Boots to close hundreds of stores across the UK in the next 12 months

Boots customers in the UK could lose their local branches as part of planned store closures.

The retailer announced that it will lose 300 brick-and-mortar sites in the next 12 months as part of plans to “evolve” the store estate.

While Boots currently employs more than 52,000 team members, the brand insisted that the closures will not result in redundancies.

In fact, the plans have been made with its employees in mind, according to a spokesperson for the retailer.

Speaking to Express.co.uk, they said: “Evolving the store estate in this way allows Boots to concentrate its team members where they are needed and focus investment more acutely in individual stores with the ambition of consistently delivering an excellent and reliable service in a fresh and up to date environment.”

The popular chemist brand is expected to shut 300 branches across the UK in the next 12 months.

It comes following a bout of store closures from other high street retailers including B&M, Lidl, Aldi, and fashion chain, New Look.

But while other retailers have slimmed down the number of stores in a bid to cut costs, a spokesperson for Boots reassured customers that the brand reported a “very strong performance” in their market share growth.

They told Express.co.uk: “The successful Boots transformation plan has created a strong and stable platform for growth and will accelerate further, including ongoing investment into the rejuvenation of the store estate.

“In addition to uplifting existing stores, over the next year Boots will continue to consolidate a number of stores in close proximity to each other.”

The spokesperson reiterated that the 300 figure is over the next twelve months and is essentially about removing overlapping stores rather than removing Boots from British high streets.

The retailer currently has more than 2,200 health and beauty stores across the UK and claims that an impressive 85 percent of the UK population is within 10 minutes of one of its branches.

The spokesperson added that the vast majority of closing stores (more than 85 percent) are within 5km of another Boots branch, so even after closures, customers should remain within a 10-minute drive of their nearest branch.

Boots UK Limited was sold to US giant Walgreens in December 2014 to form the Walgreens Boots Alliance.

As part of the “Retail Pharmacy International Division” of the enterprise, closures will also affect customers in the US, with a further 150 stores expected to close their doors for good across the pond.