Boots will close 60 of its least-used stores and move pharmacists to busier ones in response to coronavirus
- A spokesperson this evening said that stores will be closed by April 15
- Retailer said it was closing stores that have been quiet over the last few weeks
- Said it would send staff home that had been working in stores that aren’t busy
- Retailer had previously warned it would stop people browsing in stores
By Terri-ann Williams For Mailonline
Published: | Updated:
Boots has decided to close 60 of its least-used stores and move pharmacists to busier branches amid the coronavirus crisis.
The High Street retailer said in a statement today: ‘We need to make sure that we have enough colleagues playing their vital role where it’s currently most needed and that we can send home those colleagues who are working in stores that are not busy.
‘To achieve this, we are temporarily closing a small number of stores that are very quiet at this time.’
Boots today announced it will be closing its 60 least-used stores nationwide on April 15 in response to the coronavirus crisis. File image of Boots worker in London today used
Stores will be closed by April 15, the spokesman added.
It is not yet clear which Boots branches will be closed as the firm implements the closures over the next few days.
The retailer has over 2,400 branches across the UK.
The firm had previously warned customers that it would stop them entering the store to simply browse for items, after many customers were repeatedly going into the shops to buy non-essential products such as make-up.
In order to respond with government guidelines on social distancing and to protect workers, Boots had said it may force customers to state what they were shopping from before entering stores.
The announcement comes as it was today revealed that the UK has now suffered 7,095 deaths from the coronavirus, with over 55,000 confirmed cases.
MailOnline has contacted Boots for more information.
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