High Street chain collapse sweepstake

[Martin Phillp]

The local Wilko is now closing at 5pm until it closes next Thursday.

An employee told me it's due to lack of stock and tasks for staff.

[Blewatter]

More store closures:

Sunday September 17th:

Accrington
Ashington
Blackwood
Bognor Regis
Bradford
Bury St Edmunds
Coalville
Crawley
Droylsden
Ellesmere Port
Falkirk
Ferndown
Hanley
Humberstone
Huyton
Kensington High Street
Kings Heath
Lakeside
Leigh
Letchworth
Maidenhead
Market Harborough
Melton Mowbray
Newport
Orpington
Pontefract
Pontypool
Redruth
Rugeley
Shirley
Southport
Sovereign Harbour
Torquay
Wimbledon
Wombwell
Woodhouse Lane - Leeds
Worcester
Workington.

Sad to see them all close, but my local one (Huyton) is actually going to be a huge blow for the village, but not a huge surprise. Its one of the larger shops, but it just couldn't compete with the B&M that's only a few yards away, and the small Home Bargains that's about 100 yards away. I don't think that space will be used for a good while.

[Martin Phillp]

The 71 stores sold to PepCo to be converted to Poundland stores are.

Aberdare, Wales
Alfreton, Derbyshire
Alnwick, Northumberland
Altrincham, Greater Manchester
Ammanford, Carmarthenshire
Ashby, North Lincolnshire
Barking, London
Bedminster, Somerset
Beeston, Nottinghamshire
Bicester, Oxfordshire
Bishop Stortford, Hertfordshire
Bletchley, Milton Keynes
Bolton, Greater Manchester
Brentwood, Essex
Brigg, North Lincolnshire
Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
Chepstow, Wales
Coalville, Leicestershire
Cramlington, Northumberland
Droitwich, Worcestershire
Eccles, Greater Manchester
Edmonton Green, Greater London
Ellesmere Port, Cheshire
Ferndown, Dorset
Gateshead, Tyne and Wear
Grays, Essex
Greenock, Inverclyde
Grimsby, North Lincolnshire
Havant, Hampshire
Hayes, Middlesex
Headingley, West Yorkshire
Hessle Road – Hull, East Yorkshire
Hillsborough, Sheffield, South Yorkshire
Hitchin, Hertfordshire
Jarrow, South Tyneside
Killingworth, North Tyneside
Kimberley, Nottingham
Lee Circle, Leicester, East Midlands
Leek, Staffordshire
Leigh, Greater Manchester
Lichfield, Staffordshire
Maidenhead, Berkshire
Matlock, Derbyshire
Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire
Nelson, Lancashire
Northallerton, North Yorkshire
Orton, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire
Pembroke Dock, Pembrokeshire
Peterlee, County Durham
Pontefract, West Yorkshire
Pontypool, Wales
Redhill, Surrey
Redruth, Cornwall
Ripley, Derbyshire
Rugeley, Staffordshire
Sale, Greater Manchester
Seaham, County Durham
Selly Oak, Birmingham, West Midlands
Shrewsbury Darwin Centre, Shropshire
South Shields, South Tyneside
Southport, Lancashire
Stafford, Staffordshire
Stamford, Lincolnshire
Stockport, Greater Manchester
Thornaby, North Yorkshire
Wellington, Shropshire
Wembley, London
West Ealing, London
Wombwell, South Yorkshire
Worcester, Worcestershire
Worksop, Nottinghamshire

Worksop is the significant sale considering it was the closest store to Wilko HQ.

[Jacket]

Killingworth is a surprise - Poundland used to have a store right opposite Wilko, which had closed at some point before I was last down at that end of the centre a few months ago. Seems odd that they're going to open up again a few metres away, although it's a much bigger unit so I suppose they'll whack the full clothing offer in there.

[Martin Phillp]

Poundland seem to want either of two models for new stores, the larger store format so they can stick the Pep&Co clothing range in it, or the Local format which is the most popular stock with an added focus on food and drink including alcohol with extended opening hours.

[m-in-m]

Given Cambridge has been sold to Poundland I'd imagine the existing Poundland, a few doors down, will close. The store they've bought is across three floors and is in a unique building for the street. I can't recall who the tenant was before Wilko.

[Martin Phillp]

The brand and website is set to be acquired by The Range.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66800612

EDIT: 1931 - Reported to be £5m according to Retail Gazette.

https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/20 ... nge-wilko/

[cwathen]

The brand and website is set to be acquired by The Range.

'Why?' is the question I'm stuck with.

[JetixFann450]

Find it interesting how we're seeing these brands sorta survive off online, Comet apparently has been back for quite a while online and I bet no one really even knew it was, given the hardly minimal advertising. So is Maplin apparently.

Woolworths however has been subsumed by the more well-known Very.com, which isn't all too surprising, but Littlewoods are still going strong.

[cwathen]

Find it interesting how we're seeing these brands sorta survive off online

Which again begs the question as to why The Range wants Wilko's brand name. I'd get it if it was just some startup funded by venture capitalists who wanted to turn Wilko into an online business. I'd even get it if CDS/The Range bought it 20 years ago, but why would a bricks & mortar business which in 2023 has hundreds of stores and a nationally-recognised brand of their own see any value in acquiring the brand name of a collapsed retailer?

[all new Phil]

Agree it’s odd - could understand if they were also buying a number of stores.

Maybe they see more value in the Wilko brand and intend on using it for themselves. Always thought The Range looks and feels really dated.

Or maybe, and probably more likely, they intend to claim to be ‘the home of Wilko’ and will stock their own-brand lines like paint and homeware stuff.