Boots braced for 'miracle cream' frenzy

British Boots stores are bracing themselves for a rush today when they restock shelves with a hugely popular anti-ageing cream.

Four of the High Street chemist’s flagship stores will open at 7am to cater for the expected demand for its No7 Protect & Perfect beauty serum.

The product’s reputation was boosted after it was featured on a BBC2 Horizon programme in March.

Stocks of the cream immediately sold out after the broadcast and since then 50,000 British women have signed up to waiting lists for the product.

The Boots stores opening early today are Sedley Place, Oxford Street in London; Market Street in Manchester; Lower Parliament Street in Nottingham; and Princes Street in Edinburgh.

The first 100 customers to buy the cream in each of the stores opening early will receive a “goody bag” of No7 products worth £50 (€73.20).

However, customers will only be able to buy one bottle of the cream each.

Boots says the cream is its fastest selling product ever and its production facilities have been working “around the clock” to hit a target of 24,000 bottles a day.

A special customer care team has even been set up to manage the high number of calls from women in search of a bottle.

Graham Hardy, head of customer care at Boots, said: “We’ve heard many stories as to why women should be top of the list to receive the serum, including ’It’s my son’s wedding in three months’ time’.

“Most women don’t even know the name of the serum, simply referring it as the miracle cream, vanishing cream or simply as ’that cream’.”

Alliance Boots – the group formed last year from the £7bn (€10.3bn) merger of Boots and Alliance UniChem – revealed on Wednesday that its Boots-branded health and beauty business had increased profits for the first time in five years.