Following a poor financial performance which saw a fall of 14.3% in earnings in the UK compared to the same period of time last year, Walgreens Boots Alliance stated that they had experienced their most difficult quarter ever. The owners of Boots have warned that they will need to make a decisive plan to try and reduce costs in the UK. The company has raised its global planned cost saving for the year by half a billion pounds.
A Boots spokesperson has stated that the company is embarking on a comprehensive review of all Boots stores in order to look for areas where there could possibly be a consolidation of existing stores. They are also looking to pinpoint stores which are currently not performing well.
There are currently 25 Boots stores located in Bristol and although the review is covering the whole country, it is conceivable that some of the 25 Bristol Boots stores may be at risk of closure. With such a large number in Bristol, Boots could also look to consolidate some stores especially as "optimizing its store footprint" has been announced as an objective of the countrywide review. The company has already undergone a minor reshuffling of some stores in the UK with closures already in Hull.
The closure of some of the Bristol Boots stores may mean job losses and this will add to the 350 jobs that Boots have already publicly said are at risk in the company's headquarters in Nottingham. USDAW, the union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers have asked the owners of Boots to hold talks with them to try and minimise the risk of large job losses.
News in the same category
It took a long time, but the information is now confirmed: Waitrose is due to open its first store in Leatherhead in 2016.
Waterstones is a few weeks away from the inauguration of a new three-floor store in London, soon followed with more openings over the next twelve months.
Lush has designated a whole floor of its new Liverpool store as a Christmas Concept Shop for 2019, describing it as the "ultimate gifting experience" for the festive season.
At first read, the headline seems to bode more gloom and doom for the UK retail sector, but all is not as it seems. M&S are in the midst of a major restructuring programme, which has already seen the closure of 35 stores in 2018.
