High Street chain collapse sweepstake

[WillPS]

Interesting article about what went on with M2 in The Telegraph, available without a paywall here:
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/h ... 1577&ei=25

[WillPS]

More on that in today's Mail on Sunday:
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/h ... fdb5&ei=18

[Martin Phillp]

Doug Puttman receives backing from Wilko's creditors, while online retailer OnBuy.com are after the Wilko branding.

https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/20 ... hmv-onbuy/

[Humphrey]

Fingers crossed that some branches can be saved.

[thegeek]

I was in the Walthamstow one today, and they were entirely cleared out in most departments. Not sure how it compares to other branches, but any new owner is going to have to invest a lot into stock if they wanted to keep it as a going concern.

[Martin Phillp]

There have been a trickle of deliveries to my local store. Today they restocked on Fairy liquid products and they also had Flash sprays, but with the administration sale, the latter have sold out pretty quickly.

However Penge is becoming like Walthamstow with some departments with very little or cleared out.

[WillPS]

Some suppliers are saying they just won't work with Wilko at all until current debts are cleared:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... lier-debts

I went to the Carlton branch today. I was surprised it wasn't more bare tbh, about 40% was completely empty (and shelving being taken down). Of the remaining stuff, about half of it was stock leftover and the rest was bulk stuff from where they'd emptied their warehouse - obvious stuff like Christmas and Halloween lines but also a lot of throws and towels.

With effectively no stock, no warehouse, no distribution, no head office and possibly no brand it's difficult to see how this business can limp to the point it's somewhat on its feet and moving forward again.

I hope I'm wrong and I wish Mr Putman the very best but I just don't see it.

[WillPS]

The inevitable breakup has begun:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... -50-stores

[Martin Phillp]

52 Wilko stores to close next week. A list of stores will be announced tomorrow.

Half will close on Tuesday, the rest on Thursday.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66721630

[Zimba]

Some suppliers are saying they just won't work with Wilko at all until current debts are cleared:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... lier-debts

I went to the Carlton branch today. I was surprised it wasn't more bare tbh, about 40% was completely empty (and shelving being taken down). Of the remaining stuff, about half of it was stock leftover and the rest was bulk stuff from where they'd emptied their warehouse - obvious stuff like Christmas and Halloween lines but also a lot of throws and towels.

With effectively no stock, no warehouse, no distribution, no head office and possibly no brand it's difficult to see how this business can limp to the point it's somewhat on its feet and moving forward again.

I hope I'm wrong and I wish Mr Putman the very best but I just don't see it.

It's a bizarre one, the administrators must be reletively confident that it's going to go through as they would have liquidated the company by now as it's costing them every day that they're delaying doing it.

Seems like the 50 stores going today are the ones which he isn't after so had no future regardless so no point spending money on staff on them for a few weeks.

[Martin Phillp]

Sep 12th closures:

Acton
Aldershot
Barking
Bishop Auckland
Bletchley
Brownhills
Camberley
Cardiff Bay Retail Park
Falmouth
Harpurhey
Irvine
Liverpool Edge Lane
Llandudno
Lowestoft
Morley
Nelson
Port Talbot
Putney
Stafford
Tunbridge Wells
Wakefield
Weston-super-Mare
Westwood Cross
Winsford

Sep 14th closures:

Ashford
Avonmeads
Banbury
Barrow in Furness
Basildon
Belle Vale
Burnley (Relocation)
Clydebank
Cortonwood
Dagenham
Dewsbury
Eccles
Folkestone
Great Yarmouth
Hammersmith
Huddersfield
Morriston
New Malden
North Shields
Queen Street Cardiff
Rhyl
Southampton-West Quay
St Austell
Stockport
Truro
Uttoxeter
Walsall
Woking