British retailer Boots to cut 4,000 jobs

LONDON (Reuters) – British health and beauty retailer Boots plans to cut 4,000 jobs and close 48 optician stores, in the latest major blow to the country’s retail sector from the COVID-19 crisis.

British brands including John Lewis and Harrods have announced thousands of job cuts in the last two weeks after the pandemic forced customers to shop online and many remained reluctant to return to the high street even as restrictions eased.

Walgreens Boots Alliance , the owner of the retailer, said on Thursday its most significant COVID-19 impact had come in Britain, with footfall down 85% in April, forcing it to take an impairment charge of $2 billion.

(Reporting by Kate Holton; editing by James Davey)