United Kingdom: all Wilko stores to close, 9,100 additional layoffs

All stores of the bankrupt British chain Wilko will close by the beginning of October, which will result in “9,100 additional layoffs,” the consulting firm PwC, administrator of the bankruptcy, said on Monday. He explained in a statement that he had “explored all possibilities to save the company” but that it “became clear that there is no significant part of Wilko’s operations that can be saved in its current form.”

These closures and layoffs had become increasingly likely since the failure of the attempt to partially take over the British chain by investor Doug Putnam. “We are very disappointed that we cannot continue the process of purchasing Wilko after working with bankruptcy administrators and suppliers for several weeks,” Doug Putnam, owner of the HMV music store chain, said in a statement. .

In recent weeks, administrators had already announced more than 1,600 layoffs and the closure of 52 stores, out of 400 sites that the brand had before its bankruptcy. A competitor of Wilko, B

Wilko had filed for bankruptcy in early August, hit by the cost of living crisis and inflation in the UK. The red-and-white logo brand began life as a hardware store in the central Leicester city of Leicester in the 1930s before quickly expanding across the UK, widening its range of products. which now ranges from interior decoration to household products, among others.