A HUGE health and beauty brand which rivals Boots is opening dozens of new stores across the UK.
Superdrug has plans to swing the shutters up on 25 new branches in the coming months.
As part of the plans, three new stores will open by the summer and another is opening within a matter of days, The Sun can reveal.
The first new store opening is located in Unit 9 of Doncaster’s Wheatley Centre Shopping Park.
Shortly after, brand new stores at St David’s in Cardiff and Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent will swing open their doors to shoppers.
The Cardiff store, one of the first Beauty Studio concept stores, will be upsizing to a new 11,3000 sq. ft. space with a brand-new treatment studio.
It will allow the studio to offer additional make-up services alongside beauty and piercings.
A fourth new store is then expected to open in the summer at Stratford City’s Westfield site in London.
The new shop will become one of Superdrug’s biggest stores.
In total, the new store estate is expected to create 500 jobs nationwide.
Superdrug has also announced plans to extend seven existing stores and refurbish 60 more throughout 2024.
This includes new shop fronts, fully recyclable signage, improved flooring and ceiling tiles made from bio-soluble mineral wool, clay and starch, energy-efficient LED lighting, new floor layouts and upgraded fascia and internal signage.
Nigel Duxbury, Superdrug’s property director, said: “We’ve changed a lot in the 60 years since the first Superdrug store opened in Putney high-street, but we remain as committed as ever to providing a seamless shopping experience for our customers, offering the very best in accessible health and beauty.
“This investment into bricks-and-mortar means we can grow our footprint in key locations and highlights our ongoing commitment to high streets and retail shopping destinations, which are an integral part of local communities and economy.”
Superdrug is the UK’s second-largest health and beauty retailer after Boots with 830 stores across the UK and Ireland.
The retailer was purchased by A.S. Watson Group, the world’s largest international health and beauty retailer, in 2002.
Established in 1841, A.S. Watson Group owns over 16,100 stores under 12 retail brands in 28 markets, and has about 130,000 employees worldwide.
Other UK brands owned by A.S. Watson Group include Savers and The Perfume Shop.
WITH Superdrug’s Health and Beautycard customers earn one point for every £1 spent.
You need to rack up 100 points before you can spend them.
Customers can also receive special bonus offers by signing up at www.superdrug.com/beautycard.
Cardholders also get lower prices on certain products when shopping in-store and online.
Members get free delivery when they spend £20 or more online.
Several other retailers and hospitality venues have plans to expand.
Beer giant Heineken announced plans to invest £39million to help reopen 62 previously shuttered British pubs.
Aldi has announced that it will open 35 new UK stores.
The openings form part of Aldi‘s long-term target of 1,500 stores in the UK.
The supermarket is set to invest £550million in expanding its UK footprint this year alone.
Aldi said each new store opening will create around 40 new jobs on average.
Asda has been opening hundreds of convenience stores in recent months as it looks to rival major players Tesco and Sainsbury’s.
B&M plans to open “not less than” 45 brand new stores across the UK in each of the next two consecutive years.
The parent company of Bonmarché, Edinburgh Woollen Mill (EWM) and Peacocks, Purepay Retail Limited, has said it wants to open 100 new high street stores over the next 18 months.
It has yet to give the exact locations where it will open the 100 stores or when they will open.
One of the UK’s favourite bakery chains, Greggs, has exclusively revealed to The Sun plans to open more outlet branches by the end of 2025.
Home Bargains, which was running just under 600 branches as of last June, has said it wants to “eventually have between 800 and 1,000 retail outlets open”.
The major discounter has stopped short of saying when it wants to reach the 1,000 store target, however.
Primark is also opening new branches and investing and renovating more than a dozen of its existing shops.
Screwfix is set to open 40 new stores nationwide as its owner, Kingfisher, seeks to expand the DIY brand’s national presence.
The brand opened two new stores in March, and a further three new shops will open this month.
Tesco has revealed plans to open 70 more stores across the UK over the next year as part of major expansion plans.
WHSmith has turned its focus to the travel side of its business, with plans to open new sites in airports, railway stations and hospitals.
