Leading pharmacy chain to shut 237 branches TODAY with 2,000 jobs at risk
Lloyds closed 76 pharmacies in 2022
PA
Lloyds Pharmacy has accelerated plans to vacate 237 Sainsbury’s stores just seven years after purchasing the spaces for £125million.
The decision puts 2,000 jobs at risk in a sector that has struggled due to government funding cuts, soaring costs of medicine and high inflation dissuading spending.
Lloyds Pharmacy, the UK’s second largest chain of chemists behind Boots, previously announced plans to roll back these services by the end of 2023 but brought forward the disinvestment citing “changing market conditions”.
A Sainsbury's spokesperson said: “At the start of this year Lloyds Pharmacy announced its decision to withdraw pharmacy services from Sainsbury’s stores.
Lloyds purchased the Sainsbury's spaces seven years ago
PA
"Since then, we have been working with them to ensure customers are clear on how they can access an alternative pharmacy provision to meet their needs."
The supermarket brand is assessing how best to harness the new-found empty space, and have noted that this will vary from store to store.
Half a dozen of the 1,300 pharmacies Lloyds operates already closed earlier this month, with 237 more shutting up shop today.
A Lloyds Pharmacy spokesperson told Pharmacy Business: “In January 2023 Lloyds Pharmacy announced the withdrawal of pharmacy services from all Sainsbury's stores, to take place throughout 2023.
The financial health of pharmacies is a cause for concern for the government
PA
“It can now confirm that any remaining branches within the Sainsbury's estate will close by 13th June 2023.”
In January, supermarket chain Asda announced plans to shut seven of its 254 in-store pharmacies due to low customer usage.
The stores proposed to close are Southampton, Seaham, Feltham, Blackburn, Adel, West Bradford and Weston-Super-Mare.
Boots has also shut stores in Salford Shopping Centre, Malvern and Ellesmere.
Lloyds Pharmacy started the year employing around 17,000 staff
PA
Retailers have struggled in the current climate of high prices, high mortgages and less customer disposable income, leading to more companies in England and Wales going bankrupt in the first quarter of 2023 than at any point over the last three years, according to the Insolvency Service.
Where the government previously proposed up many businesses through furloughs and grants over the last three years, the post-pandemic public spending detox has left many businesses out in the cold.
The news comes less than a year after Lloyds Pharmacy was sold to Aurelius for £477million.
In 2022, Lloyds were forced to shut 76 stores.
Lloyds Pharmacy currently employs 17,000 staff across the business, providing 150 million prescriptions a year.
Further branch closures could be on the horizon.
The full list of Lloyds Pharmacy stores closing today is as follows:
- Alperton
- Alphington Road
- Altrincha
- Amblecote
- Apsley Mills
- Archer Road
- Arnold
- Ashton Moss
- Badger Farm
- Bagshot Rd
- Ballymena In
- Bamber Bridge
- Banbury
- Barnstaple
- Barnwood
- Bath
- Beaconsfield
- Berryden
- Bicester
- Biggleswade
- Bishop Auckland
- Blackheath
- Bognor Regis
- Bolton
- Bramingham Park
- Brentwood
- Bridgend
- Broadcut
- Brookwood
- Burnley
- Burpham
- Bury St Edmunds
- Bybrook
- Calcot
- Cannock
- Canterbury
- Carlisle
- Castle Point
- Chaddesden
- Chadwell Heath
- Chafford Hundred
- Cheadle
- Chester
- Chesterfield I
- Chichester
- Chippenham I
- Chiswick
- Christchurch
- Cobham
- Coldhams Lane
- Coreys Mill
- Court House Green
- Cramlington
- Crayford
- Cromwell Road
- Crystal Palace
- Darlington I
- Dartford In
- Denton
- Didcot
- Dome Roundabout
- Dulwich
- Dunstable
- Durham
- East Filton
- East Grinstead
- East Mayne
- East Prescot Rd
- Eastleigh
- Edenthorpe
- Ellesmere Port
- Eltham
- Ely
- Emersons Green
- Exeter
- Fairfield
- Fallowfield
- Farlington
- Farnborough
- Fosse Park
- Frome
- Glen Rd
- Gloucester Quay
- Godalming
- Charlton Riverside
- Grimsby
- Hadleigh Road
- Halifax
- Hampden
- Hankeridge Farm
- Harlow
- Harrogate
- Haverhill
- Hayes
- Haywards Heath
- Hazel Grove
- Heaton
- Heaton Park
- Hedge End
- Hendon
- Hereford
- Heyford Hill
- High Wycombe
- Hoddesdon
- Horsham
- Huntingdon
- I.O.W
- Keighley
- Kempshott
- Kempston
- Kenton
- Kidderminster
- Kidlington
- Kiln Lane
- Kings Lynn
- Ladbroke Grove
- Larkfield
- Leamington
- Lee Green
- Leeds Moortown
- Leek
- Letchworth
- Lewes Rd
- Lincoln
- Liverpool (Woolton)
- Locksbottom
- London Colney
- Longwater Lane
- Loughborough
- Low Hall
- Luton
- Macclesfield
- Maidenhead
- Mansfield
- Marsh Mills
- Marshall Lake
- Meadowbank
- Melksham
- Mere Green
- Merton
- Milton Keynes
- Monks Cross
- Morecambe
- Nantwich
- New Barnet
- New Cross Gate
- Newbury
- Newbury Park
- Newcastle U Lyme
- Newhaven
- Newport
- Newton Abbot
- Nine Elms
- North Cheam
- Northfield
- Northwich
- Oldbury
- Osmaston
- Paignton
- Penzance
- Penrith
- Peterborough
- Pinhoe Road
- Pound Lane
- Preston
- Purley Way
- Queens Rd
- Redbank Rd
- Reedswood
- Rice Lane
- Richmond
- Romford
- Rugby
- Rustington
- Sale
- Salford
- Scarborough
- Scunthorpe
- Sedlescombe Road
- Sevenoaks
- Shorehead
- Shrewsbury
- Slough
- South Ruislip
- Southend
- Southport
- Spalding
- Springfield
- St Albans
- Stanmore
- Stanway
- Stirling
- Straiton
- Streatham
- Stroud
- Sudbury
- Sunderland
- Sunderland North
- Sury Basin
- Swadlincote
- Swansea
- Sydenham
- Tadley
- Talbot Heath
- Taplow
- Team Valley
- Telford
- Tewkesbury Road
- Thanet Westwoodcross
- Thetford
- Thornhill
- Torquay
- Truro
- Tunbridge Wells
- Upper Norwood
- Upton
- Urmston
- Wakefield
- Walton
- Warlingham
- Warren Heath
- Watchmoor Park
- Water Lane
- Wednesfield
- Weedon Road
- Welwyn Garden City
- West Green
- West Park Farm
- Whitechapel
- Whitehouse Farm
- Whitley Bay
- Whitstable
- Wigan
- Winchmore Hill
- Winnersh
- Winterstoke Road
- Witney
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