A major casualty of the recession we’re facing, the Woolworths High Street stores which are a household name, will close for good on 5th January 2009, ending 99 years history with a debt of £385M. A total of 897 stores will close, laying off 22000 staff and 5000 temporary workers.The Woolworths store has been struggling for several years and always looked like it was on the brink of collapse, but somehow managed to survive things, until the recession of 2009 took it’s toll. It will be missed on the high-streets in the Uk, as it was a well known brand, and well-liked by the general public in the uk. With the UK government bailing out v and other dubious causes to the tune of billions of pounds, it seems a strange logic not to save 27,000 jobs which will be lost as a result of this collapse.

The UK government is creating a future of debt for the whole country, and this loss will surely have a knock on effect on all the supply chains that kept the store running. Makes you wonder where it will end. Who is more deserving of being saved in this mad, mad times we live in - car industries which continue to produce cars for us at exorbitant prices and are uncompetitive or high-street stores like Woolworths. Have your say and leave a comment.

Here’s a video that pays tribute to Woolworths:

And here’s the Sky News Video:

Wikipedia Entry on Woolworths: Woolworths Group plc is the name of a British group which owns the high-street retail chain, Woolworths, as well as other brands such as the entertainment distributor Entertainment UK and book and resource distributor Bertram Books. The 800-strong Woolworths chain is the main enterprise of the group, focusing on its LadyBird children’s clothing ranges, Chad Valley toys and the recent WorthIt! value ranges. The chain is the UK’s leading supplier of “Pick ‘n’ mix” sweets. It is also sometimes referred to as “Woolies” by the UK media and the general public. In recent years, the brand has also moved into the entertainment and electronics aspects of retail after its acquisition of the company, Entertainment UK and has expanded its chains by converting existing stores into larger “20×20″ stores found in larger high-street locations for larger product ranges and smaller “10×10″ stores aimed at meeting everyday shopping requirements. “Out-of-town” stores, formerly known as “Big W” exist in more far-field locations and stock items that are not offered in high-street locations along with product ranges offered in smaller Woolworths locations. As of April 2008^[update], there were 819 stores in the United Kingdom. In Summer 2006 the business launched an in-store collection service for items ordered on their website or in-store, to complement the already established in-store ordering system. In late September 2006, the “Big Red Book” was launched. This was designed to be a direct competitor of the Argos catalogue. On 26 November 2008, the trading of shares in “Woolworths Group plc” was suspended with the Woolworths plc and Entertainment UK Ltd subsidiaries entering administration. On 11 December a clearance sale in the retail outlets began. On 17 December 2008, administrators Deloitte & Touche LLP announced that all 807 Woolworths stores would close by the 5 January 2009 resulting in 27,000 job losses, unless a buyer is found.