Who's for the chop?

MattM · Tue 30 Dec, 2008 16.12

One of the big differences between WHSmith and Woolies is that Smith's doesn't have any debts, whereas Woolies were in the red by millions. While it's not that apparent to the regular customer, Smith's business models has been altered significantly and costs have been cut literally wherever possible (pop into your local branch and see if you can spot anything weird about the lighting).

Alexia · Tue 30 Dec, 2008 16.19

Whataday wrote:Which Newport is that? And which Woolworths is that? Proper Newport has/had 2 stores.. one was a Big W which opened to much fanfare but humiliatingly reduced in size by half to become a 'Woolworths Out of Town', sharing the space with TJ Hughes about a year after it opened. The other was their city centre branch which closed on Saturday I believe.

Bluff. It IS proper Newport, and the one in the Kingsway centre was open yesterday as I trotted back to work from covering in Pill.

James H · Tue 30 Dec, 2008 19.28

At work we used to get people before Christmas coming in and telling us they'd been to Pier and couldn't get what they were looking for becuase "there was only fixtures and fittings left". A month on are there any Pier stores still open?

I suppose the digital revolution had something to do as well with the breakdown of Zavvi, Woolies etc.

davidmcg · Tue 30 Dec, 2008 19.32

Was in the closing of Woolworths in Derry today, looked like someone took a hammer to all the walls, people taking the fixture and fittings away. Only things left on sale were water, posters, an assortment of cd's and some childrens clothes, pretty sad to see it go no matter what was wrong with it.

iSon · Tue 30 Dec, 2008 19.49

James H wrote:At work we used to get people before Christmas coming in and telling us they'd been to Pier and couldn't get what they were looking for becuase "there was only fixtures and fittings left". A month on are there any Pier stores still open?

I suppose the digital revolution had something to do as well with the breakdown of Zavvi, Woolies etc.

Yes a rather tatty Pier was still open in Birmingham when I was in there the other day, and it pretty much was only the fittings and fixtures left. The shop was very tatty and the staff looked overjoyed.

Ebeneezer Scrooge · Tue 30 Dec, 2008 19.58

Mrs Scrooge and I had a nest of tables on order at the pier. A friend told us they had gone under a few weeks ago and we had a letter from the administrators by the end of the week - I'd not heard anything about it until then!
We went to the shop with our letter and to our surprise, they gave us goods to the value of our order.
All stock was at least 50% off marked price and our letter gave us a further 20% off. We came out with a different nest of tables, a unit for our bathroom and a load of candles (and we still didn't quite make the value of our original order!). Having seen that Zavvi won't honour gift vouchers, I think we did very well!

The staff in store didn't have much of a clue about what was going on, when the store was going to close... or anything really, just happy to ship out all remaining stock to willing punters!

Malpass93 · Tue 30 Dec, 2008 21.15

Isonstine wrote:
James H wrote:At work we used to get people before Christmas coming in and telling us they'd been to Pier and couldn't get what they were looking for becuase "there was only fixtures and fittings left". A month on are there any Pier stores still open?

I suppose the digital revolution had something to do as well with the breakdown of Zavvi, Woolies etc.
Yes a rather tatty Pier was still open in Birmingham when I was in there the other day, and it pretty much was only the fittings and fixtures left. The shop was very tatty and the staff looked overjoyed.

Ditto in Nottingham's Victoria Centre shop. It looked like someone had stolen the signs from Woolies' liquidation sale, and put them up there. Absolutely identical.

Dr Lobster* · Tue 30 Dec, 2008 23.35

Gavin Scott wrote:Olan Mills (a photographer concession who do baby portraits in motherecare stores) are on the list.

Not that I've ever heard of them. Their stores seemed to be in England & Wales.

Makes you wonder though. Who would cancel getting their baby's portrait taken? Its not really a thing you can push off 'til there's less uncertainty in the stock market. The older they get, the cuter they 'aint. Not buying a new car or having an expensive holiday is one thing - but are the public really so panicked that every purchase is reconsidered?

I'm making economies where I can - but I tend to do that anyway. I'm not afraid of losing my job, but even if I were I don't think I would deny myself anything and everything I consider to be a normal purchase.

Its no wonder the economy is in such dire straights.

according to times online, the company also encouraged people to 'pay in advance'... no wonder they've hit the wall. and then people complain that they've lost money? what sort of fecking moron pays for photos before you've got them anyway? you don't do it with wedding photos so why would you do it with your baby photos?

a company called tempest photography (they also do school photographs) actually walk around hospital wards taking photos of newborns with a big laptop trolley / slr setup and charge you forty quid for a bunch of photos of your newborn (which with their great big overkill hotshoe flash invariably makes the baby look like it's been dragged through a rose bush).... but at least it's a captive audience and you don't pay for them until you get them (and even then you can send them back free of charge).

marksi · Wed 31 Dec, 2008 09.55

Morgan women's clothes shops are in administration. Don't know that I've ever seen one myself but they apparently have 33 shops in the UK and RoI.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7805786.stm

cdd · Wed 31 Dec, 2008 14.50

Ebeneezer Scrooge wrote:...Zavvi won't honour gift vouchers, I think we did very well!

Speaking of which, I put my £20 of Zavvi vouchers on the counter and announced I was walking out with just under £20 worth of stock. I wasn't stopped, in fact the lady said she "completely underst[ood]", I get the feeling I wasn't the first person to do it. Zavii King's Road if you're interested.

Whataday · Fri 02 Jan, 2009 23.17

So some Woolworths stores are to remain open for at least an extra day as there is still stock to shift. Aparently they have always been notorious for keeping ancient stock in their stockrooms, which explains some items now available which were intended for sale over 10 years ago.

There has been a poignant notice at the entrance of most stores over the festive period:

"Woolworths wishes all our loyal customers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We would like to thank you for your overwhelming support during this difficult time."

I would imagine that Moben, Sharps, Dolphin and co will probably also have a difficult 2009.