A new “beauty concept store” offering specialist dermatology consultations opened yesterday (December 6) in London’s Battersea Power Station, the multiple announced.

It said yesterday that the 11,200-square-foot store offers customers “free one-on-one consultations” with “dermatologist-trained pharmacists”.

Read more: Revealed: How much are Boots pharmacists paid?

The consultations are “held in a private consultation space at the store” and “provide clinical advice for a variety of conditions including acne, rosacea, eczema and psoriasis”, the multiple added.

The pharmacists, who have been trained by “leading” dermatologist Dr Justine Hextall, will eventually be able to offer customers “prescription-only medicines to treat skin conditions”, Boots said.

The company added that it “plans to offer a private pharmacist prescribing service at the store in the near future”.

Read more: Boots offloads pension scheme for £4.8bn amid fresh sales rumours

And the concept store may be just the beginning of specialist dermatology support at Boots, with its “industry-leading services and specialist expertise to be tested ahead of wider portfolio roll-out”, Boots said.

The multiple added that it “will look to roll out this specialist skincare training to more pharmacists in selected stores across the UK”.

The store also offers over 250 “curated beauty and skincare brands”, skin imaging and LED light treatment, a “scalp diagnosis” service and other beauty treatments by 35 new Boots beauty specialists, it said.

 

“Never been done before”

 

Head of beauty reinvention at Boots Jenna Ward said that the new beauty concept store “provides an exciting platform to test industry-leading skincare and beauty services and brands” before Boots introduces them “to shoppers across the country”.

She said that “by combining Boots pharmacy heritage with [its] market-leading beauty offering”, the brand can offer high street “skin care expertise…in a way that’s never been done before”.

The multiple stressed that the “milestone” store is just “the latest beauty hotspot to join Boots’ store portfolio”.

Read more: Boots reports 'strong' last quarter as parent company reveals $3.1bn net loss

In 2019, Boots revealed that it had updated 24 stores as part of a beauty-focused transformation.   

Yesterday, the company said that it now has “over 170 new and refreshed beauty halls across the UK”.

This October, Boots reported a “strong” last quarter with a “standout performance from skincare and premium beauty categories” – at the same time that its parent company Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) revealed a $3.1 billion net loss this fiscal year.

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And last month, WBA announced that it had offloaded Boots employees’ pension scheme for £4.8bn.

Meanwhile, rumours are circulating that the parent company is planning to put Boots up for sale again, with The Times reporting that “City sources” believed WBA could restart the “sale process…within the next six months”.