After 99 years, Woolworths goes bust
Woolworths has over 800 stores around the U.K., and all face closure as the company went bankrupt last night. Stephen Beard reports this is troubling news as the company does its best around the holiday season.
A Woolworths general store branch in central London (Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images)
More on International, Europe, Retail
TEXT OF STORY
Scott Jagow: More dire economic news from overseas. In Britain, more than 30,000 jobs are in jeopardy after a major retailing firm collapsed. That would be Woolworths -- the low-cost chain has gone bust after 99 years. From London, Stephen Beard reports.
Stephen Beard: Woolworths, an off-shoot of the American five and dime stores, has over 800 shops in Britain. They all face closure. The company went bankrupt last night after its bankers pulled the plug.
The timing is unprecedented, with almost a month to go before Christmas. British consumers are famous for their prodigious levels of shopping throughout the festive season.
To pull the plug now shows how desperate for cash the banks have become, says analyst Robert Clark.
Robert Clark: The irony of it is with Woolworth that it actually makes money at Christmas -- it's the only time that it does make money. So it would probably have been profitable trading fully through Christmas.
He says the danger is there could now be a fire sale of Woolworth stock, and that could trigger a pre-Christmas price war sapping the profits of other stores. Many more could go bust in January.
In London, this is Stephen Beard for Marketplace.
Comments
Comment | Refresh
From Dallas, TX, 12/01/2008
Small wonder, I haven't seen one in the U.S. in many moons! I did however, shop at one in Berlin, Germany in 1990! Interesting!!! RCA
Post a Comment: Please be civil, brief and relevant.
Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. All comments are moderated. Marketplace reserves the right to edit any comments on this site and to read them on the air if they are extra-interesting. Please read the Comment Guidelines before posting.
You must be 13 or over to submit information to American Public Media. The information entered into this form will not be used to send unsolicited email and will not be sold to a third party. For more information see Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.