Florence took an interest in the retail side of the company. New lines were introduced, such as books, stationery, fancy goods, artists' materials and picture frames. Jesse and Florence began to develop a concept of Boots shops as department stores. In 1891 Jesse secured the leasehold of a property at Pelham Street in Nottingham's fashionable town centre. The premises were largely rebuilt, with a gallery supported by a colonnade of cast iron pillars and mahogany counters. Pelham Street became the model for future Boots stores throughout the country.
In support of this expansion, there was investment in the manufacturing side of the business. Jesse wanted the company to be fully self-contained so that he could control not only prices but quality. He wanted to be the 'Largest, Best and Cheapest'. In 1885 Jesse took out a lease on three rooms in Island Street in Nottingham. By 1892 he had taken over the whole building and further properties around Island Street and Parkinson Street. Over 80 staff, including a large proportion of women, were employed in packing, bottling, shop fitting, printing, advertising, laboratory work and accounts. The Island Street works, near to the canal, main roads and railway stations, were also ideally sited for developing the company's distribution system.
By 1893 Jesse had opened 33 stores including 7 branches in Nottingham. The business extended further south, into East Anglia, and the West Midlands. At the turn of the century there were 250 stores in the Boots retail chain. In addition to opening new branches, Jesse acquired existing chemist's firms, including William Day's Southern Drug Company, a chain of 60 stores in London and the south of England.
The business was developing in other ways too. Florence Boot founded a subscription library, the Boots Booklovers' Library, inspired by her interest in literature and the arts. Another idea, also fostered by Florence, was to open elegant cafés in the larger stores. These had an impact on sales, by attracting the more affluent middle classes to shop at Boots and encouraging them to build up a loyalty to the company.
Government legislation had an impact on the growth of the company. The Pharmacy Act of 1908 confirmed the legal right of large companies and stores such as Boots to offer dispensing services. In 1911 the Health Insurance Act extended medical benefits to ordinary working people and there was a dramatic increase in the number of prescriptions. In 1913 sales in the 560 Boots stores across England Wales and Scotland amounted to over £2.5 million a year.
Boots made a significant contribution to the war effort and produced items for men at the Front, such as water sterilizers, vermin powder and anti-fly cream. Many fine chemicals such as aspirin and saccharin were previously imported from Germany and Jesse anticipated a shortage in supply. He enlarged the company's scientific laboratories and production facilities and manufactured for the government, domestic and overseas buyers. Over 900 women were involved in the manufacture of box respirators, used to combat enemy gas attacks. Over 5 million of these were produced during the course of the war.
After the end of the war, Jesse Boot began to consider the future of the company. He anticipated that the business would soon face the affects of a post-war depression, as well as greater competition. Increasingly disabled by arthritis, Jesse would soon need to relinquish control. In 1920 Louis Liggett, the head of the United Drug Company, one of the largest pharmaceutical firms in America, made an offer to purchase the company for £2.25 million and the sale was agreed.
John Boot, Jesse's son was invited by Liggett to travel to America and study the production methods and organisation of the parent company. Certain problems were evident within the Boots business by 1920, including the difficulty of communicating with over 600 stores across the country. The company was re-organised, with a new committee structure and an emphasis on centralisation and efficiency. The introduction of a hierarchy of Territorial Managers also provided a career structure for pharmacists within the company. Investment in the retail chain continued; the 1000th Boots store was opened in Galashiels in 1933. John Boot was associated with most of the new developments within the business and became chairman in 1927.
In 1929 the Depression in America forced L K Liggett Co. into bankruptcy and Liggett was forced to sell his holding in Boots. In 1933 the company was sold to a group of British financiers for just over £6m, with John Boot as chairman and managing director. His ideas for the direction and management of the business - to preserve the 'Boot tradition' to expand the business and serve the public, but also to treat his employees well - were very close to those of his father.
Rapid expansion of the retail side of the business meant that factory and warehouse capacity needed to grow as well. A new site at Beeston was chosen and land was acquired between the canal and the railway, reached by a new bridge across the railway line. A Works Planning Committee was established to consider the development of the site, and members toured Britain, Europe and America to study the layout of manufacturing plants.
