Holland & Barrett has opened a flagship store on Princes Street in Edinburgh, featuring a brand new consultation area – a first for the UK’s leading health food retailer.
The 5,543 square feet store features a seated consultation area offering customers the chance to chat to ‘Qualified to Advise’ store staff about all their health and beauty needs. Princes Street is the first store in the country to have this facility, which follows the launch of Holland & Barrett’s £13m staff training academy in 2012. The aim of the scheme is to provide customers with quality health advice from staff trained to at least A-Level standard in health and nutrition.
To showcase retailer’s growing beauty offering, the new store was officially opened by natural beauty, Steph Hunter (pictured left) – the reigning Miss Edinburgh. Shoppers were also pampered during the opening too, as beauty therapists offered complimentary hand and products sampling.
Customers who visited the new store on Thursday were also able to get their blood pressure, heart rate and body stats checked at the ‘Health Check Station’ by trained experts from Holland & Barrett and The Gym, in the consultation area.
Peter Aldis, CEO of Holland & Barrett’s parent company NBTY Europe, said the move to introduce a consultation area was the natural next step for the retailer. “As the leading natural health retailer, we set a new standard last year by being the first retailer to offer a recognised government-backed training scheme to cover health on the high street. We wanted to create an environment where customers felt comfortable to ask the advice of our trained store associates in a more private setting and we feel the consultation area will help us offer this.
“The Princes Street opening takes the total number of stores in Scotland to 47 and is the 760th store in the Holland & Barrett portfolio. While many retailers are struggling to keep their doors open, we hope this further expansion demonstrates our promise to support the high street in this tough retail climate.”
