R.I.P. Woolworths

dwright1974 · Dec 30, 2008

Today I think I went in to a Woolworths for the last time, probably ever.

I felt a little sad.

Most of the store was cordoned off and what little stock they had left was scattered in blue 'totes' and there was a shelf full of 'Diana - The Concert' DVD's and a few random computer/console games.

Hell, they were even selling the staff room microwave.

What a shame the iconic British High Street store will be gone in less than a week. I have fond memories of going there in the summer holidays to pick up my new pencil case, pencils, pens and erasers for the start of the new school term, and going with my Dad and Brother every Christmas to get what seemed like the worlds biggest bag of Pick 'n' Mix.

I always thought there would be a place for Woolies and I think the staff have done a sterling job turning up every morning for work, knowing that where they were going was slowly dying.

R.I.P. Woolworths - it was fun while it lasted.

LINK

- D

hexonxonx · Dec 30, 2008

I remember when we had these stores here in the U.S. I think they closed up here sometime back in the late 80s. So is there anymore Woolworths left in the world or are they all gone?

Mord · Dec 30, 2008

I don't feel sad at all, woolworths has only sold tat IME.

Jaffa Cake · Dec 30, 2008

I haven't bought anything from Woolworths for a good twenty years – when I was a teenage Jaffa I was falsely accused of shoplifting by them. I was cutting through one of their stores, and got collared by a couple of their staff members. I got quite miffed to say the least, so I turned out the contents of my pockets in the middle of the isle and asked them to point out if there was anything there that belonged to them.

Naturally there wasn't, but I was given a warning that they kept an eye out for 'people like me' and that I should be 'very careful' when I entered a Woolworths store in the future. As such, I have been very careful indeed and have refused to give them my custom since.

I don't mourn their passing at all. I can hold a petty grudge with the best of them, me.

OllyW · Dec 30, 2008

Mord said:
I don't feel sad at all, woolworths has only sold tat IME.

You are too young to remember when Woolies was great.

They seemed to sell everything a kid could want in the sixties & seventies, they just seemed to lose the plot in the eighties and never managed to recover.

hexonxonx · Dec 30, 2008

OllyW said:
You are too young to remember when Woolies was great.

They seemed to sell everything a kid could want in the sixties & seventies, they just seemed to lose the plot in the eighties and never managed to recover.

Last thing I ever bought at Woolworths was Super Mario Bros for my old Game Boy that I had at the time. That was late 80s for sure.

Thomas Veil · Dec 30, 2008

They really haven't had 'em around here since, I think, the seventies.

I remember going there with my parents, as a kid. They had hardwood floors that creaked when you walked on them. (They were real planks, not that Pergo stuff they sell today.) They also had a pet department, and it seemed that there was always an escaped parakeet flying around the store.

Tom B. · Dec 30, 2008

It's a shame that they just missed their 100th anniversary by less than a year.

But I will not miss them.

Cabbit · Dec 30, 2008

They unfortunately don't server any function and have never adapted there business model nor bought any of there stores so every 5 years for 100 years the land lords have been raising the rents.

Hawkeye411 · Dec 30, 2008

Out with the old and in with the new. Tough times lead to trimmin' the fat.

steviem · Dec 30, 2008

Woolworths in Walthamstow is where I bought my first album, '(Whats the story) Morning Glory' by Oasis. I loved that album

took ages to save up for it though, but chart music has evolved since then. I don't think that album had a single crap song on it. Very formulaic, but to a 10 year old, it was amazing.

0098386 · Dec 30, 2008

I've only ever bought Wii points cards from Woolies, because they were a penny cheaper than Gamestation round the corner

but yea. My friends store isn't closing until Tuesday. I should probably go one last time.

All we ever did in Woolies was wind up security guards.

steviem · Dec 30, 2008

Last things I bought from there were: Lakeside's last xbox 360 elite for £150, Tiger Woods 09 for £20 and some obligatory Pick and Mix

Abstract · Dec 30, 2008

Hawkeye411 said:
Out with the old and in with the new. Tough times lead to trimmin' the fat.

You heard that, America. Trim GM and Chrysler, and let other shops or industries develop.

