Exclusive interview: Holland & Barrett redefines wellness

Holland & Barrett’s new ‘experience store’ in Cardiff was the worthy winner of May's Store of the Month award. We caught up with Andrew Jones, Head of Format at Holland & Barrett, to discuss the concept, its new features, and the future of in-store health & wellness.

How does this store bring to life Holland & Barrett's medium-term strategy?

Our Cardiff experience store is an important step in our transformation to a purpose-led wellness destination. It showcases our strategy to connect more deeply with customers through innovation, service, and science-backed expertise. By combining diagnostics, personalised advice, and immersive design, Cardiff brings to life our mission: to help people add quality years to their lives.

It’s also a real-time learning environment for us. We’re testing new formats and features that will inform the future of wellness retail - not just in the UK, but globally.

Can you tell us about some of the new initiatives you’ve implemented at Cardiff?

Cardiff is home to several “firsts” for Holland & Barrett, including:

• H&B&Me app space: a digital wellness pop-up that lets customers discover their biological age and personalised wellness goals, via an app. It recently won a Retail Week innovation award

• Randox health testing: in-store diagnostic services offering blood checks to understand your full health profile and inform what vitamins and supplements your body needs

• ‘Let’s Talk Wellness’ island: a central consultation zone themed around key missions like sleep, immunity, energy and gut health- each designed to start meaningful customer conversations

• Wellness studio: a calm, immersive space offering 36 hours a week of yoga and reformer pilates to support mind and body wellbeing

• Beauty sampling & brand bays: a refreshed beauty experience featuring sensory trials and curated brand fixtures that rotate seasonally

• Lift & Learn digital display: an interactive product wall that brings education and discovery into the aisle

• The welcome wall: customers should feel good the minute they enter the store, so the cushion seating area has been designed with fun in mind; a shareable backdrop for a younger target and a place to host weekend DJ’s and a cycle of brand activations.

These features are underpinned by a reimagined colleague-led service journey and self-checkout experience that blends speed with the human touch.

You’ve clearly upweighted service and personalisation, what’s the thinking behind that?

Personalisation has always been part of our DNA, but Cardiff takes it to a new level. Every customer is greeted and guided based on their unique needs—from a simple product query to an in-depth wellness consultation.

We have a fantastic in-house qualification, externally accredited by Gateway, that provides our colleagues with the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed to support our customers and help them with their diverse wellness needs. Our programme is 25 hours of interactive e learning and practical application, completed over 12 weeks, that is designed to increase confidence, consultation skills and the ability to give helpful wellness advice.

On completion, our colleagues become “qualified to advise”, a recognition that we value as a key unique selling point and differentiator to our competitors.

This isn’t scripted service; it’s relationship-building. Colleagues are recruited and trained to listen, understand, and recommend in a way that’s empathetic and tailored. The result? Customers leave not just with products, but with confidence and support.

For our managers and selected colleagues, we take their knowledge up a notch, enrolling them on to our Healthy Body programme. This programme takes a further 25 hours to complete and is designed to improve awareness and knowledge of the human body, encompassing key functions, what dysfunction looks like, the impact of diet and lifestyle factors and how products can play a positive role in supporting health and wellness. On completion of this A level equivalent programme our colleagues are ready for all the different types of conversations across supporting a healthy body.

And it doesn't stop there. We have a wellness suite of programmes that are tailored to improve knowledge and application across a whole host of areas including gut health, joints bones and muscles, women's health and more.

Is Cardiff a blueprint for future store formats, or more of a test-and-learn concept?

In short, it’s both. We are using Cardiff to show us what works when it comes to connected wellness experiences - and where we can go further but we are also deep into planning the next batch of Experience Stores. We are committed to bringing a format offering and end to end wellness services to step change customers health to every city across the UK.

It’s early days, but it will show us what works when it comes to connected wellness experiences - and where we can go further. What we learn here is already influencing how we think about future store formats, services, and colleague training. This is an evolving journey, and we’re building it around the needs of our customers.

What has been the customer reaction so far?

The response has been overwhelmingly positive, it’s seen as a step change for Holland & Barrett and a space to browse and enjoy whilst appealing to a younger demographic, which is what we intended to create.  Customers are spending longer in-store, engaging more deeply with services, building baskets that reflect broader wellness goals. Our colleagues report more meaningful interactions, and Cardiff is our number 1 store for OSAT metrics, where satisfaction is driving repeat visits across channels.

What does the future of health & wellness look like to you? How is the in-store experience evolving to meet that?

The future of health & wellness lies in helping people feel their best - through solutions that are simple, personal, and empowering. As healthcare systems become more reactive, customers are looking to brands like H&B for preventative, everyday support. That’s why our stores are becoming more than shops - they’re places to discover, learn, and take the next step on your wellness journey. It’s a purpose-led approach, but also one that drives lasting relationships and commercial value.

Your functional food ranges look great. Will food play a bigger role going forward?

Absolutely. Food is a fundamental wellness pillar. It enables small, sustainable changes and helps us encourage cross-category shopping. In Cardiff, food is at the front of the store - alongside supplements and diagnostics - to reflect the way customers live.

We’re accelerating growth in wellness food and innovating our own-brand around our customers’ biggest health concerns. These products are designed to hit functional needs and taste expectations while supporting on-the-go and top-up food missions - especially important given the convenience profile of many of our store locations.

How do digital tools like H&B&Me integrate with the store experience?

Digital and physical are fully connected in Cardiff. The H&B&Me app helps customers calculate their biological age and receive personalised wellness plans. In-store, they can start that journey with a store colleague who’ll advise on results and then continue at home and shop via H&B online.   

It’s not just about tech, it’s about relationships. We use tools like Cerebro to follow up with personalised recommendations, content, and offers. Together, this ecosystem helps us turn one-time transactions into lifelong support.

What role does becoming a wellness destination play in your strategy?

Wellness can’t be delivered through single transactions, it requires trust, consistency, and context. Becoming a wellness destination means we consider the whole customer journey: what their goals are and how we can help them progress we offer services from yoga to blood tests to help customers with all aspects of improving their wellness.

As Tamara Rajah, CEO of Wellness Solutions & Transformation, explains: “To move beyond products, we need to change the behaviour of the customer and the country… It’s about both purpose and commercial drivers, with longer-term relationships coming from customers’ wellness needs throughout life.”

There’s growing appetite for preventative support and a critical gap in the market. We believe Holland & Barrett is uniquely placed to fill it.

Are you seeing any early differences in basket size or composition?

It’s very early days but we’re already seeing promising shifts. We’ll report further in the coming months.

How is H&B considering sustainability in its store transformation programme?

As an important part of our ongoing store transformation programme, last year we started to work with LEAP, a B Corp-certified design and impact agency, to help us score the carbon efficiency of our store fixtures and fittings. 

LEAP provides us with Design Conformity, an independent scoring tool, which enables us to accurately assess and improve the sustainable performance of our designs going forward and identify the areas of opportunity and a priority order.

“Holland & Barrett aims to be net zero by 2040 and this is just one of the initiatives to help us get there."

Is Holland & Barrett’s Cardiff store the future of wellness in the UK?

Holland & Barrett's Cardiff store is a pivotal step in its transformation into a purpose-led wellness destination. It offers differentiated services, like biological age testing and in-store diagnostics. The new format puts personalisation and customer experience at its forefront, which is elevated through highly trained staff. As the first of its new ‘experience stores’, the Cardiff store will serve as a perfect test-and-learn environment, with early positive customer reactions indicating its potential to shape the format’s future.

Have a contender for Store of the Month?

If you know a store that deserves to win Store of the Month, get in touch at  [email protected].