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| Type | Private limited company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Pharmaceuticals Healthcare Beauty Photography |
| Founded | 1849 (Nottingham) |
| Founder(s) | Jesse Boot |
| Headquarters | Nottingham, United Kingdom |
| Area served | United Kingdom, Ireland |
| Key people | Alex Gourlay (CEO) |
| Products | No 7 - Makeup Soltan - Sun cream Almus - Generic Drugs |
| Parent | Alliance Boots |
| Subsidiaries | Boots Opticians |
| Website | Corporate website Retail website |
Boots UK Limited[1] (formerly Boots the Chemist) is a pharmacy chain in the United Kingdom, with outlets in most high streets throughout the country and also in the Republic of Ireland. The company is a subsidiary of Alliance Boots, a parent company formed on 31 July 2006 by the merger of The Boots Company plc and Alliance UniChem plc.
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History [edit]
1849 to 2000 [edit]
Boots was established in 1849, by John Boot. After his father's death in 1860, Jesse Boot, aged 10, helped his mother run the family's herbal medicine shop in Nottingham,[2] which became Boot and Co. Ltd in 1883, then Boots Pure Drug Company Ltd. in 1888. In 1920, Jesse Boot sold the company to the American United Drug Company.[3] However, because of deteriorating economic circumstances in North America Boots was sold back into British hands in 1933.[3] The grandson of the founder, John Boot, who inherited the title Baron Trent from his father, headed the company.[4]
Boots diversified into the research and manufacturing of drugs with its development of the Ibuprofen painkiller during the 1960s. It was awarded the Queen's Award For Technical Achievement for this in 1987. In 1994, Boots divested production to BASF[5] and later sold the Nurofen brand to Reckitt Benckiser in 2006.[6]
In 1968 Boots acquired the 622-strong Timothy Whites and Taylors Ltd chain.[3] Boots expanded into Canada by purchasing the Tamblyn Drugs chain circa 1978. Most Canadian Boots stores were converted to Pharma Plus in 1989, although a handful of locations remained as late as 1993, if not later.[citation needed] In 1982, the company opened a new manufacturing plant in Cramlington, Northumberland.[3] In the early 1990s, Boots began to diversify and bought Halfords, the bicycle and car parts business in 1991.[7] It also developed the Children's World business but sold it in 1996 to Mothercare.[8] Halfords was sold in 2002.[9]
Boots Opticians Ltd. was formed in 1987 with the acquisition of Clement Clarke Ltd. and Curry and Paxton Ltd. Boots Opticians became the UK's second largest retail optics chain.
Boots branched into dentistry in 1998, with a number of stores offering this service.[10] Boots sold its Do-It-All home furnishings chain to Focus in 1998.[11] Boots also made a venture into "Wellbeing" services offering customers treatments ranging from facials, homeopathy, 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 renaming, (or more accurately redirecting), web traffic from boots.com to wellbeing.com[12]
2000 to present [edit]
In late 2004, Boots sold the laser eye surgery services to Optical Express.[13]
On 1 October 2005, rumours began to circulate that Boots and Alliance UniChem were planning a merger. The merger was announced on 3 October by the Chairman of the Boots Group, Sir Nigel Rudd. The CEO Richar Baker left the business, and the new group took on the name Alliance Boots plc. The merger became effective on 31 July 2006.[14] The new group was subsequently bought by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Stefano Pessina, the deputy chairman of Alliance Boots, taking the company private.
On 19 June 2012, it was announced that Walgreens (America's largest drug store retailer) would purchase a 45% stake in Boots, costing $6.7bn. The deal is a long term plan to give maximum exposure to both brands, Boots more so in America and, Walgreens more so in the UK and in China through Boots presence in the market. Both companies will then seek to complete a full merger within three years costing an extra $9.5bn.[15]
The Boots Charitable Trust [edit]
The company funds the Boots Charitable Trust, which is an independent registered charity in the UK, administrated by Nottinghamshire Community Foundation. The trust was established in the early 1970s to fund registered charities benefiting people who live in Nottinghamshire.[16]
The Boots Estate [edit]
The Boots Estate, located near the Nottingham suburb of Beeston, features a range of listed buildings, notably D6 and D10 which are both Grade I, and D31, D36, and D90 which are Grade II. Staff have a staff restaurant, coffee and snack shops, newsagent, a branch of Boots the Chemist, an opticians branch and cash point situated within landscaped grounds. The grounds include the Millennium Garden which features a herb garden (with some plants that Jesse used in his original herbal remedies) in the shape of a goose foot - harking back to Jesse's original shop on Goosegate in Nottingham.
The Boots Museum is now closed (due to cost cutting) and historical items are in storage.
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ Boots UK Limited. "Boots UK". Retrieved 20 March 2010. Text " Legal " ignored (help)
- ^ Viceira, L. M., & Mitusui, A. M. (2003) Pension Policy at The Boots Company PLC, Harvard Business Review, Havard Business School, 27th August 2003
- ^ a b c d Boots Learning Store
- ^ 'Interwar retail internationalization: Boots under American ownership', International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 7(2), 1997
- ^ Boots is pacesetter for drug chains in the UK
- ^ Boots sells Nurofen in £1.9bn deal The Telegraph
- ^ And it's all thanks to a passion for a penny-farthing bicycle Times Online
- ^ Boots in Childrenswear pact to sell Adams range The Telegraph
- ^ Boots sells Halfords The Guardian
- ^ Boots to launch dental clinics
- ^ Boots decides that for £68m Focus can do-it-all
- ^ Boots ditches well being strategy The Independent
- ^ Optical Express buys Boots laser business Optician Online
- ^ Boots announces £7bn merger BBC News
- ^ http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fec9706c-b9f9-11e1-aa8d-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1yGyFBHzT
- ^ "Charitable giving". Boots UK. 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
External links [edit]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Boots the Chemist |
- Official website
- Learning at Work Case study of Boots Foundation Degree in Logistics and Supply Chain Management
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