Is Woolworths really going bust?

[mamadiva]

Have just heard this on the news, am shocked because Woolworths seems to be such a well known and busy store.

I know they've had to lower their prices etc but surely that would have made them stronger.

They are looking for someone to take them over and could be sold for £1.

Sorry I know this is a bit daft and hardly important but it's quite sad to think that a shop that everyone I know loves especially for there kids is going down after so many years!

Sold for a £1? (rummages down side of sofa)It's odd when you hear that. How could it be sold for a pound?

Shame if it is going under. Good old Woolies has always been around. Could understand it if it was WHSmith.

Is it american owned?

Maybe that's the problem.

I have heard that suppliers are delivering to Woolies on a cash only basis.....

It wouldn't surprise me. Tatty shops, not sure what they are (toyshop? Stationers? CD and dvd shop?), rubbish service.

In terms of business they could be sold for £1.. it means the organisation that buys them out, effectively buys their debt as well iykwim.. basically it means the company is currently broke but not worthless in the longer term.. so they will buy Woolworths with the intention of either turning it round with rebranding etc OR using all the site that woolies have to open branches of their own store etc

I've not heard that it's going bust but wouldn't surprise me.. rarely go in there anymore.

apparently they lease the shops

Hers a link from the guardian

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Woolworths used to be a fun shop to go in but over the last few years I've been in a variety of stores that have all been untidy, cramped, in need of a good clean and without enough staff. There is always a huge queue and then the staff that are there aren't knowledgeable or helpful.

It stops me going in there so I'm sorry to say I wouldn't miss shopping there. It would be a shame for such a big name to go. Maybe new owners would help put it right though.

Sounds like one for Theo Paphitis to me ... I think he bought Partners and La Senza for £1 as well....

I don't know if I dreamt this, but think I heard on the radio last night that General Motors and other US auto companies were asking the state for a bail-out as they were on the verge of collapsing.

This is huge for the US. Apparently 1 in 3 people there are employed by a US auto cocmpany. (although this stat may also have been dreamt).

I think this sounds pretty bloomin' scary...

I don't really like woolies - their clothes and shoes are crap, and they don't really have a big enough selection of any one thing to merit shopping there

I was just thinking that Tillyscoutsmum, though he's already got Rymans on the stationary side?

Thats a shame, I like my local Woolies, the staff are really helpful. I recently went in to buy a dvd and when I took it to the till the bloke asked me if I could wait a day for it and explained that the next day it was going down to half price.

I thought that was really lovely of him, although I am sure he shouldn't of told me.

Woolies are normally FULL of tat, the ailses
are crammed with stuff

A Wollie near to us closed down teh other week and made all teh staff redundant. Tesco express moved in.....

I love Woolies.

Its great for running into to grab a present when you receive the invite in book bag on a friday eve and the partys at 10 the following mornin. Chad Valley games are worth their weight for that reason. Agree its tat, but its convenient. And theres a lad in our local one and EVERYTIME we go in my DS asks if him if hes a man or woman. Cringe.

I like Woollies for all the tat but the one near where I live have the worst staff. They all seem to have an attitude problem and for the 6 years I have been shopping there I have never once seen a manager.

Whoever need to buy will have a big job on their hands. Woollies seems to have a culture of "can't be arsed"

We were asked to pitch for there PR account a few years back, there were already rumours then.

(We didn't pitch btw, as we are PRs not magicians!)

I love woolies. Ds will be sad if they go bust.

Are there really rumours of GM going bust?? that would have a major knock on effect!

I've got 50p who wants to go halves with me?

My first Saturday job was in Woolies

I know the stores are a bit tatty these days but that's what I like about them. Hope whoever buys them doesn't close loads of branches: where else can you buy a Bob the Builder set, some clothes pegs, a packet of day-glo fun stickers and a Wispa bar?

Woolies unfortunately has two major problems as far as I understand.

On the day-to-day operation side they've suffered from a lack of investment (which means stores look shabby, staff are under-trained etc) and increasing competition from the internet and supermarkets - don't know about you but my local big Sainsburys has loads of toys, CDs, DVDs and household products in it there. Means they've been squeezed on prices whilst footfall has been declining - bad combination. They're going into a very tough period right now - 90% of their sales are in the run-up to Christmas and in this environment if they start missing sales targets they could face insolvency very quickly.

On the financial side, they've got big expensive leases (which they can't afford), a mound of debt (about £300 million) and a gaping pension liability - given what's happening on the operational side, it looks like there's no way they can service these debts hence the potential 'firesale' to get at least some of these liabilities off their books.

I've noticed they've closed down several branches near me, but would miss the remaining ones if they do close - I like shops where I don't know what I'll find, I've always enjoyed the randomness of their DVD bargains/baby clothes/other stock.