The AS Watson-owned retailer said it is putting an emphasis on the physical, in-store shopping experience for customers by increasing the size of its store formats in prime retail destinations, as well as improving the format of these stores.
The investment is part of the retailer’s focus on an O+O (Online + Offline) strategy and the move is expected to create 500 new jobs in the UK.
Superdrug’s property director Nigel Duxbury said of the decision: “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.”
Duxbury also shared that 2024 will see some of the biggest-ever Superdrug stores open their doors, and that these larger stores will give the retailer “the space to be able to offer new and exciting services and even more of the latest health and beauty products.”
A focus on brick-and-mortar stores
The retailer has seen increasingly strong sales in recent years. It shared that for the Christmas trading period in 2023, total sales were up by 9.2% in the four weeks to 30th December, with like-for-like sales up 7.1%.
So far this year, it has doubled the footprint of its Craigavon store in Northern Ireland and extended its Lakeside Thurrock store, where it also opened a new fragrance counter and Nurse services.
It now plans to open some of its biggest-ever stores later this year – with new locations soon opening at St David’s in Cardiff, Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent and Westfield Stratford City in London.
The Cardiff store – which was one of the first Beauty Studio concept stores – will upsize to a 11,3000 square feet space with a new treatment studio that offers makeup services, as well as beauty and piercings.
Meanwhile, the new store in Westfield Stratford City will double its size to 9,892 square feet and will be one of the retailer’s biggest stores in the UK when it opens in the summer.
Superdrug also shared that this year it will also be extending seven of its existing stores and refitting 60 of them. The stores will have a sustainable focus with new shop fronts, 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.
