Group been merged with Alliance Unichem it became the first FTSE 100 retailer to be removed from the index by private equity investors.

Prior to this, Boots’ store format team put together a new look for the Sedley Place flagship on Oxford Street, which received a number of favourable plaudits. But since then, relatively little appears to have happened in terms of store design – although, doubtless, Alliance Boots would take issue with this view of events.

In fairness, much of what was new at Sedley Place has subsequently been exported more generally across the chain – in particular, the way-finding and navigational elements and the enhanced beauty offer. But, in terms of evolving the overall look and feel of Boots branches, little seems to have changed.

The retailer’s new-format team has not been idle, however, and evidence of its industry is apparent at the Oxford store, which has just emerged from a 12-week makeover with a look that shouts Boots at every corner, but which represents a significant move on from previous iterations.

Boots’ Oxford shop is in the middle of the city. Located on Cornmarket Street – the pedestrianised shopping thoroughfare that links one group of historic colleges with another, as well as being a destination for shoppers – it also serves as a central cut-through for students hurrying to make their lectures. As such, it is also a street on which a preponderance of young and clever people are constantly in transit.

And, for those pausing outside Boots, there would appear to be little difference between this fascia and what you might find at any of the health and beauty giant’s other branches. But there are subtle changes in the messaging and the way in which it is presented.

Boots format proposition manager Stephen Haynes points to the green cross, a symbol of health, which forms part of a poster in the window. “We’d like to have been able to put one of these as a sign sticking out from the building, but the planners only allowed us one sign,” he says. In the event, the sole bus stop-style sign emerging from the fascia is a glossy version of the staple Boots logo.

Inside, things are different. This is a two-floor store and Haynes says that one of the objectives of the revamp has been to test various “interventions” aimed at improving the use of space in larger stores.

The first and most obvious of these is the ability to see from one end to the other of the ground floor’s substantial footprint. A central aisle allows this and, as in all of the best health and beauty stores, cosmetics and branded offers are at the front. There are in fact two entrances to the shop, but the great mass of shoppers enter from Cornmarket Street and it is from here that the aisle leads deep into the interior.

There is much that is familiar, but the internal arrangement is not what Boots shoppers might expect. At most two-floor Boots outlets, the pharmacy is on the ground floor. But, at Oxford, there is no sign of this – it has been relocated to the upper floor. Haynes says that one of the goals has been to create a sense of separation between health and beauty. To make this a reality, all well-being-related categories have been moved upstairs. He recognises that this may not be in tune with what some shoppers expect when visiting Boots, but says that it has created a format that can be quickly read and understood by shoppers.

Back on the ground floor, Haynes points out Origins, a range of natural cosmetics displayed in a bay on the left-hand wall. To create the required sense of difference for this brand, this area is partly wood-built with back-lit shelving. The effect brings to mind a Body Shop interior, but it still gives the range its own identity.

Much of what has been done on the ground floor is about brand identity. In the central area, a series of oval units have been installed for premium brands. These are lit at floor level and a neutrally coloured geometric design serves as the background for each of the shelves. Each brand is given its own area on these units and explanations on product use are provided at shelf level. This is done using glass-fronted boxes, set into the units. The sense is that, although this is upscale merchandise, what you see is what you get.

Pushing the boat out

The same principle is followed with the standard mid-floor units. Boots’ in-house equivalent of the Origins range, Botanics, is displayed on one long fixture. Haynes says that this is a departure from the norm for the retailer because Botanics is a cross-category range that would normally be found in the relevant areas of the shop. The decision to pull it together and display it as a coherent offer is a measure of the confidence that Boots has in its own brands. It shows faith in the idea that, displayed correctly, Botanics can work as a competitor to some of the big cosmetic houses.

Elsewhere on this floor, there is a large supermarket-style checkout area, with a queue that seems to move very quickly, and a much smaller space devoted to men’s grooming. The fact that you have passed from female to male beauty is denoted by a change from pink strips on the centre-floor equipment to grey. There is also a shift from the pink light that washes the upper perimeter in the women’s area, to blue. Boots seems anxious to reinforce sexual stereotypes – probably the result of its failed male grooming stores in Bristol and Edinburgh some years ago.

Mention should also be made of the large illuminated circle suspended overhead in the middle of the shop. Haynes describes this as a piece of “architectural ephemera”, but adds that it serves to define the space.

Upstairs, the floor for health, photography and children’s products has a completely different ambiance, with the emphasis on efficiency and getting what you want easily. The wood-trimmed prescription counter has a Scandinavian cleanness about it and large graphics are used as an adjunct to words, to help shoppers get to where they need to be quickly. A clear Sedley Place legacy is at work here, but with more of a human touch. It’s a facet of the refurbishment that Sarah Page, creative director at design consultancy Household, which worked on the Boots Opticians that is also on this floor, is keen to emphasise.

The in-store optician is a new feature. Previously, the local branch of Boots Opticians was operated from a standalone site around the corner, but when the lease expired, the chance was taken to bring it into the main store. Among a number of things, the human and more welcoming touch is evident in the strapline created by Household for this area: “Because we care about your eyes as much as we care about the rest of you.”

At the photography department, the emphasis is almost entirely on digital, rather than conventional film-based imaging. Next to this, there are tables with computers giving shoppers access to Boots’ web site – a first for the retailer.

Finally, in the high-volume disposable nappies area, the base of each wall unit allows room for a wheeled basket containing the products, making for faster replenishment. Haynes says this is essential, because it is a price-based category, where volume needs to be shifted in order to remain competitive with the big supermarkets.

There is much that marks out the Oxford shop as a move on from what has gone before. A similar treatment has been given to the Kingston store, but a decision has yet to be made about what happens next. Like Sedley Place, the real test will be how cost-effective features such as the oval units prove to be and whether they can be rolled out. Meanwhile, Oxford’s gilded youth can be happy in the knowledge that they are at the top of the Boots tree.