- The Range’s £5 Million Acquisition of Wilko Brand Amid Company Troubles
- Wilko Store Closures and the Potential Job Losses
- Competitors Step In: Poundland and B&M’s Agreements to Take Over Wilko Stores
The Range is finalizing a £5 million agreement to acquire the Wilko brand after a rescue deal for the entire company failed.
The Wednesday announcement will give it ownership of Wilko’s website and options to sell certain of its products.
The agreement will not prevent 400 Wilko stores from closing in Britain, however.
The closures will presumably result in the loss of thousands of jobs.
Wilko’s competitors have bought parts of the company since administrators couldn’t sell it.
According to retail analyst Catherine Shuttleworth, purchasing the brand was a “shrewd move.”
“The difficulty with Wilko was never the brand itself, but rather how the company was managed. If they can leverage the brand across their estate, online, and in certain places, The Range’s acquisition may be wise.
The company, founded in 1930 and a fixture on High Streets across the country, went bankrupt in August as a result of sharp losses and a lack of funds.
Doug Putman, the billionaire owner of HMV, intended to keep as many as 300 Wilko stores open, but his bid was unsuccessful and no other bidders were interested in operating the stores under the Wilko name.
Approximately 71 Wilko stores will reopen under Poundland’s name after the owner acquired their leases on Tuesday.
Another competitor, B&M, has agreed to purchase 51 Wilko stores for £13 million.
However, layoffs are anticipated for the majority of the 12,500 employees at the family-owned business.
To date, 1,016 layoffs have been announced by closing retailers.
It has made an additional 299 redundancies at its two distribution centers in Worksop and Newport, which will close on Friday of the following week, and more than 260 at its support center.
