All of retailer’s stores to shut, risking 12,500 jobs

A trade union warned on Monday that the 400 homeware stores that make up the network of the bankrupt retailer Wilko’s could close starting next month, potentially terminating all 12,500 employees.

Next week’s Friday will see the closure of two distribution locations, the GMB union said, citing Wilko’s management. By the beginning of October, the businesses were supposed to close.

The GMB said, “This means that redundancy is now likely for all 12,500 workers.”

The information surfaced following weeks of speculation that a deal to buy the business, which fell through last month due to a shortage of cash caused by a drop in sales, would be completed.

The owner of Canada’s HMV music stores, Doug Putman, reportedly tried to purchase a controlling stake in Wilko but was unable to do so because of financial constraints.As a result of Britain’s more challenging economic environment and cost-of-living issue, Wilko built a hardware store in Leicester, central England, in 1930, and was forced to contend with considerable inflation and a string of interest rate increases.

Nadine Houghton, a national officer for the GMB, asserts that “this is not a tragedy without a cause.” “Despite the fact that Wilko should have thrived in the robust discount retail sector, the business owners ran it into the ground.”

PwC, the company in charge of running Wilko, did not reply to a request for comment right away.

Wilko will disappear from British high streets next month, as its entire chain of 400 homeware stores close, with the likely loss of all 12,500 jobs, a trade union said on Monday.

The GMB union said, citing Wilko’s administrators, that the stores were set to close by early October, while two distribution centres will close on Friday next week.

“This means that redundancy is now likely for all 12,500 workers,” GMB added.