Superdrug last week (March 18) revealed that it plans to extend its “geographical footprint across the UK” by opening 25 new bricks-and-mortar stores this year.
The expansion will create “approximately 600 new jobs for the UK’s retail industry” and is part of the multiple’s “continued drive to elevate customer discovery and experience within the health and beauty arena”, it said.
It remains unclear, however, how many of the new stores will include pharmacies - Superdrug currently has 182 trading NHS pharmacies.
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“Superdrug plans to open gold-tier stores in prime locations throughout the year, including Gurnsey and...Bristol” it said, adding that its “latest experience stores go far beyond the convenience of quick health and beauty purchasing”.
It also “plans to refurbish 65 stores this year while also expanding multiple stores” in a continued move to “modernise its strong store estate”, the chain said.
Customers can visit its “pharmacies to get personalised, professional healthcare advice,” it added.
“Bigger and better”
“[This] acceleration of bricks and mortar is part of Superdrug’s continued focus on its ‘online and offline’ strategy, which aims to better serve customer [needs],” the retailer said.
Superdrug property director Nigel Duxbury added that “investing in and increasing the number of large format stores in our estate allows us to accelerate our bricks-and-mortar strategy, so that we can bring the bigger and better shopping experience that we know our customers love to even more communities across the UK”.
Read more: Superdrug announces plans to open 25 new stores this year
It comes less than a year after the chain announced that it planned to open 25 new Superdrug stores in 2024, which were expected to create “over 500 jobs nationwide”.
A Superdrug spokesperson confirmed that last year’s announcement did go ahead and Superdrug plans to open an additional 25 branches this year.
The chain last week said it had “over 780 stores” across the UK and Ireland - this is the same number it quoted last year and the spokesperson clarified that this is due to ongoing changes and optimisation of stores across the Superdrug estate.
Continuous closures
Meanwhile, Morrisons this week announced that it is “proposing a number of changes over the next few months”, including the closure of four pharmacies.
Morrisons told C+D that the four pharmacy locations tipped for closure are:
- Bradford Victoria
- Blackburn Railway Road
- London Wood Green
- Birmingham Small Heath
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The supermarket said that while the “significant majority” of staff affected are “expected to be deployed in suitable roles elsewhere in Morrisons”, some 365 staff members are at risk of redundancy.
However it remains unclear how many, if any, of the 365 workers are pharmacy staff.
And Tesco last month confirmed to C+D that “following a comprehensive review”, ten pharmacies are set to close later this year.
