Superdrug is celebrating its diamond birthday, marking its role as a gem as one of our most recognisable cosmetics conglomerates. With the democratisation of beauty at its core, the chain is still generating strong figures – in the four weeks ending December 2023, Superdrug’s sales increased by 9.2%, with like-for-like sales increasing by 7.1%.

Here, we chart key milestones that have made the brand – with its recognisable star – what it is today.

1964: Superdrug was founded by Ronald and Peter Goldstein

The Goldstein brothers founded Superdrug in 1964. Born into a family of grocery merchants, the pair had been surrounded by the possibility of great retailing.

Peter Goldstein was the initial brains behind Superdrug, speaking to Retail Week on the brand’s 50th anniversary, he said: ‘I became a junior buyer for toiletries at Tesco. Really, supermarkets weren’t ready for toiletries back then – they didn’t know or appreciate the potential… That’s where the trading name comes from. We called it Superdrug so there was a connection to supermarkets.’

1966: Superdrug opens its first doors

The first Superdrug store opened on 26th April on Putney High Street, and it’s still there today. Joining Boots, which opened doors in 1849, and preceding the highstreet’s luxury cosmetics boom in the 90s – with Space NK opening in 1993 – Superdrug bridged the health and cosmetics gap.

The chain (which grew by three stores in its first three years), democratised beauty at a time when mascara was still a block and Brylcreem was at the top of everyone’s list.

Speaking on its 60th anniversary, Niven Duxbury, Superdrug’s Property Director, said: ‘We’ve changed a lot in the 60 years since the first Superdrug store opened in Putney high street, but we remain as committed as ever to providing a seamless shopping experience for our customers, offering the very best in accessible health and beauty.’

1987 – 2002: From Woolworths to AS Watson, Superdrug changes hands twice

In March 1987, Superdrug was sold to Woolworth Holdings (now known as Kingfisher plc) for £57 million.

In 1999, Kingfisher (which also owned Woolworths and B&Q) announced a possible merger with Asda, making it one of the largest retail groups the UK has seen.

At the time, the group had a total of almost 3,000 stores. But, this fell through at the eleventh hour and led to a tumultuous two year period, which ended in a complete demerger from the Kingfisher Group.

Over the next two years, Superdrug changed hands twice, moving from Kingfisher, to Kruidvat Group, to AS Watson in the latter brand’s acquisition of the former.

Today, AS Watson remains as Superdrug’s parent company. The group also owns the Perfume Shop and Savers.

2006: Superdrug launches into ecommerce

In the midst of the ecommerce boom, Superdrug launched superdrug.com to increase its reach beyond its 650+ stores. This was five years after the launch of Amazon and in a period of increasing consumer interest in online shopping.

Since, the Superdrug brand has harnessed online in innovative ways. One example is the launch of Superdrug Marketplace, a digital platform offering listings to smaller brands and entrepreneurs.

On launch, eCommerce Director Matt Walburn said: ‘As well as further strengthening our accessible health and beauty offering, (the Marketplace) is designed to help remove listing barriers for innovators in the market and provide hundreds of offline and online businesses with a flexible business opportunity and support they need to succeed in the digital world.’

2014 – 2024: A decade of accessible beauty

From the launch of service and treatment-focused offering ‘Beauty Studio’ in 2014 to its experiential shopping event ‘Superdrug Live’ in 2021, the Superdrug brand has launched new iterations to appeal to the increasing expectation of shoppers.

In its 60th year, it also announced the launch of 25 new stores creating more than 500 jobs – reinforcing its important role across UK high streets against a backdrop of increasing pharmacy closures.

On six decades of Superdrug, Chief Commercial Officer and British Beauty Council Executive Board Member, Simon Comins says: ‘From our humble beginnings on Putney high-street to becoming a nationally recognised brand, 60 years is an incredible landmark for us. We are looking forward to celebrating our birthday with our customers as we know without them, we wouldn’t be where we are today.’