The Death Of Woolworths, A British Retail Giant

Woolworths -- the British retail giant who will pass the centenary birthday falls on the eve of Christmas rush.

He was drowned in the billowing waves of the financial crisis, and it almost failed to groan at the end of the hundred years of solitude.

Woolworths, with its 815 branches, was once the largest chain store in the world and has a unique position in the history of retail business.

When the London Stock Exchange listed the stock suspension in November 26th, the share price fell from 15 pounds a year ago to 1.22 pence (1 pounds =100 pence), with a total market value of about 17 million 800 thousand pounds.

At present, the company has entered bankruptcy protection procedures.

Mandelson, the British business secretary, has said that he will do his best to keep the Woolworths going, but now it seems hard to fulfill this promise.

"Woolies has survived so many difficult times, and it has been sad to have survived until now. I will miss it."

In November 28th, a woman who was shopping from the Woolworths store in downtown Ipswich soon thought that she would never see the familiar store brand again.

"We still work as usual, but I really don't know what the next day will be like."

Sabrina has been in the store for 12 years, and she says she has never been so scared.

Like her, for fear of the future, there are 30 thousand Woolworths salesmen.

For many older Britons, Woolworths is not only a department store, but also an indispensable part of their childhood memories and family daily life.

Now, this chain store, which bears strong British historical sentiment, has become the first victim of the British recession.

A British retailer Association told a newspaper reporter that in the past few months, Woolworths has been forced to pay cash for goods to suppliers, because the trade credit insurance institutions have ceased to insure them, causing the company to face serious cash flow pressure.

"Woolworths has been struggling for more than 10 years in the fierce market competition. It has been very successful, but it seems that it has lost its way in the past few years. It can be said that the weakest of the British retailers is the sudden credit crisis, which has become the last straw to crush the thin camel."

He said.

1 pounds is sold at no cost. Candy, toys, children's clothing, household goods and entertainment products, and emotional ties through memory bring 4 million visitors to Woolworths every week. Despite poor management in recent years, Woolworths can still create an annual turnover of 1 billion 700 million pounds.

In January, Woolworths received 385 million pounds of syndicated loans from three financial institutions such as Barclays.

In July, Woolworths issued an early warning that the fiscal year could only maintain a weak balance of payments.

It lost 72 million 500 thousand pounds in the first half of the year.

By November 19th, when the company was out of circulation and the operation was difficult to sustain, Woolworths tried to sell itself to Hilco, a US investment group specializing in acquiring financial distress companies at a price of 1 pounds, with a company debt of up to 385 million pounds, a huge black hole for staff pension, and 600 individual owners with 813 stores.

But the group loan bank finally exercised the veto power, which led to the abortion of the reorganization plan.

There are three types of Woolworths chain stores, including large stores located in main commercial areas and blocks, suburban retail outlets, traditional shops in small towns, and 815 chain stores.

In addition, Woolworths also operates the entertainment industry, which owns the largest British family entertainment product wholesaler E.UK, distributes video products in the British market 1/4, and a 2 Entertain 40% stake in BBC audio and video publishing group.

The Woolworths department store system employs 25 thousand employees, affiliated E.UK and 5000 staff.

The latest news in December 1st is that the British Vc firms Dragons' Den is participating in the development of a plan to save the most profitable stores and try to maintain the Woolworths brand.

Ardeshir Naghshineh, the largest shareholder and real estate owner of Woolworths, is also preparing to offer.

It has been revealed that about ten potential tenderers have expressed interest in some of the assets of Woolworths, including British supermarket chains Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda and discount chain Poundland.

DDT spokesman said the negotiations continued in December 1st.

"We are working hard to ensure that any business is done, wholly or partly, and maintained."

He responded to this inquiry.

DDT was appointed as a custodian on the day of Woolworths suspension. It was asked to do everything in its power to protect Woolworths's pension fund and keep shop business as long as possible to Christmas.

