Fragrance house

Boots

Boots is a British pharmacy-led health and beauty retailer whose roots date to 1849, when John Boot opened a herbalist store in Nottingham selling herbal remedies as an affordable alternative to traditional medicines. Under Jesse Boot, the business grew beyond its original shop into pharmacy, health and beauty retail, while Florence Boot introduced products and services that helped establish Boots as a beauty destination. Boots launched its No7 beauty range in 1935. Boots Pure Drug Company was sold to the American United Drug Company in 1920 and returned to British ownership in 1933. In 2006, Alliance UniChem merged with Boots Group to form Alliance Boots, which was taken private in 2007 by KKR and Stefano Pessina. On 28 August 2025, Sycamore Partners completed its acquisition of Walgreens Boots Alliance, separating Boots into The Boots Group, a private standalone company owned by Sycamore in partnership with Stefano Pessina and his family. Fragrance remains a retail category spanning multiple brands rather than a signature Boots scent.