A COUNTY Durham branch of Boots will close its doors for good in the spring.

The store on Newgate Street, in Bishop Auckland, will permanently close on Saturday, April 2, the national retailer has confirmed.

A spokesperson said shutting a store is “never an easy decision”.

When The Northern Echo asked Boots how the closure would affect pharmacy customers and staff it said people could use the pharmacy at its store, on Bishop Auckland Retail Park.

The company did not say whether any jobs would be lost with the closure of the town centre store or if staff could be redeployed to other branches.

A Boots UK spokesperson said: “Closing a store is never an easy decision, nor one we take lightly, but as a business with a large estate we continually review our store locations to make sure they are where our customers need us most.

“We have taken the decision to close the store on Bishop Auckland Newgate Street store on 2nd April 2022.

“Our nearby store at Bishop Auckland Shopping Park is around a ten minute drive away and will continue to offer pharmacy services to our customers.”

There is a need to offer visitors a good shopping experience for them to return and at this moment in time we don’t have this

Durham County Councillor for Bishop Auckland Sam Zair, who also sits on Bishop Auckland Town Centre and runs a café in the town, said: “This is disappointing to hear that Boots are leaving our high street but I’m not surprised.

“I only hope that Boots can relocate their staff without making redundancies. “Another empty shop and another brand name leaving our high street is not good news for the tourism sector also.

“There is a need to offer visitors a good shopping experience for them to return and at this moment in time we don’t have this.”

Boots was one of the first retailers to start trading on the out-of-town retail park, towards the end of 2012.

At the time there were mixed opinions on the retail development, with supporters believing it would regenerate derelict industrial land and objections worried about how it would hit traders in the town centre.

Read more: Controversial St Helen Auckland shopping park is offically opened

Walgreens Boots Alliance, which is behind the High Street health, beauty and chemist chain, recently announced a strategic review of its activities and is said to be considering selling the business.

 

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