79 years old, Rosemary, used to call Woolworths "Woolies".

"There is no doubt that we will miss Woolies.

From childhood, it is part of our life. "

She said.

She even remembered some special scenes. During the World War II food rationing era, people waited in the doorway of Woolworths store in Plymouth to wait for their own candy.

Some families without children also send their candy shopping coupons to the store for children.

In that era of material shortage, Woolworths left many warm memories to people.

The founder of Woolworths, Frank, is a well-known figure in the two countries.

In 1873, farm boy Frank Woolworth became a sales assistant for a dry goods store in New York Watertown.

In 1879, Woolworth opened its shop in Pennsylvania.

He also mobilized relatives and friends to join the ranks and introduced 10 cent price merchandise. The famous retail mode "Five and Ten" (all goods sold for 5 cents or 10 cents) came into being.

In 1909, the Anglo Saxon generation opened the first British shop in Liverpool, converting "5 cents and 10 cents" to "3 pence and 6 pence". It manages children's wear, foreign goods, tin toys, music scores, Christmas decorations, pots and pans, stationery and hunting equipment. It relies on large scale cash purchase to lower the cost, and the price of Woolworths is much lower than that of other British stores.

By the time the first World War broke out in 1914, Woolworths already had 44 stores in the United Kingdom.

During World War II, Woolworths became the bright color of the British people in the dark days.

Many elderly people who have experienced World War II remember that when the German bombardment resulted in frequent damage to some shops, Woolworths employees could always try to reopen business as soon as possible under the strong sense of responsibility and stabilize the people's hearts.

When the competition against Marsha general store was hit by rockets, Woolworths not only provided first aid, but also invited them to share their own storefront and storage room.

After the end of World War II, the Woolworths, which showed a sense of justice, has established a special position in the eyes of the British. Since then, Woolworths has entered the peak period of development until 1960s, with more than 1000 stores at most.

"The poor old Woolies seems to be its biggest enemy," said the aforementioned British Retail Association. "Consumers now have too many choices.

In 70 and 80s, when you go to Woolies, you can buy everything your family needs; now, the supermarket offers everything, and it is cheaper or more quality than Woolies. "

Woolworths began to suffer from a huge impact, because the large supermarkets began to sell large quantities of non food daily commodities, and Amazon and other new book music retailers gradually appeared.

Young people don't like the seemingly disordered layout of Woolworths. "Think about it. The cookie jar is next to the dry cleaner, and the calendar is next to the schoolbag."

They say that although this may be part of the unique charm of the older generation.

"Woolworths does not really listen to customers and understand what they want."

Sabrina admitted.

At the top of the company, the focus of their business is "family and entertainment", but the expression is far from enough.

Although most of the blame can be attributed to poor management, in the British business community, the Woolworths incident sends a very dangerous signal, which indicates that the storm center has shifted from banking to retailing.

"More and more companies are facing collapse, and now they are only exposed to the tip of a big iceberg."

The latest official figures show that 356 retailers went bankrupt in the three quarter of 2008, up from 40% in the same period last year.

After Christmas, the collapse of retail business is more likely.

All business forecasting reports are all the same. They believe that in 2009, worse retailers' credit crunch will be faced than in 2008, and the rising unemployment rate will constrend sales demand. Urban commercial streets will also encounter the unprecedented market share of supermarkets and shopping websites.

The retailing industry has no reason to complain about why the government has supported a number of insolvent banks, but has ignored the bankrupt retailers.

Before a serious recession comes, Christmas sales are even more important.

Nadia found that the ads sold by her family were more than three times that of the previous year, and some businesses that never discount before Christmas are now offering a few days' short-term discount promotions, with a minimum of 20 percent off, up to 50 percent off or even more discounts. It seems that BOXING DAY (the next day of Christmas, a big discount on that day) is coming.

Christmas does not erupt. It dies on Christmas day.

What retailers most want to sell is probably bad luck in the industry.

Yang Jing: editor in charge