• Boots stores at Fort Kinnaird and Gyle Shopping Centre in Edinburgh and Silverburn Shopping Centre in Glasgow welcomes shoppers to inspirational new beauty halls
• 17 Boots Beauty Advisors have been recruited in Edinburgh and Glasgow and are ready to offer brand-neutral advice and guidance through touch-free consultations
• Boots has been voted the safest place to shop on the high street[i]

 As the Scottish high street prepares to reopen for non-essential retail on 26^th April, Boots UK is looking forward to welcoming customers to experience three inspirational new beauty halls, with more to come.

Although Boots has remained open as an essential retailer throughout lockdown, it has used this quieter period to invest in stores, giving its beauty halls at Fort Kinnaird and Gyle Shopping Centre in Edinburgh and Silverburn Shopping Centre in Glasgow their very own makeover. A new beauty hall will also open at the new Boots store at St James Quarter, which opens on 24^th June.

Boots has removed traditional beauty counters at the new beauty halls and replaced them with trending zones, discovery areas, and live demonstration areas that allow customers to browse the latest products intuitively. Customers can also get brand-neutral advice from Boots Beauty Specialists – 17 have been recruited across three stores in Scotland to date – and shop more of the industry’s most innovative brands and products for the first time with Boots. New brands available include Anastasia Beverly Hills, Dr.Jart+ and MAC.  

Maxine Smedley, Head of Stores in Scotland at Boots, said: “Boots has been helping customers to look good, stay well and feel better for over 170 years. We know that our heritage is not enough for today’s customer, so Boots continues to reinvent itself. As Scotland reopens for non-essential retail, we are very excited to welcome customers to our new beauty halls and hope that they enjoy a new and improved safe shopping experience, guided by our beauty advisors.”

Each Boots Beauty Advisor undergoes immersive training not only on the products, but also in really understanding the motivations of the person they are talking to and helping them to achieve their goals of looking and feeling great, inside and out.

Robyn Brown from Glasgow recently started working as a Boots Beauty Specialist at Silverburn. She said: “I am a huge fan of all things beauty, so I was absolutely thrilled when I got this role at Boots. As Boots Beauty Specialists we offer unbiased beauty advice, so customers can rest assured that our product recommendations are tailored to them. Now that we can start to get out and about again, I think that there will be huge demand for make-up at Boots, as well as skincare.”

To ensure a safe shopping experience, customers at Boots’ new beauty stores in Scotland can test fragrances and makeup touch-free, with disposable applicators dispensed by a beauty advisor. Touch make-up services for selected premium brands, including Clinique and IT Cosmetics, and Benefit Brow Services are expected to be in-demand as consultants return to counters. The No7 Match Made Service will also be making a return.

The Boots Make-Up Exchange Promise, a commitment to exchange makeup that turns out to be the wrong shade, will remain in effect at all Boots stores. This gives customers the confidence to buy make-up while self-selection cosmetics testers are unavailable.

During lockdown, Boots has introduced a raft of measures to make its stores Covid-safe, including protective screens at tills, hand sanitising stations and clinical grade PPE and masks for colleagues. Extra measures taken by the retailer to keep customers and colleagues safe, include monitoring customer numbers and regular deep cleaning of stores – have all contributed to it being voted the safest place to shop on the high street during lockdown by consumers.ⁱ

To make shopping in store even easier and quicker, customers can use the Click & Collect service and have their online order delivered to their most convenient local store. From 12 April Click & Collect will be free for orders of over £15.

[i] Data according to Kantar. 3-17 May 2020