Skip to content
Search
AI Powered
Latest Stories

Hope persists for some Wilko stores

Hope persists for some Wilko stores
(Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images

Wilko still has a chance of being saved from collapse as recent reports state that administrators are negotiating with potential suitors, including Poundland, B&M, Primark and Home Bargains.

Offers were made Wednesday (16) evening and they are currently being looked into, The Sun stated in a recent report. Earlier this week, the chain's administrators at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) set a Wednesday deadline for any interested parties to put in an offer for Wilko. PwC is yet to confirm how many possible bids have been submitted.


Other names emerging from reports who have made bids are Hilco, the Bensons for Beds owner, and Alteri. It is also understood that at least one of the potential bidders is keen to keep the Wilko name.

According to reports, not all Wilko stores would be saved if a rescue deal is accepted as the firm who takes over can choose to only save part of a business once it has entered administration. Interested parties are reported to be offering to save between 40 and 300 Wilko stores.

Wilko collapsed into administration last week after failing to find new funding. The move put 12,500 jobs at risk with 400 stores potentially set to close.

Wilko chief executive officer, Mark Jackson, said that the company had "left no stone unturned" in a bid to save the chain. Earlier this year, it was reported that the owners of the chain were considering a sale of the company in a bid to secure its future.

The GMB union, which represents thousands of workers at Wilko, said it still believed there was a chance of a rescue deal.

The union has accused the firm’s management of allowing the retailer to lose its place in the market by failing to invest in technology for home shopping and other improvements while “much-needed cash was taken out of the business” by the owning Wilkinson family.

“We are seeking clarification regarding pensions, but have concerns. The Wilkinson family took tens of millions from the business in the decade up to the collapse. If they were serious about supporting working people, they should have invested in their staff," The Guardian reported GMB as saying.

More for you

Trade union calls for 'respect, decent break' for retail staff

iStock image

Trade union calls for 'respect, decent break' for retail staff

Retail trade union Usdaw today (23) called on the shopping public to show respect for shop workers, stating that the busy pre-Christmas shopping period leaves retail workers exhausted and in need of a proper break.

Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says, “By the time retail workers get to Christmas Eve, they will have been through a very busy run-up to Christmas. Our members tell us that incidents of verbal abuse are much worse in December and through to the New Year, when shops are busy, customers are stressed and things can boil over.

Keep ReadingShow less
iStock 1458055720
iStock image
iStock image

'Retailers must focus on prices as convenience channel poised to expand'

Grocers must focus on their price positioning to remain competitive as food and grocery spending in UK convenience stores is projected to outpace the hypermarkets, supermarkets, and discounters channel.

According to GlobalData, food and grocery spending in convenience stores is projected to reach £43.2 billion by 2028, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.0 per cent between 2024 and 2028.

Keep ReadingShow less
iStock 1137402716
iStock image
iStock image

‘Grocery tax’ to add £56 to food bills

The upcoming “grocery tax” could hit hard-pressed Britons in the pocket, adding up to £56 annually to household shopping bills and costing families as much as £1.4 billion a year, state reports on Sunday (22) citing a recent analysis.

The scheme, known as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), imposes a levy on retailers and manufacturers for the cost of collecting and disposing of packaging waste, currently funded via council tax.

Keep ReadingShow less
SPAR teams up with Preston primary school to spread festive cheer

SPAR teams up with Preston primary school to spread festive cheer

Ashton Primary School in Preston has teamed up with SPAR during the season of goodwill to donate delicious food to the city’s Foxton Centre.

The school’s Year 3 class enjoyed a cookery session baking pear and chocolate crumbles to take down to the Foxton Homeless Day Centre as a pre-Christmas treat for people who access its services.

Keep ReadingShow less
Cadbury removed from royal warrant list after 170 years

(Photo credit should read Leon Neal/AFP via Getty Images)

Cadbury removed from royal warrant list after 170 years

Cadbury’s has not been granted a royal warrant for the first time in 170 years after it got dropped from King Charles’s list of warrants.

Queen Victoria first awarded Cadbury with the title in 1854 which was then repeated by the late Queen Elizabeth II in 1955 who was a huge lover of the chocolate.

Keep ReadingShow less