Boots (The Chemist) has been sold .

My partner, as an ex employee, gets staff discount. Hope he doesn’t lose that. He’d already been made redundant because of a previous takeover. They treated the staff terribly and had to take it to a tribunal.

Best spend my Boots loyalty points in case the scheme is abandoned 🙀

Good point GG13

There are two threads on this, which is a bit confusing.

www.gransnet.com/forums/news_and_politics/1362178-Boots-Chemist-has-been-sold?msgid=31807535

I hope it doesn't follow the path of W.H.Smiths, now TGJones and doing badly.

If you check mine was put up first, I did check

It will, though, eazybee because people don't use High Street shops any more. They moan about losing them and order everything from Amazon...

I must admit to ordering my No 7 products on the £10. Tuesday offer rather than pay usually double in store

All the Boots stores near us are very dated and dull. Maybe it is time for a change.

GrannyGravy13

Best spend my Boots loyalty points in case the scheme is abandoned 🙀

Good thinking!

I use my local Boots quite a bit, I don't find it dull and dated. I tend to order on line from them and collect in store. I let my accrued loyalty points roll up and then get a Chanel product with those. Yes I'd miss Boots, unlike WH Smith, latterly TJ Jones rather a shambolic set up and never was a particularly appealing store.

62Granny

Apparently it has been Sold to a Canadian Billionaire for £7bn ,Its the Weston family who also own Allied Foods and A majority in Primark, it was previously owned by an American firm, I didn't know this, it will incude UK & Ireland
Retail, Boots opticians and it's No 7 range.
Hopefully it won't change things for us a consumers too much . Our store and others I go into sometimes seem to be run with very few staff members unfortunately.

The Weston family has strong links with the UK, notably Cornwall. W Garfield Weston was an MP for Macclesfield during WW2 and the Garfield Weston Foundation supports many UK charities.
Mr Garfield Weston used to stay at a hotel in Cornwall years ago; I remember him staying there when I was a teenager, as I was working there during my holidays.

I hope that the fate of Boots is more hopeful now it not owned by a private equity firm.

Walgreens bought it in 2014. Is anything still British?!
However, Boots has changed hands very recently in a series of major multi-billion-pound deals:
• October 2026 (Current Owners): Canada's billionaire Weston family, via their holding company Wittington Investments, agreed to buy Boots for $8.9 billion (£6.7 billion). The Weston family also owns the Canadian pharmacy giant Shoppers Drug Mart and the UK fashion chain Primark.
• 2025: The private equity firm Sycamore Partners took over Walgreens Boots Alliance in a $10 billion deal, carving Boots out into its own standalone company before selling the retail division to the Westons.

The air conditioning broke down in our Boots earlier this year. It was appalling in the summer, even with fans placed strategically around the store. We used to dash in, grab what we wanted (and pay!), then burst out dripping with sweat.

I asked a staff member about it and she said that the owners don't care and they just have to make the best of it. I know there's a legal minimum temperature in a work setting, but is there a maximum one?

They said on tv this morning that they intend to update and expand all the stores and extend the nhs services available in the stores. We'll have to wait and see.

I'm with others in hoping that it doesn't change too much. Boots own brands, be they vitamins/supplements or skin care, are just so good. And their loyalty scheme is the best of any shop.
The one thing that I hope will change is the condition of some of the stores which are dreary and dated - I don't know about the air conditioning that Alison333 mentioned as I didn't shop on the hottest days this year.
The larger, more modern stores are lovely already, though I don't know if they actually stock that many more products than the smaller high street stores.

My local Boots (10 miles away but that's local round here) is so tatty, tape stuck on the floor, bare patches, tiles falling off the shop front. I hope they invest a bit of money in the shops.

There is a very nice new Boots on a retail park about 7 miles from us and I also use Boots Opticians. I like Boots so I hope the new owners don't change it too much. I've been using Boots Recycle this year and I've built up a few points so I'd better spend them just in case!

@Alison333 no, there’s no maximum temperature for working in the U.K. we looked in to that when I was teaching as our new build classrooms which had no air con or adequate ventilation but in summer reached the high twenties before the children came in. That was before summers got so hot. Must be unbearable now.

I was saving my Boots points for something big and it took me just over 2years. I’d nearly reached my target when the points disappeared! I got in touch and was told it was in the terms and conditions small print that points would be deleted if not used after 2 years.
I researched the CEOs email address and wrote to them saying I should have had a warning that the points were about to be lost (like Tesco do) and how disappointed I was. The points were refunded straight away.
I have no idea if terms and conditions were changed after this.

MayBee70

My partner, as an ex employee, gets staff discount. Hope he doesn’t lose that. He’d already been made redundant because of a previous takeover. They treated the staff terribly and had to take it to a tribunal.

That’s a shame, my father’s family were from Nottingham and a few of them worked for Boots, they were good employers then. American companies have a history of asset stripping companies then selling them on, Morrisons being another example, hopefully Canadian owners will be better.

I used to work at Boots Head Office some years ago, and I enjoyed the work (product development) and the nice staff discount. I think they have had some issues in recent years with many shops in smaller towns closed, including my local store so now its a 5 mile drive to my nearest store. I also recently found that the Boots at my local airport had closed too - bit annoying as I was banking on buying some bits I needed airside - it makes me wonder if they are struggling to compete with so many online retailers in the space such as look fantastic and cult beauty?
Like 62granny I also shop the £10 Tuesday deals when there are products I use regularly such as the No7 range.
I really hope the new owners can make it a great success as its such an icon of the UK high street !

Jane43

MayBee70

My partner, as an ex employee, gets staff discount. Hope he doesn’t lose that. He’d already been made redundant because of a previous takeover. They treated the staff terribly and had to take it to a tribunal.

That’s a shame, my father’s family were from Nottingham and a few of them worked for Boots, they were good employers then. American companies have a history of asset stripping companies then selling them on, Morrisons being another example, hopefully Canadian owners will be better.

As I posted above, the Weston family has strong links to the UK and make substantial donations to charity here.
"In 2021, The Sunday Times named the Weston family among the most charitable people over the past 20 years, with donations of £1.661 billion"

I hope they succeed and keep Boots going as a High Street business as I don't think they are asset strippers like private equity firms can be.

Does anyone else remember Weston's Wagon Wheels?