WILKO stores will become a distant memory on the high street after 93 years.
The retailer fell into administration on August 10 before a flurry of potential buyers expressed an interest.
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However, The Sun exclusively revealed that discussions between Wilko’s administrators, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and HMV’s Doug Poutman failed.
As a result, 12,500 Wilko employees will most likely face redundancy and all shops will shut their doors by the beginning of October.
The list of confirmed closures has been growing.
On September 12, 24 Wilko stores will close for good – these include branches in Acton, Morely, Putney, Tunbridge Wells and Wakefield.
Then, on Thursday September 14, another 24 stores will shut shop.
These include branches in Ashford, Cortonwood and Walsall.
Both of Wilko’s warehouses, called distribution centres (DCs) will close Friday (September 15).
A further 38 stores will close on Tuesday September 19 followed by 48 more branches shutting their doors by Thursday September 21.
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Timings for when the remaining 222 stores will be shutting shop will be announced in due course.
Though it is expected that all Wilko locations will have closed by early October.
The Range is interested in taking on the Wilko name, but a deal would not include any shop locations, it’s understood.
On September 6, administrator PwC confirmed a total of 52 shops will close their doors by the end of September 14.
Twenty-four branches will close on September 12 while a further 28 will shut for good on September 14.
It comes as PwC slashed a total of 1,332 jobs in the latest round of redundancies.
As well as the job losses within stores there are 229 roles being axed at the company’s two warehouses in Worksop and Newark.
There will be another 17 redundancies among the company’s digital team at its support centre.
The announcement comes just a day after rival B&M confirmed it will buy up to 51 Wilko stores for around £13million, although it is not yet known which exact stores will be bought out.
The chain operates from locations on the high street and more than a dozen retail parks across the country.
But that leaves the future of the remaining Wilko stores in doubt as well as thousands of jobs.
While bargain store Poundland is also in talks to purchase 70 Wilko stores.
Deals are still being finalised but if bought, the Wilko branches will most likely become Poundland stores.
Which Wilko stores are closing?
Here is the full list of Wilko stores closing at the end of the working day on Tuesday, September 12:
- Acton
- Aldershot
- Barking
- Bishop Auckland
- Bletchley FF
- Brownhills
- Camberley
- Cardiff Bay Retail Park
- Falmouth
- Harpurhey
- Irvine
- Liverpool Edge Lane
- Llandudno
- Lowestoft
- Morley
- Nelson
- Port Talbot
- Putney
- Stafford
- Tunbridge Wells
- Wakefield
- Weston-super-Mare
- Westwood Cross
- Winsford
The following sites will close on Thursday, September 14:
- Ashford
- Avonmeads
- Banbury
- Barrow in Furness
- Basildon
- Belle Vale
- Burnley (Relocation)
- Clydebank
- Cortonwood
- Dagenham
- Dewsbury
- Eccles
- Folkestone
- Great Yarmouth
- Hammersmith
- Huddersfield
- Morriston
- New Malden
- North Shields
- Queen Street Cardiff
- Rhyl
- Southampton-West Quay
- St Austell
- Stockport
- Truro
- Uttoxeter
- Walsall
- Woking
The following will close on Sunday, September 17:
- Accrington
- Ashington
- Blackwood
- Bognor Regis
- Bradford
- Bury St Edmunds
- Coalville
- Crawley
- Droylsden
- Ellesmere Port
- Falkirk
- Ferndown
- Hanley
- Humberstone
- Huyton
- Kensington High Street
- Kings Heath
- Lakeside
- Leigh
- Letchworth
- Maidenhead
- Market Harborough
- Melton Mowbray
- Newport
- Orpington
- Pontefract
- Pontypool
- Redruth
- Rugeley
- Shirley
- Southport
- Sovereign Harbour
- Torquay
- Wimbledon
- Wombwell
- Woodhouse Lane – Leeds
- Worcester
- Workington
These stores will then close on Tuesday, September 19:
- Aberdare
- Alfreton
- Ashby
- Barnstaple
- Belper
- Beverley
- BlackheathBrigg
- Byker, Chepstow
- Clifton Nottingham
- Colindale
- Devizes
- Didcot
- Earlestown
- East Ham
- Great Bridge
- Greenbridge
- Grimsby
- Hessle Road – Hull
- Jarrow
- Kimberley
- Leighton Buzzard
- Long Eaton
- Maesteg
- Matlock
- Middleton
- Newton Abbot
- Redcar
- Ripley
- Seaham
- Sherwood
- Stamford
- Stevenage
- Swanley
- Tamworth
- Wrexham
- Wythenshawe
And then these shops will shut their doors on Thursday, September 21:
- Allestree
- Andover
- Bedford
- Beeston
- Bicester
- Bloxwich
- Bolton
- Bordon
- Bransholme
- Bridgend, Bury
- Carlton
- Clacton on Sea
- Cramlington
- Crewe
- Cwmbran
- Cyfarthfa
- Denton
- Driffield
- Droitwich
- Edmonton Green
- Farnborough
- Fort Kinnaird
- Fulham
- Gateshead
- Gorleston
- Grays
- Greenock
- Havant
- Hereford
- Hillsborough
- Holyhead
- Newton Aycliffe
- Northampton
- Orton
- Parc Trostre Llanelli
- Penge
- Peterlee
- Pwllheli
- Shrewsbury
- Slough
- Swindon
- Tamworth Retail Park
- Taunton
- Walton on Thames
- Wheatley Retail Park
- Wigan
- Wolverhampton
Which Wilko stores are also set to close down?
