Waitrose to sell food in Boots

by James Hall - 25/09/2009

"Shoppers in branches of Boots stores will soon be able to buy Waitrose food with their toiletries following a tie-up between the two chains. "

The John Lewis-owned supermarket said this morning that it is in discussions with the pharmacy chain about forming a bilateral trading relationship that will see them selling products in each others’ stores.

The move is one of a raft of initiatives announced by Waitrose to boost its convenience offer and trading channels.

The move will see Waitrose increase the number of stores it has in the service stations from two to eleven.

The retailer will also trial a new, smaller stand-alone convenience store format in the new year. The supermarket currently has just two convenience stores, which are between 5,000 and 7,000 square feet in size.

The new format will be between 2,000 and 4,000 square feet. The company said that the move gives Waitrose the potential for 300 convenience stores.

Mark Price, Waitrose’s managing director, said: “By opening these new channels and formats, we’ll be making Waitrose accessible to more customers in more places and we’ll be able to create thousands of new jobs.”

Waitrose already has a very small number of Boots-owned pharmacies in its stores. These are being rebranded as Boots Pharmacy.

More Details: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/6225693/Waitrose-to-sell-food-in-Boots.html