Wilko to disappear from UK high streets as rescue deal collapses - full list of shops to shut from tomorrow

11 September 2023, 12:35

Dozens of Wilko shops are shutting across the country. Picture: Alamy/Google Maps

By Will Taylor

Dozens of Wilko stores are due to close this week after the discount chain collapsed into administration - while talks to rescue the chain have collapsed.

Loading audio...

More than 400 stores and 12,000 jobs have been put at risk by the retailers' financial woes, with the GMB union warning on Monday that all will end up shutting by early October and the brand will disappear from Britain's high streets.

A last-ditch attempt by the owner of HMV to strike a rescue deal has failed, leaving thousands of jobs at risk.

Administrators were in discussions with Doug Putman, of Putman Investments, over a deal to buy around 200 Wilko shops but the talks have now collapsed, intensifying fears over the future of thousands of jobs.

PwC are now in talks with Poundland over a potential deal to offload about 100 stores.

Other high street chains including The Range and Home Bargains have also reportedly signalled their interest over buying the brand or the stores.

Wilko shops will close here this week. Picture: Google Maps

B&M announced it would purchase up to 51 shops in a £13m deal, but the locations of those have not been confirmed.

Nadine Houghton, national officer at the GMB union, said: "Wilko may have ceased genuinely being a family brand many years ago, but the staff kept the real family ethos of Wilko alive until the very end. It is the family that Wilko colleagues made for themselves that will be missed the most."

A total of 52 shops will shut across the UK this week, while the fate of 300 more hangs in the balance and more than 200 people were made redundant at the business's distribution centres.

Edward Williams, joint administrator at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said last week: "In the absence of viable offers for the whole business, very sadly store closures and redundancies of team members from those stores are now necessary.

"The loss of these stores will be felt not only by the team members who served them with such dedication, including through the uncertainty of recent weeks, but also the communities which they have been a part of.

"We are enormously grateful for the support of team members during this difficult period and remain committed to doing all we can to help affected staff, assisting them with processing redundancy claims and working with relevant parties to help secure new employment as quickly as possible."

Full list of Wilko stores closing on Tuesday:

Acton

Aldershot

Barking

Bishop Auckland

Bletchley FF

Brownhills

Camberley

Cardiff Bay Retail Park

Falmouth

Harpurhey

Irvine