From next month, Boots will organise its UK stores portfolio into four formats, led by UK stores director Simon Roberts, who reports to managing director Alex Gourlay.
Previously separated by geographic areas, Boots’ four formats are Local Pharmacy, Health & Beauty, Flagship and UK Airports. The Republic of Ireland stores sit in a separate group.
“Since the privatisation, we have looked at how we can reorganise the portfolio to deliver the best of both Boots and Alliance Pharmacy to customers,” said Roberts. “We needed to make the transition seamless while maintaining strong performance, so we’re calling April our mid-air refuel.”
As part of the move, the Alliance Pharmacy stores and about 200 of the smaller Boots stores will be rebranded to Your Local Boots Pharmacy. The first two launched in a trial last month and the remainder will be converted within two years.
The Your Local Boots Pharmacy stores will retain the same staff and services, with additional Boots products and shoppers will be able to use their Boots Advantage Card.
“We needed to respect the two cultures of Boots and Alliance Pharmacy and Your Local Boots Pharmacy reflects this,” said Roberts. “The Alliance stores had a very local feel, very community-focused, where staff have relationships with their customers. We have retained this feel with the rebrand, but also given those customers the added benefit of Boots products and services.”
The 1,256 Local Pharmacy stores, 1,067 Health & Beauty, and 39 UK Airports shops will be run by store managers, area managers and regional managers, reporting to the five divisional directors, who report to Roberts. The 65 Flagship stores have general and regional managers.
Roberts said there have been no redundancies in the reorganisation and the retailer will hire more store staff to improve customer service and put customers at the heart of its new stores operation.
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