Griff0 · Dec 30, 2008

Well thats interesting...

In Australia we have a Woolworths on every second corner it is probably the biggest retailer in the entire country. Its a supermarket.

Abstract · Dec 30, 2008

Yeah, they're just a supermarket. In other places, they sell a lot of other stuff (i.e. "crap").

paulej69 · Dec 30, 2008

Abstract said:
Yeah, they're just a supermarket. In other places, they sell a lot of other stuff (i.e. "crap").

Not affiliated with other countries Woolworths however - the Aussie company licenced the name only. They also own and operate "Big W" stores here in Australia - these stores are the ones that sell the "crap". (at LOW LOW prices!!

)

djellison · Dec 31, 2008

dwright1974 said:
I always thought there would be a place for Woolies

Sadly they didn't move with the times.

All the media ( games, cd's, dvd's etc ) were 50% cheaper online.

All the 'stuff ( kitchen stuff especially ) was 50% cheaper at the discount shop over the road.

All the food was 50% cheaper at Tesco.

They were a 20th century company in a 21st century market.

The credit crunch just brought the end a bit quicker.

My other half is gutted - because she worked part-time at a Woolies in Leicester as a student. I asked her when was the last time she bought anything there.

She couldn't remember.

Same with me. Says it all really.

We looked thru the door of the one in Liscard in the Wirral yesterday. Totally and utterly empty - but the security camera was still running.

Doug

weckart · Dec 31, 2008

paulej69 said:
Not affiliated with other countries Woolworths however - the Aussie company licenced the name only. They also own and operate "Big W" stores here in Australia - these stores are the ones that sell the "crap". (at LOW LOW prices!!)

We had a Big W in Tamworth, but that closed over a year ago. Maybe the writing was on the wall. Woolworths was good for odds and sods - light fittings, kitchen bits and pieces, cheap stationary and no need to run around the specialist small shops.

However its thunder was stolen by Wilkinsons, which is like Woolworths with a larger range and cheaper.

Gray-Wolf · Dec 31, 2008

An up date, if you will, on the store. It isn't as dead as you think.

The F. W. Woolworth Company (often referred to as Woolworth's) was a retail company that was one of the original American five-and-dime stores. The first Woolworth's store was founded, with a loan of $300, in 1878 by Frank Winfield Woolworth. Despite growing to be one of the largest retail chains in the world through most of the 20th century, increased competition led to its decline beginning in the 1980s. In 1997, F. W. Woolworth Company converted itself into a sporting goods retailer, closing its remaining retail stores operating under the "Woolworth's" brand name and renaming itself Venator Group. By 2001, the company focused exclusively on the sporting goods market, changing its name to the present Foot Locker Inc (NYSE: FL).
Retail chains using the Woolworth name survive in Germany, Austria, Mexico, and South Africa, and, until the end of 2008, in the United Kingdom. The similarly-named Woolworth's supermarkets in Australia and New Zealand are operated by Woolworths Limited, a separate company with no historical links to the F. W. Woolworth Company or Foot Locker, Inc. However, this company did take the name from F. W. Woolworth as it had global appeal.

Schtumple · Dec 31, 2008

weckart said:
We had a Big W in Tamworth, but that closed over a year ago. Maybe the writing was on the wall. Woolworths was good for odds and sods - light fittings, kitchen bits and pieces, cheap stationary and no need to run around the specialist small shops.

However its thunder was stolen by Wilkinsons, which is like Woolworths with a larger range and cheaper.

Wilkinsons is Woolworths 2.0

Argos probably paid a big factor in killing them off too, we always used to go to woolies for xmas presents and stuff, then Argos got big, then that was it...

R.I.P. Woolworths

macrumors 6502

macrumors 601

macrumors G4

macrumors Core

Moderator

macrumors 601

macrumors 68030

macrumors 65816

macrumors 68020

macrumors 68000

macrumors 68020

Suspended

macrumors 68020

macrumors Penryn

macrumors newbie

macrumors Penryn

macrumors member

macrumors 68020

macrumors 603

macrumors 68030

macrumors 601

Our Staff