Wilko goes into Administration

Werewolf said:
IIRC John Lewis actually own a lot of the properties they use, or have very good long term leases. For example I think they were one of the original investors/primary leaseholders for the MK Centre.

From what I understand at one point Woolies were in a very good position, they owned something like all but one of their shops outright (it had been their policy), until they were bought out by IIRC an investment group that split Woolies into the retail business, what had been their property management department into a separate property business that charged the retail side top whack and syphoned the money out. Effectively Woolies went from a company that only had maintenance as it's cost for property to one that had to pay a high rent and didn't get the maintenance done.
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Same as Comet. The business was acquired by asset strippers because the "warranty" business was chocked full of cash held in the Caymans.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
how is next doing these days? I’ve not bought anything from there for years. Their clothing ranges are utterly dire for men these days. They seem to be buying up a lot of failed brands but I’m not sure if it’s out of desperation or if there is a plan.

The other obvious one is M&S, their customer base is slowly diminishing and their clothing business hasn’t made a material profit in years.

John Lewis tends to attract a younger crowd compared to M&S.
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I think next are doing OK, I still buy a good few things from Next. The baby/toddler sections always seem to do well.

M&S as per my previous post, I imagine are heavily subsidised by M&S Food as with food costs increased a lot of the supermarkets were absolutely raking it in.
 
Never seen or heard of this store until it appeared in the news the other day.

Were most of their stores up north or something ? Genuinely never seen one in London in 30+ years of living here
 
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I was a little saddened by the news of Wilko - was the go-to place for student abode related stuffffs many moons ago! Don't know if there's really a place for such a retailer nowadays especially with Amazon basically offering the same sort of tat which doesn't require you getting off your bum.
 
imtoooldforthis said:
Never seen or heard of this store until it appeared in the news the other day.

Were most of their stores up north or something ? Genuinely never seen one in London in 30+ years of living here
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They've been around in 'ta south for decades, I suspect they expanded a little slowly and cautiously as we didn't get one here until the '10's when they took over the old co-op department store building.
 
Not sure about JL being next but if they were I can see them continuing with the online presence, where they will probably carry on with Waitrose for Click n Collect etc. The store numbers is pretty small in comparison to someone like Wilko.

I've never actually been to a Wilko or a B&M although I had heard of them, Wilko usually through those JML adverts for a Spin Scrubber etc.

The store I hadn't heard of was Booths until I went to Yorkshire for the first time.
 
I went in Hanley Wilkos today, just for curiosity's sake more than anything, and came out with a water bottle for work. Only cost £2.45, and I didn't feel the slightest bit of guilt.
 
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b0rn2sk8 said:
how is next doing these days? I’ve not bought anything from there for years. Their clothing ranges are utterly dire for men these days. They seem to be buying up a lot of failed brands but I’m not sure if it’s out of desperation or if there is a plan.

The other obvious one is M&S, their customer base is slowly diminishing and their clothing business hasn’t made a material profit in years.

John Lewis tends to attract a younger crowd compared to M&S.
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Next are awful imo. So expensive for meh clothes.

One call centre I worked for Next part owned. Because of this, I had their discount card (25%) and still was expensive even with that discount!

Think I bought a wall clock, perfume and a handbag in that time.
 
Gipo said:
I was a little saddened by the news of Wilko - was the go-to place for student abode related stuffffs many moons ago! Don't know if there's really a place for such a retailer nowadays especially with Amazon basically offering the same sort of tat which doesn't require you getting off your bum.
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Headlingley Wilko so busy during the student moving in period.

It will be a Poundland
 
cu3ed said:
They seemed to get p[etty competitive on what online deals were. SHopping about doesnt show that much of a difference these days.
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This was what we found while shopping for a new tumble drier recently. No difference between different companies on price.
 
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