Juninhoburger
Well-known member
No.Is Wilkos a bigger collapse than Woolies in 2008/9?
Wilkos certainly had a strong brand up till recently. The stores were well laid laid out, well it, more pleasant than going the the Range, or Poundland or B&M or Home Bargains. I guess Wilko was paying higher rents.
If I bought weedkiller online it must cost the supplier nearly £5 to get it to me. If I go into Town I can go to several shops buy 5 or 6 items that I can check in person and it costs £3 in fuel and parking say if you live 3 miles out and park for £1. Some with bus passes can do it for free. Something does not add up. I suspect business rates are acting as a tax on the high street and landlords have not reduced rents to reflects reduced demand for high street properties. OK there time saved having it deliveried, as long as the item deliveried is OK and your spare time is worth say £20/hour.
I worked for Woolworths from 2005 to when our store shut in late 2008 and the writing had been on the wall internally for some time, but the general public had no idea and it was big news when it came out as it seemed to come from nowhere.
It was the massive expansion down South with stores that simply weren't profitable and rents being obscene (particularly in London, ouch) and the fact that Woolworths didn't own many of its stores, ours was rented and when the company sold its York store to Boots we knew there were issues.
Amusingly Woolworths owned EUK which led to the collapse of Virgin Megastores/Zavvi and the likes of smaller retailers like Music Zone etc. as they were those stores main suppliers.
Always amused me when we got spies in price checking us. Ah, entertainment retail back in the 2000s was a cutthroat business.