The first plant to be built in 1929 was 'D1', the new Soap Works. The famous 'D10' "Wets" factory was completed 4 years later in 1933. It was designed by the engineer Owen Williams and incorporated many advanced and innovative features that influenced the planning of similar structures for decades. The factory was so efficient, that the working week for its workforce was reduced from 47.5 hours to 42.5 hours and in 1934 a five day week was introduced, with no cut in pay. Both D10 and the D6 "Drys" factories are now Grade I listed buildings.
The company also began to establish an agricultural division, a development instigated in 1929. In 1934 Lord Trent purchased the Ardnamurchan Estate in Argyll, Scotland, part of which was farmed by the company, to help research and development of horticultural and veterinary products by practical farming experience.
In 1935 Boot's famous No7 range of cosmetics was launched, in an art deco livery of blue and yellow. To support the new brand, Beauty Parlours were introduced in a number of stores, including Regent Street in London. The Booklovers' Library also flourished at this time, with branches in 450 stores supporting over half a million subscribers.
The contribution of the company and its staff to the Second World War effort was considerable. As many as 7000 employees were away on war duty and by 1945, 381 members of staff had been killed in battle or air raids. 33 shops were destroyed due to enemy action. Some stores were used as First Aid posts and Boots staff also took the Civil Defence ARP test and worked as Air Raid Wardens.
Boots manufacturing capacity was vital to the war effort. 3,000,000 lbs of saccharin was produced (the equivalent of 731,000 tons of sugar, a commodity which was strictly rationed) and 1,500 tons of chloramine was produced, for water sterilisation in Europe, Africa and the Far East. Boots pioneered the manufacture of penicillin in the largest surface culture plant in the world, designed and managed on behalf of the Ministry of Supply. Pharmaceutical research continued; of the 29 new products, 12 had previously been manufactured only in Germany.
A programme of factory development in Nottingham was begun following the war, the major part being completed by 1953. This included a new power house, printing works, and, in 1959 a new pharmaceutical research building. In 1949 a factory for the manufacture of cosmetics was opened at Airdrie in Scotland.
The company's agricultural division also expanded; by 1952 the company was farming 4,500 acres in England and Scotland. New laboratories for horticultural research at Lenton, Nottingham and Thurgarton, were completed in 1947. There was also expansion overseas. A retail company had been formed in New Zealand in 1936; and over the next 30 years manufacturing businesses were established in India, Pakistan, Australia and Canada.
There were developments in the world of pharmacy and retailing. 1948 saw the inauguration of the National Health Service. This led to a vast increase in dispensing and the demand for drugs. In 1956 some self-service stores were opened and other branches were re-modelled to give partial self-service. In 1965 it was announced that the Booklovers' Library was to close and the last branch closed in 1966.
In 1968 a new head office for Boots The Chemists, designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill of Chicago, was built on the Beeston site, housing over 1000 people. This is now a Grade II listed building.
Over the past three decades Boots has continued to develop product ranges, many of which are now household names. '17' cosmetics, aimed at the teenage market, was launched in 1968. The analgesic, ibuprofen was introduced in 1969, and launched as the OTC brand, Nurofen in 1983. There have been five relaunches of No7 cosmetics, the most dramatic in 1995, when the entire new range was introduced overnight in all Boots stores.
Boots has also introduced new services. Boots Opticians, formed in 1987 has become one of the UK's leading chain of opticians. Insurance services, and initiatives in dentistry, chiropody, 'Boots for Men' stores and internet services were introduced in 1999. The first Health and Beauty Experience stores, offering services such as homeopathy, osteopathy and a range of beauty treatments, were opened in autumn 2000, and boots photo.com, an e-photo service, was launched in June 2000.
There has been expansion in operations abroad. Boots Healthcare International (formed in 1991) exports healthcare products to more than 130 countries round the world. Boots Health and Beauty stores are now established in Ireland, Thailand and Taiwan.