22 Facts About Boots UK

Boots UK Limited, trading as Boots, is a British health and beauty retailer and pharmacy chain in the United Kingdom and other countries and territories including Ireland, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Thailand and Indonesia.

In 2007, Alliance Boots UK was bought by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Stefano Pessina, taking the company private, and moving its headquarters to Switzerland, making it the first-ever FTSE 100 company to be bought by a private equity firm.

Boots UK is one of the largest retailers in the UK and Ireland, both in terms of revenue and the number of shops.

Boots UK operates a retail website and a loyalty card programme called the Boots UK Advantage Card.

Between 1898 and 1966, many branches of Boots UK incorporated a lending library department, known as Boots UK Book-Lovers' Library.

Related searches

Boots UK was awarded the Queen's Award For Technical Achievement for this in 1987.

The withdrawal from market of Manoplax due to safety concerns in 1993 caused major pressure from investors, and in 1994, Boots UK divested its prescription drugs division, which had become no longer viable, to BASF.

In 1968, Boots UK acquired the 622-strong Timothy Whites and Taylors Ltd chain.

Boots UK expanded into Canada by purchasing the Tamblyn Drugs chain circa 1978.

Boots UK made a venture into "Wellbeing" services offering customers treatments ranging from facials, homoeopathy, and nutritional advice to laser eye surgery and Botox but these services were abandoned in 2003, despite a launch that included a dedicated Freeview and Sky TV channel of the same name, and even redirecting web traffic from boots.

In late 2004, Boots UK sold its laser eye surgery business to Optical Express.

Alliance Boots UK was purchased by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Stefano Pessina, the deputy chairman of the company, in April 2007 for £11.

In May 2019, Boots UK announced that it was closing 200+ underperforming shops.

Boots UK blamed "lower volume and lower revenue item growth and continuing UK government reimbursement pressure".

Alshaya Group, a franchise operator based in Kuwait, operates a number of Boots UK-branded stores throughout the Middle East, including in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, while Boots UK-branded stores throughout Indonesia are operated by PT Mitra Adiperkasa Tbk.

Company funds the Boots UK Charitable Trust, which is an independent registered charity in the UK, administrated by Nottinghamshire Community Foundation.

Boots UK Museum is closed; however, historical items are in storage or on display in the reception area of the D90 building.

Boots UK told the committee that the company had no evidence to suggest that homeopathic medicines are efficacious but Boots sold them anyway, for reasons of "consumer choice".

One of the whistleblowers, who had formerly worked in a patient safety role, stated that Boots UK had calculated that in excess of £100m additional investment in staffing was required each year in its pharmacies and to meet the company's expectations of its staff.

Boots UK had told the BBC documentary makers that there had been no further patient deaths associated with dispensing errors since 2015.

In July 2017, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service revealed that Boots UK was selling emergency contraceptive medication at four times the cost price and had refused requests to join rival pharmacy retail chains, including Superdrug and Tesco, which had agreed to cease profiting financially in this way.

The investigation found that Boots UK had ordered the product from Alliance Healthcare, a supplier owned by Boots UK' parent company.