Farewell Woolies: Death of a high street icon

SCRATCHED into the wood and metal of the service lift of one Woolies are the Christian names of some of its past employees: Andrew. Euan. Vicky. Even the odd heart indicating that love once blossomed here.

Until a few weeks ago Woolworths was similarly etched into the fabric of British society.

Some worked their whole lives here. Others found their life-long partner. Many just passed through, but almost always with a lingering affection.

But in just 15 days, Woolies will be gone and the names will be all that remain of another historic British brand swallowed by a global economic crisis. This Scottish Woolworths will live on only in the memories of the staff who worked there, and the customers who increasingly failed to shop there.

The almost century-old firm is now in its death throes, busier than it has been for many a year as customers flock through its doors in search of a bargain.

"When I was a boy, when I thought of Woolies I thought of sweets, toys and clothes," store manager Gareth told me, as he shut off the lights at the end of another day. "Looking at it now, Woolies means half-empty shelves and battered stores. This is not a dignified end to a firm with a 99-year history."

Customers did turn out for the sales, and at times it was impossible to navigate through the aisles with shopping trolleys full of paint and electric fans being shifted to the front of the shop. An order came down from on high to clear all stock. And shoppers complied, spending £5,000, £7,000, £8,000 on various days last week – astonishing considering the number of long, deep and empty shelves.

One woman asked if Woolies had any Christmas lights left. I had just moved the last three boxes and directed her to the front of the shop as she said that it was "sad to see" the shop in such a state.

Outside the front doors, it was another brisk day on this high street, but it was equally chilly in the stock room shifting unsold items from years past. The heat in this, and many stores, had not been working in weeks. Who would pay for the repairs?

This store, like the rest of the 81 Woolworths in Scotland, will be closed by 5 January. Six of the 27 most remote northern Scottish outlets will close on 27 December. So far, only three in Scotland are set to have new owners.

"It looks an absolute state – it's shocking," said Nick, another employee surveying the shop floor. He is just one of more than 2,500 men and women of all ages facing redundancy from Scottish Woolworth stores. More than 30,000 will be unemployed from the firm by the New Year.

Customers continued to hunt for bargains. but many expressed their disappointment at the size of the bargains, pointing out to each other that similar products are cheaper at Tesco up the road.

June, a woman in her fifties who is on a first-name basis with most customers, said she still took pride in her work at Woolies.

She said: "I started here when I was 14, working Saturdays and Sundays. I started here and figured I might as well finish off here, and then this happens. You start to lose heart when you know there's no future. Woolies will be a big loss for a lot of small towns."

Scotland's Woolworths have been some of the most successful of the UK's 807 stores. But managers point to years of bad decisions and failed leadership bringing them down.

The most striking example of mismanagement sat piled in corners: electric fans. Two years ago, someone "high up" flooded Scotland with the products, only for most to remain unsold. By 2008, the company had accumulated more than £385 million in debt from its many errors. As hundreds of stores simply leased property, all Woolies could boast as an asset was its name.

But to the staff in those high street stores, they saw themselves as the real value of the firm, and have been left devastated by its downfall.

"It's a cast of characters at the store," said manager Gareth. "This isn't just about the number of people who will lose their jobs. This is people's lives. There's a lot of pain, anger and fear.

"People are forgetting staff have an awful lot of pride in what they do. But they have continued to have pride and to keep the stores open and fight for every sale."

Administration left Scottish stores in tatters. Supply firms tried to renegotiate contracts after the 26 November announcement, wary of any knock-on effects.

The supply of Carlton Cards, Pic'n'Mix, and CDs and DVDs from Woolworths' own distribution arm Entertainment UK was stopped for two weeks, then restarted, only for the flow to be stemmed again last week. Some stores turned to black bin bags when carrier bags ran out.

What was left on the shelves were piles of toy rakes, the Guinness Book of World Records 2004, clothing dating from 2000, pens from 1997.

Gareth said: "Half the store managers could have planned their way out of this mess better than the chief executive. All we have left now is more or less the stuff nobody ever wanted in the first place."

But Gareth also felt let down by customers, who last week had to be warned in new signs that verbal abuse would not be tolerated after anger spilled over for the returns policy being cut.

He said: "They only have one mindset – basic human greed. We have seen the worst of human nature since the final sales were announced. They are a plague of locusts.

"But half of our customers are really sorry to see Woolies go, and cannot believe the impact the loss will have on high streets in Scotland. It's just a pity they didn't shop with us throughout the rest of the year."

The lights flicker out and the alarm is set at the end of another day. The names on the wood and metal are left in the dark, consigned to history with the name, Woolworths.

• All names have been changed.


PROFILE

FRANK Woolworth opened his first store, in Utica, New York State, in 1879 with the gimmick that everything was priced at five cents. It failed because it was too far out of the town centre, but a second shop, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, became a massive success. He soon varied the formula, selling some goods at ten cents, giving rise to the famous "five-and-dime" store.

When Woolworth visited England in 1890, he wrote in his diary: "A good penny and sixpence store, run by a live Yankee, would be a sensation here." The first store opened on Church Street, Liverpool, in 1909 and the British offshoot became more successful than its American parent.

Sweets sold by weight – later called "Pic'n'Mix" – were a key part of Woolworths formula. When the Liverpool branch opened, the entire stock of sweets sold out on the first day.

By the 1930s, Woolworth was opening a store every fortnight in Britain. When the Second World War broke out, it had 759 branches.

In 2001, almost 200 stores were sold off, then leased back, hiking rent fees up to £160 million. By 2008, the debt totalled £385 million, with pretax losses for the six months to August at £99.7 million.

In November, restructuring specialist Hilco was reported to be looking to buy the retail arm for £1, leaving Woolworths Group with its profitable arms, Entertainment UK (EUK), which supplies CDs and books to supermarkets, and 2Entertain.

In a DVD sent to staff as an introduction on 1 September, the new chief executive, Steve Johnson, said: "

We, at the end of the day, are simple shopkeepers. We have got to get back to what Woolworths is all about. We've got to place the stores and customers at the heart of what we do."

On 26 November, the firm was put into administration. On 17 December, administrators Deloitte announced all stores would shut by 5 January.