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

I went to Superdrug the other day to buy one product. The lady on the till was chatting on her mobile but finally deigned to serve me after a couple of minutes. She said something to me but impossible to understand as her mouth was full of chewing gum.

She attempted to additionally sell me tissues, chocolate and body spray. I declined each and said I just wanted to pay for my one item. But she wasn’t ready to take my money. Next she asked me if I had a loyalty card. I replied no, I don’t want one. She proceeded to get one for me anyway. I repeated no and she snapped “Oh come on, it’s free for goodness sake!” Where do Superdrug train their staff?

Boots may be scruffy, run down and have limited stock but when I go in there the service is absolutely fine. I’m very sad that my local one has closed!

That sounds v bad Eastie and not like my superdrug. They do offer you extra stuff at the till but usually only one thing and no worries if you say no.

Wow you've managed to angle in abusive men to a thread about boots closing some stores, a bit of a stretch so well done you!

Wow you've managed to angle in abusive men to a thread about boots closing some stores, a bit of a stretch so well done you!

No, Fatoaf mention the risk of a breach of confidentiality, and explained it further, and you pooh-poohed it quite rudely – I was adding more explanation as to why it actually is an issue. Abusive relationships are common and while it is not always men perpetrating abuse or controlling behaviour, the scenarios I described do happen and do tend to affect women and girls disproportionately.

Being sneery about this is unnecessary, It's OK to say "oh yes I see" or "I hadn't thought of that". It's a real issue.

And yes, domestic abuse is relevant to a whole range of things. Were you wanting to ban it from being mentioned?

I didn't know about the closures but am not surprised. As well as the limitations of the shops themselves, there's a shortage of pharmacists who are willing to work in retail. Probably a struggle to keep them staffed.

The interior of my local Boots looks like it was last updated in the 1980s. It looks dirty and many shelves are half empty.

The menacing looking security guard is enough to put me off, but I guess he is needed as otherwise it would be dead easy to nick stuff, seeing that there is only ONE shop-floor assistant - who has to man the till, answer customer queries, etc.

Until recently I would still shop there for a few cosmetic products that have served me well over the years - but I am actively looking for alternatives.

I agree that Superdrug is much more switched on and appealing.

I don't think it's particularly relevant to the thread myself. But it seems I'm not allowed to have a difference of opinion, I must say 'Oh I see' or 'I've never thought if that before ' or whatever it was you said I was supposed to respond with.

I don't think it's particularly relevant to the thread myself. But it seems I'm not allowed to have a difference of opinion, I must say 'Oh I see' or 'I've never thought if that before ' or whatever it was you said I was supposed to respond with.**

No, I didn't say you must say that, I said it's OK to say that. To admit that maybe someone has a point instead of having to sneer and slap them down. If you had been able to imagine why confidentiality is an issue with prescription deliveries, no one would have tried to explain.

Differences of opinion are of course fine but then why not explain why you are so sure it's not an issue and engage with those who have other views? Instead you were just rude and dismissive without having an argument to back up your view.

I was just pointing out there's another option than lashing out when someone has a different view to yours.

And it's very normal on MN for side discussions and debates to happen on threads, whatever they're about. In this case, you're fully throwing yourself into this tangential debate - if it's so irrelevant why bother?

It's sadly gone the way of WH Smith's.

Once a reliable high street go to. Now dirty, overpriced, poorly laid out with self service tills and queues a mile long.

I've given up shopping there. It's a horrible experience. Other shops are cheaper and serve me more efficiently.

The small, high street ones are alot like these. Scruffy and the window displays look crap. The one closest to me has low staff and often has only one cashier that also manages online orders so she has to leave that position and leave alot of customers waiting.

I live in a major city and the city centre large ones are bright with modern shop fronts and enough staff.

Actually my shoddy, dingy, half-stocked local Boots doesn't seem to have a staff shortage - there are always 3 or 4 of them in a tiny shop, but they don't help customers, they just wheel trolleys around and hang around in the pharmacy area - so there's always a wait.

None in Scotland

Doesn’t surprise me at all the customer service in Boots and Lloyds as well is generally rubbish . We’ve not been in Boots since the pharmacist in our local one accused my daughter of manufacturing an NHS letter to get a free flu jab , I emailed a complaint and she was dealt with but never again . Our local Lloyds changed hands last year after many complaints about the rudeness of the staff .

I have really noticed over the last year how badly they have declined.
My local pharmacy made a drug error for a start!

Website and online doctor service is dire.
Long queues in store.

Agree I always buy toiletries in weekly grocery shop.
I just used up all my advantage point in case I lose them when boots go down the tubes!

Sad really.

I really like my local Boots (Braintree) and shop there a lot. No self service tiils there yet either. The Boots at Tollgate Colchester i go to just occasionally and since July it has gone all self serve

It would be good if they could just open on smaller premises instead off the massive shops they seem to have. Something like a Boots Express with only essentials.

I've noticed a lot of pharmacies are always really low on stock now. Since Covid and Brexit really.

I don't mind self-serve tills but they are going to be a problem in somewhere like Boots due to the high number of age-restricted products so query it actually saves any time.

They are so scruffy and run down!

I hope Boots Opticians aren't affected.

I guess this, along with the disappearance of banks and other well know stores, is all part of the decline of the high street and the move to online.

In time I think most retail stores will just be ‘experience hubs’, places you go to look at product displays and try things out rather than actually buy anything and there will be far fewer of them. For example, I don’t think most people buy Apple products in their flagship store. It’s somewhere you play around with devices or get help/devices. Only a sadist would buy an item from a branch of Curry’s, with their appalling in-store staff, but they might be persuaded to buy sometimes from the site.

I've just expienced some inconsistent pricing in Boots. I normally buy some eye drops from my Boots Opticians but as I needed to pop into Boots the chemist I decided to see if they sold the eye drops. Low and behold they had a buy one get a second half price offer on. I then popped into the Opticians branch and they didn't have the offer . Guess who went back to the chemist branch....