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.
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