Today, leading accessible health and beauty retailer, Superdrug, announces plans to open 25 best-in-class new stores in 2025, extending its geographical footprint across the UK. A move that will create approximately 600 new jobs for the UK’s retail industry.
After a 25% sales increase in its top 100 largest stores last year, and as part of the retailer’s continued drive to elevate customer discovery and experience within the health and beauty arena, Superdrug will continue to invest in these large-scale stores, with particular focus on destination stores and retail parks. In January 2025, these 100 largest stores saw an 8% increase in footfall, showing an increased demand for leisure shopping for Superdrug customers.
Kickstarting with Leeds Briggate, which opened in late February, Superdrug plans to open gold-tier stores in prime locations throughout the year, including Guernsey and Cribbs Causeway in Bristol. Additionally, a major extension is planned for Meadowhall Sheffield. Superdrug’s latest experience stores go far beyond the convenience of quick health and beauty purchasing, as sites have been specially designed to immerse, inform, and engage customers within a physical store environment.
Customers can discover the latest trending beauty products and delight in beauty treatments like ear piercing, manicures, and eye-brow threading at expert Beauty Studios, which saw a 7% sales increase in 2024. Customers can also get tailored advice from trained consultants at luxury fragrance counters, which had a 24% year-to-date volume growth last year, visit nurse clinics which experienced a 22% sales increase in 2024, and visit our pharmacies to get personalised, professional healthcare advice.
In a continued move to modernise its strong store estate, the retailer plans to refurbish 65 stores this year while also expanding multiple stores, including sites in Luton and Dundee. These extensions will increase the overall store footprint between 50% and 100%, enhancing the overall customer experience and reinforcing Superdrug’s commitment to the high street. Every new and refurbished store will also benefit from Superdrug’s successful sustainable store scheme, which ensures sites are as sustainable and energy efficient as possible.
As Superdrug expands as part of this growth, investment in training, inductions, and development programmes remains a key focus to support the new hires joining the business. Each new store opening and expansion provides an opportunity to cultivate an inclusive and supportive workplace, equipping all employees with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to deliver an exceptional customer experience.
Nigel Duxbury, Superdrug property director comments: “We want everyone who enters Superdrug to feel an elevated customer experience. For us, this is not about a quick and easy purchase, it is about engaging customers with added extras that truly enrich their everyday lives.
“Be that through updated cosmetic stands which can be found in our Brent Cross store, or via great beauty treatments that everyone can afford regularly, or through private clinics that give face to face access to healthcare professionals.
“We can see from our sales last year that investing in and increasing the number of large format stores in our estate allows us to accelerate our bricks and mortar strategy, so that we can bring the bigger and better shopping experience, that we know our customers love, to even more communities across the UK.”
Acceleration of bricks and mortar is part of Superdrug’s continued focus on its O+O (Online + Offline) strategy, which aims to better serve customer need, by providing the best shopping experience across any channel, anytime, anywhere.
