Shop in Sheffield city centre gets a makeover to help ‘put high street back on the map’ post-Covid

Kelsay Higton in the beauty section of Boots on Sheffield High Street.

Boots in Sheffield has decided to ‘reinvent itself’ to keep up to speed with modern shopping demands, and to help entice more customers onto the high street.

The brand new inspirational beauty hall means Boots have removed traditional beauty counters and replaced them with trending zones, discovery areas, and live demonstration areas.

There will also be four beauty advisers, who will be able to offer a fully tailored shopping experience for shoppers on Fargate.

The reopening of shops on April 12th 2021. Fargate, Sheffield. Picture: Chris Etchells

Kelsay Higton, assistant manager of Boots Sheffield High Street, said: “On the high street we have lost John Lewis and Debenhams, so Boots have really changed their approach to beauty.

"Instead of the counters, we have a really open, friendly approach now where everything is on gondolas so its much more customer friendly, because we did find from studies a lot of the counters make customers feel anxious at times, and like they didn’t want to shop on beauty.

"We have also introduced a beauty specialist in store who gives completely unbiased advice. A lot of people work for particular brands so would push their own, but now we have unbiased advisers to give you best advice tailored to your needs.

“We are really trying to help the High Street and put it back on the map.”

The development includes adding brands that were previously only available in the US, and only available in Boots in Sheffield.

The refit is underway and the beauty part of the store is closed until tomorrow.

Ritesh Bakrania, head of stores for Yorkshire at Boots, said: “Boots has been helping customers to look good, stay well and feel better for over 170 years.

"We know that our heritage is not enough for today’s customer, so Boots continues to reinvent itself.

"Now that non-essential retail has reopened and people are shopping for pleasure again, we are very excited to welcome customers to our new beauty halls and hope that they enjoy a new and improved safe shopping experience, guided by our beauty advisors.”