Potential buyers have come flooding in for both Woolworths’ stores and for the business as a whole.

Deloitte administrator Neville Kahn said: “With both the retail and EUK we’ve been flooded with inquiries. We’ve got people who want to buy the business as a business and we’ve got people who want to buy stores. We’re talking both to financial players but also to people in the retail trade as well.”

Supermarket groups including Asda and Iceland have said they would be interested in individual stores. Tesco is understood to be interested in up to 20 Woolworths shops. Other retailers such as Poundland, Primark and Wilkinson are also probable contenders to acquire sites. Private equity players including head of Alchemy Partners Jon Moulton are also expected to show interest in the chain.

Iceland chief executive Malcolm Walker, who looked into buying Woolworths earlier this year, has cancelled himself out of the race for the retailer. “To run Woolies as Woolies, which is what we wanted to do, is now a lost opportunity,” he said.

Meanwhile supermarkets that use the group’s wholesale arm EUK to supply its DVDs and CDs are scrambling to find new suppliers to ensure they have enough stock in the run-up to Christmas.

This morning film and distributor business Metrodome put an announcement out to its shareholders warning that it may not be able to recover £320,000 owed to it by EUK.

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