I’m back to updating my blog now although it’s been over 2 months! A lot of stuff is worth mentioning here but I think so I’ll start with Woolworths. It’s quite old news now but at the time it was a bit of a shock. The downturn, or recession as its now known, only really hit home when well known companies started to go bankrupt, namely Woolworths and MFI. We decided to visit our local Woolworths on the first day of the sale, but we only got there at about 7pm as I went after work. I was quite shocked at the state of the shop, the shelves were empty, there were piles of stuff over the floor and there was an atmosphere or desperation in the air as people searched for bargains. The sale wasn’t even that good! Sure, it was 50% off, but only up to 50%, most items were only 20% or 30%, with the best only at 10%, like DVDs and CDs. I think in the end we bought something but it was so uninteresting that I can’t even remember what it was.
The problem with Woolworths was that they sold everything and anything, almost without any limits. Want a hammer, they have it. Want a sewing machine, they have it. Want a DVD, sweets, toaster, children’s toys, clothes, they have them all. Most of the items on sale would only be bought by people who either happened to be walking through the shop, or by people who couldn’t be bothered to go elsewhere. Impulse buys perhaps as well. If I want a DVD or game I go to Amazon, HMV or Game. If I want children’s clothes I go to Primark. Toasters, sewing machines, bedding would all lead me to Argos. Woolworths once mainstays of CDs, sweets and Toys probably kept them alive this long, but they were being out-competed by so many others. Woolworths stores often had huge retail spaces full of slow moving product, they could have probably got away with half the space and saved on rent.
I still think it’s a shame that they have closed as I remember them as I was growing up. In hindsight their business must have been in trouble for quite some time and they probably should have had some help like Marks & Spencer did. Oh well, there will be a lot of new Tesco and Iceland stores sprouting up in their place, good or bad I don’t know
