1849 - Boot opens a herbalist shop in Goose
gate, Nottingham.

1877 - His son
Jessie Boot joins the business, opens his first chemist shop and hires
bell-ringers to go around the streets advertising the fact that his
goods were cheaper than those of his rivals. Trade boomed.

1896 - By now Jessie owned 60 shops in 28
different towns, offering prescriptions, which, previously, doctors used
to make up themselves.

1914-18 -
The company supplies vermin powder and anti-fly cream to troops in the
trenches during World War One.

1989
- Boots spends 900 million pounds to take over Ward White, owners of
Halfords and the Payless DIY chain. The move to diversify was not
successful and they were later sold off.

July
2006 - Struggling with competition from supermarkets Tesco and Asda,
Boots merges with Alliance UniChem in a 7 billion pound deal to form
Alliance Boots.