Watsons () is a

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

health care Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

and beauty care chain store in

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. It is the flagship health and beauty brand of AS Watson, which is majority owned by CK Hutchison Holdings. It operates 8,000 stores and 1,500 pharmacies in 15 Asian and European markets, including

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Its South Korean branch closed down in 2021.

History

Founding and move to Hong Kong

Dr. Thomas Boswell Watson (1815–1860), from

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, was the first member of the Watson family to arrive in the

Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...

, where in 1845 he set up a private practice in

. p. 221 After selling his practice to a fellow doctor, he moved to Hong Kong in 1856 where he became part owner of the Hong Kong Dispensary, an offshoot of the Canton Dispensary which operated from 1828 to 1858. Known as the "Big Medicine Shop" (; Cantonese: ''Dai Yeuk Fong''), the dispensary's main customers were soldiers and sailors. The dispensary was not known as A.S. Watson until 1870, although Alexander Skirving Watson took over in 1858 following management changes. T. B. Watson sent his family back to Scotland in 1857, and he himself followed two years later. Following the death of Dr T. B. Watson in 1860, the Hong Kong Dispensary was leased to A. S. Watson and two other doctors, and onwards from 1862, the name A.S. Watson featured prominently at the Hong Kong Dispensary. In 1871, the Watson family leased the company to Dr John David Humphreys and Dr Arthur Hunt, and thereafter trading was executed under the name A.S. Watson & Company. The company entered China and the Philippines in 1883, but withdrew from both countries in 1910. Retail outlets were known as "Watsons the Chemist". The current owners, Hutchison Group, acquired a controlling interest in A.S. Watson & Co., Ltd in 1963. In 1981, it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. At this time, the group had 75 retail outlets.

International expansion

In the late 1980s, the chain expanded to other parts of Asia. The first modern Watsons store outside Hong Kong opened in the Portuguese territory of

in late May 1987. The first Watsons in

opened in September 1987, and by May 1991 the number of Taiwanese locations numbered 25. The first Watsons store in

opened on 29 April 1988, with the chain expanding to operate 27 outlets across the city-state by 1993. The first Watsons store in China opened in April 1989. Located in Beijing's newly opened Palace Hotel, the shop's products were all shipped from Hong Kong, and were therefore for sale in foreign exchange certificates only. Watson's management thus expected the shop's customers to mainly comprise foreign tourists. The Palace Hotel was partly owned by the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...

, which required all shop staff to complete a month-long boot camp. Watsons personal care stores were subsequently opened in

(1994),

(1996), and a revival in the

(2002) after 92 years. The first Watsons store in

opened on 13 January 2006 in Jakarta. In 2019, Watsons reached 7,800 stores and expanded to Vietnam, its 13th operating market. In 2020, Al-Futtaim and AS Watson have signed a franchise agreement to open stores of healthcare and beauty chain Watsons in the Gulf region. Watsons opened its first flagship store at The Dubai Mall in October 2020. In 2024, Watsons opened its 8,000th store at

SM Mall of Asia SM Mall of Asia (also abbreviated as SM MoA, or simply Mall of Asia or MoA; ), is a large shopping mall in the Philippines, located at Bay City, Metro Manila, Bay City, Pasay, Metro Manila within the SM Central Business Park, a reclaimed area w ...

in the Philippines. On 7 Jan 2025, Watsons reopened its Singapore flagship store at Ngee Ann City after a revamp.

Operations

As of 2021, there are around 8,000 stores and more than 1,500 pharmacies in 14 Asian and European markets, including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. A.S. Watson Retail, as well as the Watson chain of stores in Hong Kong, is headquartered in Watson House, Fo Tan, Hong Kong. An 11-story distribution centre opened in April 1983.

References

External links

Customer website

{{GS Group Retail companies established in 1828 Hong Kong brands AS Watson Retail companies of China Pharmacies of China Pharmacy brands Retailing in Hong Kong