Leicester retail firm Wilko on brink of administration as 12,000 jobs at risk

[davieG]

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/leicester-retail-firm-wilko-brink-8651002

 

 

Wilko is set to call in administrators leaving 12,000 jobs at hundreds of stores at risk. The discount retailer, founded in Leicester in 1930, has filed a notice of intent to the High Court today (August 3).

The firm has 400 stores across the UK including six across Leicester and the wider county. It has not been confirmed how jobs might be affected.

Wilko chief executive officer Mark Jackson said it had received offers from potential buyers, but none, so far, would provide the amount of cash the retailer needs. The firm had faced cost pressures in recent months, borrowing £40m from insolvency firm Hilco earlier this year.

 

Mr Jackson: "While we can confirm we’ve had a significant level of interest, including indicative offers that we believe would meet all our financial criteria to recapitalise the business, at present, we don’t today have an offer that provides the necessary liquidity in the time we have available, given the mounting cash pressures we’re faced with.

"Unfortunately, with this in mind, today we’re having to take the difficult decision to file a notice of intention. We’ll continue to progress discussions with interested parties with the aim of completing a transaction which preserves the business and will encourage those interested parties we’re in discussions with to move as fast as possible.

"We continue to believe that our robust turnaround plan, with significant re-stabilisation cost savings in progress, will deliver a profitable Wilko and maximise the significant opportunities that we know exist."

One of the oldest Wilko branches, a store which opened in February 1948 in Leicester's Narborough Road, closed for the last time in April last year.

[Fox92]

Been going on for ages this.

 

Their head office is in my hometown and they started outsourcing months ago.

[Bellend Sebastian]

Was in there every couple of weeks when I worked in town.

 

Went in a few weeks ago, and was shocked at a) how poorly stocked it was and b) how expensive a lot of what they did have was, and I mean relative to other shops, not just because EVERYTHING'S more expensive.

 

It felt like something was going wrong so this isn't a surprise. Shame though, that shop has saved me a fortune over the years

[Raj]

Great shop when they have the stock in...just another in a list of retailers going down the pan.

Blame Rudkin.

[Tuna]

That's a shame.

 

My local one went about a year ago.

[RoboFox]

How can it be going under when I've so many bits from there though? Where's all the money from my bits going?

[Lako42]

24 minutes ago, RoboFox said:

How can it be going under when I've so many bits from there though? Where's all the money from my bits going?

I don't think your bits can help this situation sadly. 

[PAULCFC]

Shame,but they haven't moved with the times...Anything you could get in Wilko you can get in B&M/POUNDLAND etc

[joachim1965]

1 hour ago, Raj said:

Great shop when they have the stock in...just another in a list of retailers going down the pan.

Blame Rudkin.

They haven't been fully stocked for a good while now, lots of empty shelves.

[Tommy G]

Just now, joachim1965 said:

They haven't been fully stocked for a good while now, lots of empty shelves.

Because they are strapped for cash, they won't want it tied up in inventory.

 

Sad really as they haven't moved with modern times, too many shops and poor online presence. 

[RoboFox]

Sadly symptomatic of the decline of the high street. There will be plenty more beloved brands to follow, unfortunately. 

 

Consumer buying habits, cost of living, the pandemic, being undercut by bargain wholesalers and internet convenience. Lots of factors here.

 

For most of these brands it's already too late. Their opportunity to diversify online has been and gone. 

 

Outside of the big cities, high streets are increasingly bleak places. Shame. Feel sorry for the workforces.

[Stadt]

Energy costs will have battered them. Inordinate number of stores and lighting, heating, chillers etc.

[joachim1965]

15 minutes ago, Tommy G said:

Because they are strapped for cash, they won't want it tied up in inventory.

 

Sad really as they haven't moved with modern times, too many shops and poor online presence. 

Exactly, been on the cards for a while.

[leicsmac]

13 minutes ago, RoboFox said:

Sadly symptomatic of the decline of the high street. There will be plenty more beloved brands to follow, unfortunately. 

