Boots' Thames Ditton branch is
scheduled to close on 10 February 2024
You may have heard that sadly Thames Ditton is set lose its much-used Boots Pharmacy. The Residents' Association has written to the company (see below) expressing our concerns, and asking for a discussion with the company to see if we can find a way to retain this valuable village asset.
If you also want our local Boots to continue, please also email Boots. A considerable volume of local support for the store may lead them to reconsider their closure decision.
Write to:
julie.murphy@boots.co.uk
(Julie Murphy, Head of Customer Experience)
UPDATE: Boots has replied (see bottom of article), providing another email address residents could use:
Executive.Office@boots.co.uk
(Melissa Comery, Senior Customer Manager)
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Residents' Association letter to Boots
From: chairman@residents-association.com
To: julie.murphy@boots.co.uk
Dear Ms Murphy,
We are writing to express our very serious concerns about Boots' plan to close the branch in High Street Thames Ditton.
We are hearing from many residents, particularly those who are most dependent on being able to easily access their medications (many of whom are elderly and do not have easy access to alternative transport) how very worried they are about the prospect of having to travel to an alternative pharmacy to get their prescriptions. We find it strange that Boots cannot seem to operate on a profitable basis in a village such as Thames Ditton, we feel sure that the business could offer more profitable lines and be sustainable.
Clearly this decision has been planned by Boots for some time and this has become obvious with the way the branch has been run. We are confident that a better run pharmacy in this prosperous area could thrive commercially if it was better supported.
We are asking Boots to seriously reconsider their decision to close this branch.
We are one of the oldest Residents Associations in the country and are represented at both Borough and County Council level - we would welcome a dialogue with you to see if there are ways that we could assist you in terms of operating in Thames Ditton on a profitable and sustainable basis.
Kind regards,
Graham Cooke
Chair, Thames Ditton & Weston Green Residents' Association
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Boots Reply:
Subject: Boots Executive Office - 66436691
Date: 2024-01-18 16:21
From: Executive.Office@boots.co.uk;
To: chairman@residents-association.com
Dear Mr Cooke,
Sebastian James (CEO) has asked me to thank you for writing to him personally and to respond to you on his behalf.
We’re really grateful for you sharing your experience of your local store. We continually evolve our store estate and our priority is making sure that our stores are in the right location and are able to offer our customers a consistently excellent and reliable service.
Over the next year, we will continue to consolidate a number of stores which are in close proximity to each other – the majority of which are within 2km. This will help us to focus our investment to create a consistently fresh and up to date environment for our customers as well as concentrating our team members where they are most needed.
We understand your disappointment that your local store in Thames Ditton will be closing later this year, however we can assure you that all team members have been offered opportunities in other stores in the local area.
Thank you once again for taking the time to contact us and if we can assist in any way further then please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Yours sincerely
Melissa Comery
Senior Customer Manager, Boots UK
Executive Office D90 | Thane Road | Nottingham | NG90 1AA