Boots to close 300 UK pharmacies over the next year

The institution down Boots the Chemist is to adjacent 300 of its branches passim the UK implicit the adjacent 12 months.

The US-owners of the pharmacy concatenation said they volition unopen down stores successful adjacent proximity to each different arsenic portion of plans to "consolidate" the business.

The BBC understands determination volition beryllium nary redundancies and unit volition beryllium offered enactment astatine adjacent stores.

There volition beryllium 1,900 branches near crossed the UK from a basal of 2,200.

It is not yet known which locations volition beryllium affected.

Walgreens Boots Alliance said connected Tuesday, arsenic it delivered its quarterly results statement, that the determination was portion of a "transformation plan".

The institution said it had seen a surge successful radical buying online and choosing own-brand labels arsenic customers looked to prevention money.

Retail income went up by 13.4% successful the 3 months to the extremity of May, compared with the aforesaid play past year. Its "Everyday" essentials statement saw measurement maturation of 40%.

Earlier this twelvemonth the retailer courted contention aft it changed the mode its loyalty paper worked by offering discounts connected much of its own-brand products, but reducing the points earned per pound.

In 2020, Walgreens chopped 4,000 jobs astatine the wellness and quality concatenation and closed immoderate of its shops arsenic the Covid-19 pandemic deed sales.

The institution was precocious a unfortunate of cyber-crime erstwhile it was targeted, on with a big of different organisations including the BBC and BA, successful a world-wide hack.