Woolies Watch: What happened to your local Woolworths?

New research from CB Richard Ellis shows that close to 60% of the more than 800 former Woolworths stores have been letor are under offer.

Discount retailers have led the way, acquiring 37% of the Woolies portfolio, the CBRE research showed. Grocers accounted for 31% of shops while fashion retailers snapped up 15%.

Iceland has led the way, snapping up 57 former Woolies stores. B&M Bargains, 99p Stores, Heron Foods, and Home Bargains have also expanded their portfolios by acquiring many units once occupied by Woolworths.

The rate of take-up of the vacant Woolworth stores “has proved much more rapid than news reports suggest”, according to CBRE report. In July, research conducted by The Local Data Company for The Times found that most former Woolies stores were still vacant but CBRE explains the discrepancy by saying that the original Local Data Company research didn’t include stores under offer.

For the last few months, Retail Week has monitored the local press for reports of the impact of new retailers moving into the often prime high street premises once occupied by Woolworth stores.

Wellworths and other rebirths

The highest-profile reopening came in the spring, when former Woolworths store manager Claire Robertson re-opened the Dorchester branch as Wellworths. A BBC documentary about the Wellworths project aired in April, and television crews from around Europe flocked to the Dorset town to follow suit.

Robertson has inspired others. In Stornoway, a new locally-owned Woolworths-like retailer, WeeW, opened on the site of the local M&Co, which in turn had moved into the former Woolworths site. Run by former Woolworths manager Terry Ovenstone and advised by the team behind the Dorchester Wellworths, WeeW planned to use many former Woolworth suppliers.

And in Chippenham, Wiltshire, a local entrepreneur is reportedly drawing up a business plan to launch an independent pick-and-mix store similar to Robertson’s Wellworths.

Rumours that Sir Geoff Mulcahy and former Woolworths managing director Tony Page were working on a plan to launch 200-strong chain of “Woolworths-style” stores have so far borne little fruit.

Huge demand for new retail jobs

Around the country, strong demand for jobs in new stores opening in former Woolworths units have highlighted the effect of the recession on local economies.

The biggest crush came in June when 1,800 people queued to apply for just 25 jobs at a new QD Store in Wellingborough’s former Woolworths.

In Carlisle, B&M Bargains received more than 500 applications to work in its new store in the Cumbrian town’s former Woolies. It later created 40 additional jobs in the store.

Home Bargains similarly drew 500 applications for the 30 jobs at its new store in Galashiels. Some former Woolworths employees in the area later accused Home Bargains parent TJ Morris of reneging on a pledge to re-employ as many ex-Woolies staff as they could.

In Workington, Sports Direct delayeda planned April opening until June, in part to deal with the influx of applications from people eager to work at the store, the Times & Star reported.

When B&M Bargains took over the a new 21,000 sq ft unit in Chorley, Lancashire, it received 120 applications for the 40 jobs it created.

Other highlights

• The 16,000 sq ft former Woolworths unit in Burnley was taken over by the YMCA to create what is reportedly Britain’s largest charity shop.
• In Watford, the local council purchased the 45,000 sq ft, three-floor former Woolworths. As the Watford Observer reports, the move has not been uncontroversial, since the council has refused to reveal how much public money was spent on the unit.
• In Warrington, the former store Woolies has been taken on by a firm called Asco Ltd, which plans to open a supermarket in October. The company’s operations manager Dave Laney told the Warrington Guardian: “We have plans to open between 25 to 30 supermarket style stores over the next three years particularly in the north of England.”