Asda shutting seven chemists this week - see if your local is closing

31 July 2023 , 14:12

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Seven Asda chemist sites are closing this week (Image: Katie Pugh)

Asda will be closing seven of its in-store pharmacies this week as sites have been "running at a loss" for several years.

The seven sites will be closing their doors for good on Thursday, August 3 and the reason behind the move is due to "low use" of the services. The supermarket chain first announced in January that it was proposing to close seven of its 254 pharmacy branches and confirmed the date and the exact pharmacy closures in June.

Some of the sites set to go this week include pharmacies in Southhampton, Seaham, Feltham and Blackburn. No other pharmacies across Asda's stores have been identified for closure. In recent weeks, notices have been going up in the affected stores to inform customers of the closure.

In the Blackburn store, a notice was put up which read: "We are writing to inform you that we are permanently closing our pharmacy at Asda Blackburn - Lower Audley Retail Park, Grimshaw Park Road, Blackburn, BB2 3DY on Thursday, August 3, 2023.

"This isn't a decision we've taken lightly and we are taking every step to prevent any inconvenience this may cause you as we know how important regular access to a pharmacy is. If you have nominated this pharmacy as your chosen pharmacy at the doctor's you will need to change your nomination.

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"This is not something we can do for you, so please take some time in identifying the pharmacy which most closely matches your needs. By taking action now, this will ensure that you can continue receiving your prescription on time."

Asda said in January that if the proposals were to go ahead, the branch closures would affect 48 hourly-paid colleagues and 14 pharmacists. At the time the supermarket chain said it would do everything it could to redeploy affected staff in other local branches.

An Asda spokesperson told the Mirror: "Despite the best efforts of our hard-working colleagues, these pharmacies have been running at a loss for a number of years so unfortunately following a period of consultation we have decided to close them.

"We recognise this will be a difficult time for our pharmacy colleagues at these stores and we are in discussions with all of them to support them through this process, we will do all we can to find alternate roles.”

Several supermarket chains have announced the closure of their pharmacies over the last year. In April, Tesco announced that it would be closing eight of its in-store pharmacies due to low footfall.

In January, Lloyds Pharmacy announced that it would be closing its sites across multiple Sainsbury's stores. These closures went ahead across May, June and July with seven closing overall.

Full list of Asda Pharmacies closing

• Southampton
• Seaham
• Feltham
• Blackburn
• Adel
• West Bradford
• Weston-Super-Mar

Ruby Flanagan