WILKO administrators have agreed the sale of the retailer’s brand name to The Range in a £5million deal.
The deal will see the Wilko website and the brand name live on as all shops close for good.
Wilko administrators have agreed the sale of the retailer’s brand name to The Range[/caption]
It comes after The Sun exclusively revealed yesterday that The Range owner Chris Dawson was close to securing a deal with administrators at PwC and that an announcement was imminent.
The Range is expected to relaunch the Wilko website in early October after all stores close.
As part of the deal, which also includes Wilko’s intellectual property, 36 jobs have been saved as the employees transfer over to the discounter.
Jane Steer, joint administrator, said: “Since our appointment, the feedback from customers and wider stakeholders during this challenging period has reinforced the fact that wilko remains a much loved and trusted brand within the UK.
“This sale to The Range will ensure that the Wilko name lives on under their ownership and we wish The Range every success.”
Mr Dawson’s retail empire is exclusively on retail parks and he had little interest in taking on Wilko’s shops.
Alex Simpkin, chief executive officer of The Range said: “This acquisition comes at a time when consumers are more than ever wanting to shop with confidence for value and quality, we are delighted to have acquired this brand and we will ensure that the Wilko brand will continue to deliver for the UK consumer, both in-store and on-line.”
The CEO added that the company is “delighted” to have saved the digital team members’ jobs.
Mr Dawson, founder and chairman of The Range said: “These are exciting times for The Range Group, I am delighted that Wilko will join our family of companies.
“We will drive it forward as fast as we can as we expand the entire business from our continuing store opening programme to our new 1.2million square foot distribution centre that is being constructed in the south of England.”
The Wilko name will vanish from the high street by the end of the month as administrators bring shutters down for the final time.
Earlier this week Poundland swooped on a deal to buy 71 shops from Wilko and said former workers will be first in the line for new jobs.
Poundland said that it wanted to rebrand the stores and have them ready for Christmas trading.
Managing director Barry Williams said: “In the coming weeks we will work quickly with landlords so we can open these stores as Poundlands with the new ranges that have been pivotal to our recent development.
“And once that process is complete, we will ensure a significant number of the Wilko colleagues will join our Poundland team.”
Administrators at PwC are now carving up Wilko’s estate after a deal to sell the entire chain to HMV owner Doug Putman collapsed at the weekend.
They have already shut 52 stores and sold 51 shops to B&M Bargains for £13 million last week.
Poundland and B&M will be reopening the stores they have bought under their own names.
Locations of B&M’s stores will be issued alongside its half-year financial results on November 9.
All Wilko stores will close for good by October, administrators announced on Monday.
The first 52 closures began on Tuesday, with 24 shops shutting for good by the end of the day.
A further 28 sites will close today, resulting in over 1,000 redundancies.
Another 124 stores are set to shut next week in three rounds of closures on Sunday 17, Tuesday 19 and September 21.
Administrators reported yesterday that timings for the remaining 222 closures will be announced shortly.
It is expected that all stores will close in the coming weeks, leading to a further 9,100 employees losing their jobs in those stores.
Wilko’s warehouses in Worksop and Newport are also due to close on September 15, with the majority of their remaining 886 employees being made redundant on that date.
The first wave of job cuts took place early last week, with a total of 269 support centre team member roles being axed in its Worksop site.
A further 14 jobs at Kin Limited, a subsidiary of Wilko, have also been cut after it too fell into administration.
Wilko collapsed into administration back in August after failing to find new backing for the business.
Meanwhile, we reveal the full list of Wilko stores Poundland has bought.
Plus, here is the full list of 124 stores due to shut next week and the 52 closing their doors over the coming days.
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September 14, 2023 at 12:20PM
from The Sun