Boots said today that it is investing €50m to open at least 30 new stores around the country. This will bring the total number of Boots stores here to over 70 by 2011 and will create over 800 new jobs in the chain.
The news came as the Director of Boots Ireland, Rhys Ilea, confirmed that the company is going to open its 41st store in Ireland in Drogheda in early October.
Boots is also upgrading almost half of its existing Irish store chain with a €2.4m investment programme. This will see the renovation of 17 of its stores and will include the introduction of consulting rooms.
Another store opening is planned before the end of the year and there are also plans to relocate the Aston Quay store to a larger Dublin city centre location soon.
The most recent accounts filed for Boots Retail Ireland record a turnover of €193m and pre-tax profits of €16m for the year ended March 2005.
'Opening new stores in Ireland continues to be an important part of our growth strategy and we have an aggressive store opening programme in place over the next five years,' commented Mr Iley today.