 

Consumer buying habits, cost of living, the pandemic, being undercut by bargain wholesalers and internet convenience. Lots of factors here.

 

For most of these brands it's already too late. Their opportunity to diversify online has been and gone. 

 

Outside of the big cities, high streets are increasingly bleak places. Shame. Feel sorry for the workforces.

I agree,

 

City and town centres are going to transform. What matters now is how they transform. We need green spaces and entertainment places.

[Big Dave]

30 minutes ago, Tommy G said:

Because they are strapped for cash, they won't want it tied up in inventory.

 

Sad really as they haven't moved with modern times, too many shops and poor online presence. 

Catch 22 though. I have been in several times to buy things, but the shelves have been empty, meaning I could not spend my money there. Certainly would have spent more money there if the stock was present.

Still good value on the whole, but as others have said, there is now better choice at places like B&M, and their shelves are generally full.

[stripeyfox]

never knew they were a Leicester company

 

[Tommy G]

3 minutes ago, Big Dave said:

Catch 22 though. I have been in several times to buy things, but the shelves have been empty, meaning I could not spend my money there. Certainly would have spent more money there if the stock was present.

Still good value on the whole, but as others have said, there is now better choice at places like B&M, and their shelves are generally full.

Agreed, but they would of likely had their lenders pull the plug and ran out of cash long before now had they invested more in their stock - they have probably been limping along for 6 -12 moths now, wolves at the door treading a fine line between spending cash and staying alive whilst trying to find a credible investor or new owner. 

[CosbehFox]

10 minutes ago, Big Dave said:

Catch 22 though. I have been in several times to buy things, but the shelves have been empty, meaning I could not spend my money there. Certainly would have spent more money there if the stock was present.

Still good value on the whole, but as others have said, there is now better choice at places like B&M, and their shelves are generally full.

Tommy makes a good point though as well B&M model is much like Poundland - the products should be on the shopping full for minimal time and little in storage. 

[The Syrup]

15 minutes ago, stripeyfox said:

never knew they were a Leicester company

 

Their first shops were opened in Leicester but think there head office and main operations are based further north now.

[Footballwipe]

This is going to sound absolutely batshit, but is it just me who always though, mainly as a kid, that Wilkos had a really unique smell? Wasn't unpleasant, just a smell that was in ever Wilko I went in? Can't even describe it.

 

Anyway, cue all the "retail police" on social media who will complain about the chain closing (if it does close) and how it's another death knell for the high street, even though A) they've not been in one for the last 10 years and B) the next time they'll go in is during the 90% closing down sale to pick at the carcass.

[String fellow]

3 minutes ago, Footballwipe said:

This is going to sound absolutely batshit, but is it just me who always though, mainly as a kid, that Wilkos had a really unique smell? Wasn't unpleasant, just a smell that was in ever Wilko I went in? Can't even describe it.

 

Anyway, cue all the "retail police" on social media who will complain about the chain closing (if it does close) and how it's another death knell for the high street, even though A) they've not been in one for the last 10 years and B) the next time they'll go in is during the 90% closing down sale to pick at the carcass.

In recent months, the Wilko in Syston has had the whiff of death about it. I noticed it soon after they stopped having proper i.e. manned tills at the front of the store.

[SouthStandUpperTier]

Bit like when Woolworths closed, there will be Vox Pops on the news of people saying how it's such a shame before revealing that they haven't actually stepped foot inside one for years.

[Izzy]

Just after lockdown I went shopping in Wilko with my lad.

 

He packed our shopping at the checkout and when we got home to unload it, there was a pack of anti bac wipes in our bag with ‘tills’ written on in big letters.

 

Thieving git.

[RobHawk]

I work for one of their competitors and am saddly not surprised by this news. 

 

They may have been struggling for a few years but the business has not moved forward with the times and the model they operate underis not cost efficient. 

 

A colleague of mine came over to us from Wilko's and couldn't believe how efficient we were with everything, even down to having daily deliveries, they had one a week in Wilko's. 

[FOXYTALK]

400x stores too. Way too many to keep open in the current climate.