Wilko to close its final 41 stores TODAY as beloved retailer vanishes

The end of an era! Wilko to close its final 41 stores TODAY as beloved retailer vanishes from the High Street for good

• Devastated shoppers have shared their sadness at the closures on social media 

Wilko is set to shut the doors of its final 41 stores today as the collapse of the 93-year-old retailer comes to a close.

The discount hardware and furnishings chain has been shutting its 400 UK stores over the past month after tumbling into administration in August.

Today the beloved retailer will vanish from the High Street for good after they finish serving customers.

Store shelves have already become bare as the chain sells off its last remaining products in order to recover more cash to help repay Wilko’s outstanding debts.

It will bring to a close one of the largest high street failures in recent years, with almost all of Wilko’s 12,500 workers being made redundant.

Devastated shoppers of the chain today took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share their sorrow at losing Wilko for good. 

Wilko is set to shut the doors of its final 41 stores today as the collapse of the 93-year-old retailer comes to a close

Sad Wilko shoppers and staff have taken to X today to express their sorrow at losing the beloved retailer 

One person wrote: ‘It’s fast approaching annual #Christmas #panettone purchase. However, with Wilko now sadly defunct and being my de facto go-to, I’m now at a complete loss as to where to source the best alternatives.’ 

Another said: ‘Where will I get my seed potatoes from?!’

A third wrote: ‘Sending a big hug to all #Wilko workers affected by the terribly sad closure of this much-respected, and much-loved business, that’s been at the heart of our communities for a very long time.’ 

Wilko was originally founded by James Kemsey Wilkinson in Leicester in 1930.

The family-owned business hired administrators from PwC after it came under pressure from weak consumer spending and debts to suppliers.

PwC then held talks with interested firms but was unable to secure a rescue deal for the whole firm, with a potential takeover by HMV owner Doug Putman collapsing.

As a result, administrators sold off a raft of the company’s assets in order to pay off creditors.

The discount hardware and furnishings chain has been shutting its 400 UK stores over the past month after tumbling into administration in August

Deals were agreed to sell up to 71 stores to Poundland, and to sell up to 51 shops to fellow rival discounter B&M. However, both deals did not include staff.

Last week, Poundland said it had offered jobs to more than 200 former Wilko workers and has already reopened 20 of these sites under its brand.

However, the Times reported that some of the store takeovers could fail after the new owners were accused of delaying completion with efforts to set up new rent and lease arrangement with move favourable terms.

The Wilko brand will not disappear from the high street completely despite the collapse, after The Range struck a deal to buy its brand, website and intellectual property for £5million.

The Range said it will sell Wilko products ‘in-store’, although it is currently not expected to set up standalone Wilko shops.

READ MORE: The rise and fall of Wilko: From tiny family-run hardware store to High Street stalwart

It is set to restart home deliveries through wilko.com after the closure of Wilko’s remaining stores.

Administrators for Wilko confirmed in filings last week that the business owed around £625million when it went bust.

The documents also showed the retailer’s pension fund was left more than £50 million in deficit and is unlikely to receive more than £4million following the insolvency process.

Over the past two months, workers at the high street chain have attempted to make memories at the stores before they shut down. 

A man proposed to his long-term partner in the Wilko branch where she worked at the end of August. 

Nick Payne shocked his girlfriend Sally Allen by popping the question inside the Nottingham store, in front of her colleagues and passing shoppers.

A moving video showing the moment he proposed went viral as staff had their cameras at the ready.

Now Nick, 46, explained to MailOnline why he opted for the unlikely proposal setting, saying: ‘I decided on Wilko because it is a very special place to Sally. 

‘She loves her job there, she has made some really close friends and with what is going on at the moment with the threatened closure, I thought it would give everyone a lift. If it was to close down then what a memory to take with you.’

Store worker Sally, 44, was just finishing her early shift when Nick stunned her with the romantic gesture.

She said. ‘I had no idea. It had been such a busy day in the store. I had started work at 6am and was just looking forward to getting home and going to bed.’

Store shelves have already become bare as it sells off its last remaining products in order to recover more cash to help repay outstanding debts

It will bring to a close one of the largest high street failures in recent years, with almost all of Wilko’s 12,500 workers being made redundant

Sally got her job in Wilko’s Bulwell store in Nottingham four years ago and says it has been the happiest time of her working life. 

Sally said: ‘It has been a very sad time for all of us who love Wilko, especially us who work for the store.

‘It doesn’t deserve to close. It is a local institution and people love shopping there and they always employ enough staff to keep things smooth for the customer.

‘After Covid, things definitely went quieter and now the cost of living crisis has hit our customer base hard.

‘I hope the store can keep going. If it doesn’t then our wedding will be like a reunion because they will all be invited.’

Wilko employees shared their heartbreak at losing their jobs at the homeware chain.

One Wilko worker filmed herself sharing her pain at learning the news outside her branch in Thetford, Norfolk, posting it to her TikTok profile.

The employee, using the handle @whayley, said: ‘I’m gutted myself, I love my job.’

She added: ‘I don’t know how they expect us to keep doing this with that news, it’s… the whole thing’s really demoralising.

‘If you haven’t read the news already all the Wilko stores in the country will be closed by early-to-mind October, which means my job is down the s******.’

Wilko will shut the doors of its final 41 stores after they finish serving customers for the last time

Her voice audibly breaking throughout the clip, she added: ‘Between now and next week there’s 200-something stores closing.

‘It’s in the news. This isn’t even me like, spreading secrets, this is literally in the news.

‘So – sorry guys, my colleagues across the country, I am so, so, so gutted for you. I’m just gutted full stop.’

