High street retailer Holland & Barrett has entered a partnership with Co-op to add a range of its health and wellness products into selected Co-op UK stores.

Holland & Barrett will enter 125 Co-op stores from August 27 as both retailers aim to meet the growing demand for preventative health and wellness products.

Speaking to Retail Week, Holland & Barrett chief executive Anthony Houghton said the partnership supports its strategy in terms of “making wellness as available as it can be”.

“Co-op has a huge reach, and we have a significant reach,” he explained.

“The partnership makes it even more convenient for customers to access wellness products.

“We will have categories on immunity, gut health, heart, joints, bones, muscles, women’s health, children’s health, and multivitamins.

“They’re smaller pack sizes and a perfect size for Co-op stores and most of the price points are between £5 and £10.

“So great locations, it covers all categories for regular shoppers, and has good value on price too.”

Holland & Barrett has a reach of 74% of households within 25 minutes with an aim to reach 90% within 15 minutes.

Co-op commercial buying manager Francesca Miller said: “The proactive health and wellness market is continuing to grow at a significant rate, and we believe the convenience sector has a huge role to play in supporting our shoppers as more and more of them take positive steps to improve their health and wellness. 

“We are the experts in convenience and Holland and Barrett are the experts in proactive health, so we’re excited to be able to partner with them for this new offer.”

Houghton added that the Co-op partnership is a “perfect next step” for the retailer as it has seen benefits with collaborations with the likes of Next and Tesco.

“There’s no doubt for me that health and wellness is front and centre, particularly post covid,” he said.

“We’re going to support (Co-op) with training and information and help each other. We’ve started with 125 stores, but this could be significantly more if all goes well.”

There should also be a system in place to get products live on the Co-op’s website by the end of the year.

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