Has anyone seen Boots are closing 290 stores across the UK?

[Soubriquet]

So frustrating. We only have 2 places to get prescriptions in my town if you can’t get them from the dispensary. One is super drugs, the other is boots. We used to have a Lloyds and a Lloyds in our sainsbury, but since they closed, they obviously closed too.

We aren’t on the list of store closures yet but something tells me it’s going to go under. I know it’s an expensive shop, but it is needed in our town

There used to be two Boots serving our island, and one closed earlier this year. We're left with one extremely busy small one to serve everyone. It's ridiculous, but that's what we're left with. Woefully inadequate.

People don’t shop in these stores enough but then moan when they shut. They aren’t a charity, if they aren’t profitable they will close.

Thanks toots

We need pharmacies, but is there a pharmacist shortage? Our Boots just can't staff them, they close the pharmacy at lunch which is very unhelpful for workers who pop in at lunch. They shut early or have to shut when they go on holiday. Not sure if it's just our branch, Boots wages or a national trend.

We have a Boots and Suoerdrug next to each other at our local retail park
The Suoerdrug is modern, vibrant, well stocked and just generally an appealing environment. It's always busy. The Boots looks like it has completely given up. Badly organised, half empty shelves, terrible lighting. No sense of purpose.

They are identical units built and occupied at the same time. Boots have brought this on themselves.

In terms of cosmetics I wonder why they are so much more expensive. The locations may mean higher rents or rates but they should still have at least some bulk buying power in those areas even if big supermarkets are a little bit cheaper.

In the town nearest to me, Boots is quite a large store and in the shopping mall, I would be surprised if that one closes as it has a big perfume and make-up area and also does prescriptions.

The two Boots shops in local places that I go to sometimes are dire. Hardly anything worth going in for and one of them closes every day at lunchtime. I think they only have about two shop personnel in there during the day plus a pharmacist. Useless shop and I would not be at all surprised if it is one earmarked to close down completely.

If the products are in a sealed bag, how does this risk confidentiality any more than receiving any other item in the mail?

I feel sad for people losing their jobs and every place absolutely requires a decent pharmacy. But I can’t be upset about Boots under its current ownership. I really hope that an alternative pharmacy steps into the gap.

Their US parent company has bowed to republican pressure by not serving abortion pills in stores.

inews.co.uk/news/boots-owner-walgreens-no-longer-dispense-abortion-pill-us-states-2195067?srsltid=AfmBOorfqEikSc3io_3kKQfO8AEOaThIvIivnOFF0mAwAWDifRCveYmB

@FatOaf Many pharmacies do deliver, recognising that elderly and disabled patients (and those who can't afford the bus fare) can't travel to them, but they usually take a long time and deliveries present a risk of breach of confidentiality if someone else answers the door.

You can collect a prescription on behalf of someone else so why would someone answering the door be a breach of confidentiality?

This.

Plus they deserve to go under. Their 'head office' is a rented ghost office in Switzerland, so they can minimise the taxes they have to pay.

Ours closed months ago, nowhere now in my town to get many otc but pharmacy restricted products as remaining pharmacy is rubbish, 2 weeks wait for standard prescriptions!

I guess because

• if Mrs Smith sends Mr Smith to get her prescription, she has fully chosen to share the information with him
• if Mrs Smith orders a prescription to the house and Mr Smith answers the door , perhaps Mrs Smith wasn't expecting him to be at home and didn't want him to know about that prescription

I had a Saturday job in Boots in the late 80s - I agree it has changed a lot, but even in the 90s it was pretty awful and understaffed.

I stopped using them just before covid when I wanted to buy something in my local shop and I couldn't find a single member of staff to serve me. And then they were ridiculous during covid as well.

They are hugely understaffed - Superdrug seems to be overstaffed, so maybe their pay and conditions are much better.

I'd be sorry to see it go in terms of offering a pharmacy service but as a shop it's awful. Though I don't tend to use them when I can avoid it, yesterday I did buy something at the one at Waterloo station - testers not clearly labelled so you go to the till with one and then realise you've got the wrong thing, self-scan tills making you do everything twice, and staff blocking the way out with trolleys (maybe that was deliberate to deter shoplifting). It's just an awful experience.

Why do we have a shortage of pharmacists? Is it because youngsters with science A levels can study courses that lead to jobs that pay much more?

DSIS worked for them as a dispenser in a suburban branch. They were understaffed even 4 or 5 years ago. She was expected to go to other branches to provide cover and often found when she got to there that she was covering the tills and not preparing dosset boxes etc. Her "home" branch was staffed by a series of locum pharmacists.

I don't generally use Boots as I find them very expensive. Several years ago (before COVID) they were charging £9.00 for a box of generic ibuprofen when I could get the same product, same size and strength in Tesco pharmacy for under £3! I find their website very user unfriendly as well.
I used to love Boots in our nearby large town - I bought loads of stuff there for my babies as it was better quality than Mothercare, and their home wares were great as well.

A pp mentioned the four stores closing in Chelmsford. These are not stores in the city centre and are actually spread around the local area. When I lived there, the bus routes were not great or especially frequent. With one except, the four on the list are in mainly residential areas and I imagine will be a great loss to those communities.

i agree about Superdrug. I never used to rate it especially but now I have one round the corner I go there all the time (instead of boots as our boots doesn’t have much. stock!) and it’s bright, busy, loads of special offers and really good own brand stuff, staff always on hand and chatty, and just feels like a nice welcoming shop. Which shows you can do a high street shop selling things you can get online and still be successful. Probably because people don’t want to wait 24 hrs for their painkillers, pregnancy test, cough medicine, new lippy for a night out etc. But you have to stock all the stuff so people know they’ll be able to get what they’re going in for.

I wonder what Superdrug are doing differently as they don't seem to struggle as much as Boots yet they sell the same products.

I can understand why. Our small market town has gone from 3 branches of Boots to "only" 2 and that is really one too many.

I'm surprised they are still going. Must be the dispensing that is keeping them going.

They will be paid a fee from the NHS for every pharmacy they operate.

Strange, I didn't know that when a pharmacy sent someone's prescription by delivery it would contain information about the medicine, ailment and any other personal details. I would have thought it would just be the contents wrapped up in a package with the addressee's name on. Maybe the person receiving it has x-ray vision and can see what's inside?

Strange, I didn't know that when a pharmacy sent someone's prescription by delivery it would contain information about the medicine, ailment and any other personal details. I would have thought it would just be the contents wrapped up in a package with the addressee's name on. Maybe the person receiving it has x-ray vision and can see what's inside?

Oh come on. Abusive and controlling relationships are common. Some women are coerced and prevented from leaving the house. Some daughters are severely punished, even killed, if they have associated with a boy - even if it's not their choice, they were raped etc. Woman or teen girl is pregnant and needs abortion pills or other treatment. Abusive partner/parent intercepts delivery and demands to know what it is/tears it open. Or someone in an abusive relationship is prescribed ADs – laying herself open to accusations of insanity by abusive partner and he uses it as a way to take her kids from her.

Really, you think abusers in these situations respect people's privacy and the sanctity of a sealed package?

Superdrug sell a lot more products, they are more up-to date products (eg newly launched make-up brands and skincare, big boots may do that but not local ones) and also their own-brand ranges are really good, so in that sense they are selling stuff you can't get elsewhere.

I recently started using pharmacy 2 u and it is a game changer. I set mine up via a royal mail flyer I got. It was so easy and you just get an email reminder every month to remind you to order your prescription. Click on Order and it gets delivered to your door. I also have a pre payment certificate so do not have to pay when ordering. Takes out the hassle of collecting prescriptions.