Members of staff took to LinkedIn to post emotional goodbyes to their teams as they reflected over their time with the retail giant last month. 

Teammates showed each other a heartwarming display of support, wishing fellow staff members ‘good luck’ and vouching for their talents.

One member of staff who would be walking away from the high-street chain after joining when she was still a teenager, posted a pithy message on LinkedIn that revealed the gravity of the loss felt by Wilko workers.

‘It seems fitting that my first LinkedIn post is about wilko. Yesterday marked my last day after 7 years in a business and role I’ve loved and will certainly miss.

‘I joined when I was 19 and during my time I’ve worked with and for some amazing people. 

‘I’m truly grateful for all the opportunities presented to me, I’ve learnt so much, gained new skills and enjoyed every second. I’ll look back with great fondness and fab memories. 

‘But right now I’m looking forward for the next challenge, onwards and upwards from here! Wishing the best of luck to all my friends and colleagues in this weird new world’.

A space planning assistant manager at Wilko posted: ‘To say I’m devastated is an understatement.’

‘I’m saddened that my Wilko career has come to an end like this. If anyone knows of any roles that might suit my skills then please get in touch’. 

A man proposed to his long-term partner in the Wilko branch where she worked at the end of August

The Wilko employee pulled a grim expression as she told her TikTok followers the news, and said she was ‘gutted’ to lose her job at the store in Thetford, Norfolk

Wilko, known then as Wilkinson’s, started as a single hardware store 151 Charnwood Street in Leicester in 1930

The first every Wilkinson shop (pictured) on Charnwood Street

Wilko, known then as Wilkinson’s, started as a single hardware store on 151 Charnwood Street.

The shop – known as ‘Old Charney’ was opened by JK Wilkinson and then Mary Cooper, who were engaged to be married at the time. Since the couple opened the first shop, the business has remained in the Wilkinson family. 

The budget-brand has remained on our high streets, whilst other companies such as BM and Home Bargains have moved to retail parks. Some critics say this could have contributed to the businesses difficulties.

By the end of the 90s there were 152 shops and by 2008 there was even a Wilko Asia. 

But returning to the early 200s, in 2005 Wilkinson Plus – the online shopping platform – was launched.

In 2010 the re-brand programme of Wilkinson becaming Wilko – the name used on it’s own-brad products – began. The company launched its new strapline, ‘where there’s a Wilko, there’s a way’.  Wilko expanded in 2018 with shops opening in Delhi and Istanbul. 

Dr Amna Khan, consumer behaviour and retail expert at Manchester Metropolitan University, told MailOnline that Wilko has failed to stay relevant. 

‘When consumers think discount, they think BM, Home Bargains, or even the middle isle on their Aldi shop,’ Dr Khan said.

She added: ‘One thing about Wilko is there hasn’t been an online push. 

Pictured: Customers queuing up to buy budget-friendly goods at Wilkinson, believed to be in the 90s

Dr Amna Khan, consumer behaviour and retail expert at Manchester Metropolitan University, told MailOnline that Wilko has failed to stay relevant

The budget-chain has become a staple for Britain’s shoppers who are after stationery, gardening supplies, homeware, cleaning products, or just a pot of pick-and-mix

‘There are many valuables in having in-store products, but there are too many frictions stopping the consumer – while other competitors have made it frictionless.

‘With consumer expectations, the bar is only going up. [Brands] are constantly having to reinvent and invest to really keep that bar high.’

Dr Khan said inflationary pressures and the increasingly competitive market are part responsible. But she also added that Wilko ‘doesn’t have the brand love that other competitors might have’.

‘The situation is as such because of the way the consumer has changed and the increasingly competitive market.   

‘[Wilko] struggles with some of the locations it’s in, you have to make a destination shop. Other companies such as Poundland are aggressively starting to grow in many different formats. 

‘With inflationary pressures it’s becoming increasingly difficult for them to manage costs and when you have products that aren’t everyday consumbles such as food, consumers can quite easily cut them, they can go without,’ she added.

Wilko: List of final 41 shops to close

Wilko will shut its final 41 shops on Sunday as the historic retailer departs high streets across the UK.

The retailer has been shutting shops across the country in recent weeks after failing to secure a rescue deal for the full business.

It will shut its last remaining group of stores at the end of the day’s trading.

The following stores will shut on Sunday October 8:

– Neath, Neath Port Talbot
– Bromley, London
– Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire
– Cardiff, Wales
– Selby, North Yorkshire
– Arnold, Nottinghamshire
– Portsmouth, Hampshire
– Oswestry, Shropshire
– Chester, Cheshire
– Hucknall, Nottinghamshire
– Ayr, South Ayrshire
– Widnes, Cheshire
– Horsham, West Sussex
– Birkenhead, Merseyside
– Kingston Centre, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire
– Parkgate, Rotherham, South Yorkshire
– Perry Barr, Birmingham, West Midlands
– Castleford, West Yorkshire
– Porthmadog, Caernarfonshire- Brighouse, West Yorkshire
– Chelmsley Wood, West Midlands
– Swansea, Wales
– Sunderland, Tyne and Wear
– Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire
– Silverlink, Newcastle, Tyne and Wear
– Chesterfield, Derbyshire
– Sutton, Surrey
– Derby, Derbyshire
– Scarborough, North Yorkshire
– Crystal Peaks, Sheffield, South Yorkshire
– Plymouth, Devon
– Ely, Cambridgeshire
– Loughborough, Leicestershire
– Liverpool, Merseyside
– Stratford, London
– Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear
– Coventry, West Midlands
– Sheffield, South Yorkshire
– Exeter, Devon
– Luton, Bedfordshire
– Wood Green, London.

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