Tech & Biz

Woolworths in administration

by mchawk | November 26, 2008 at 09:36 am

1730 views | 26 Recommendations | 8 comments

A sad day for the British High Street, as Woolworths goes into administration. This retail legend has been under threat for some time, and with its share price tumbling, the City of London has been awash with rumours of a takeover.

But the search for a buyer has failed, sealing the chain's fate.

With its 815 stores across the UK... the move will put tens of thousands of jobs under threat

Deloitte will be appointed as administrators to the store chain and also to Entertainment UK, which supplies books and DVDs to supermarket groups.

However Woolworths joint venture with the BBC, 2 Entertain, will not go into administration. It is owned by Woolworths' parent company, which will not go into administration.

The collapse of Woolworth is likely to lead to the closure of hundreds of stores across the UK.

And it is also likely to lead to many thousands of redundancies.

Woolworth has 815 stores. The store chain employs 25,000 and Entertainment UK employs 5,000.

The company has struggled under the weight of £385m of debt. Its problems were compounded over the past couple of months when it was forced to pay cash when buying goods from suppliers, because trade credit insurers were no longer prepared to insure supplies to Woolworths.

Although this news may come as a shock to shoppers, I'm sure the City analysts saw this coming, after Woolworths suspended its shares from the stock market when trading opened this morning, and I have heard news through the day of book publishers putting EUK on credit-hold.

A sad day indeed, for a High Street institution who was only one year short of its centenary.

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Amy Judd

at 09:48 on November 26th, 2008

When I was young I loved Woolworths, however the last time I was in London in May, I went into the Islington branch and it was just so empty, sad, and kind of dirty - it looked like it was going to collapse even back then. This is sad though, Woolworths is a British institution.

mchawk

at 10:02 on November 26th, 2008

Hi Amy,

I know what you mean - the store had really lost its way over the last decade or so. You're quite right, that it's been falling apart for longer than the owners care to admit.

Christina 123

at 12:08 on November 26th, 2008

Amazing to see giants WOOLWORTHS suffer. Other news today is that other retails stores will be opening at 7:00am

Damian George

at 14:31 on November 26th, 2008

Woolworths failed to move with the times - no real online strategy whilst argos and amazon have just taken over.

Very Very Sad another victim of the credit crunch

mchawk

at 14:40 on November 26th, 2008

I agree on all points. It tried to diversify and lost its identity. I mean, who goes to Woolies to buy a drill? It remained a place you only go to for last-minute Xmas presents and the occasional pick'n'mix.

gerrypopplestone

at 19:26 on December 9th, 2008

I do! And my last purchase there - a toaster for a fiver - is an excellent buy!

litmanlive

at 15:12 on November 26th, 2008

Thanks for the photo request. Permission has been granted.

Best, M

gerrypopplestone

at 19:25 on December 9th, 2008

It's really hard to believe! My childhood memories are about going 'up town' and daudling through Woolworths each week. But in those days (the Fifties) Woolies was a shop to be reckoned with. It had EVERYTHING! Now-a-days my local in Camberwell is a very poor substitute to what it was then: an Emporium, in my eyes at least!