Here is the full list of remaining Wilko stores also set to close down, some of which may be bought out by B&M:
- Abergavenny
- Acocks Green
- Alnwick
- Altrincham
- Ammanford
- Arnold
- Ashton-Under-Lyne
- Aylesbury
- Ayr
- Barnsley (3 stores)
- Barry
- Basingstoke
- Bedminster
- Bexleyheath
- Biggleswade
- Birkenhead
- Birmingham (3)
- Bishops Stortford
- Blackburn
- Blackpool
- Bletchley
- Blyth
- Bordon
- Boston
- Bournemouth (2)
- Bradford
- Brentwood
- Bridgend
- Bridgwater
- Brigg
- Brighouse
- Bristol (3)
- Bromley
- Burgess Hill
- Burton Upon Trent
- Cambridge
- Canterbury
- Cardiff (2)
- Carlisle
- Carmarthen
- Castle Douglas
- Chatham
- Chelmsford
- Cheltenham
- Chepstow
- Chester
- Chester Le Street
- Chesterfield
- Chippenham
- Clacton On Sea
- Cleethorpes
- Cleveleys
- Clowne
- Cockermouth
- Colchester
- Corby
- Coventry (2)
- Crawley
- Crewe
- Cwmbran
- Darlington
- Dartford
- Derby (3)
- Dereham
- Didcot
- Doncaster (2)
- Droitwich
- Dudley
- Dunstable
- Durham
- Eastbourne (2)
- Edinburgh
- Ely
- Epsom
- Exeter
- Fareham
- Farnborough
- Gainsborough
- Gateshead (2)
- Gillingham
- Gloucester
- Gravesend
- Grays (2)
- Great Malvern
- Great Yarmouth
- Greenock
- Greenwich
- Grimsby (2)
- Halesowen
- Halifax
- Hamilton
- Harlow
- Harrow
- Hartlepool
- Havant
- Haverfordwest
- Hayes
- Hemel Hempstead
- Hereford
- High Wycombe
- Hinckley
- Hitchin
- Holyhead
- Horsham
- Hounslow
- Hucknall
- Hull (2)
- Huntingdon
- Huyton
- Ilford
- Ilkeston
- Ipswich
- Kenilworth
- Kent (2)
- Kettering
- Kidderminster
- Kings Lynn
- Kingston Upon Thames
- Kingston Upon Hull
- Kingswood
- Knowle
- Lancaster
- Leamington Spa
- Leeds (7)
- Leek
- Leicester (5)
- Leigh
- Letchworth
- Lewisham
- Lichfield
- Lincoln
- Liverpool (2)
- Livingston
- London (8)
- Loughborough
- Louth
- Luton
- Maidstone
- Manchester (4)
- Mansfield
- Market Drayton
- Matlock
- Merthyr Tydfil
- Middlesbrough
- Middlesex
- Mildenhall
- Milton Keynes
- Motherwell
- Neath
- Nelson
- Newark
- Newbury
- Newcastle
- Newcastle Under Lyme
- Newcastle Upon Tyne (3)
- Newton-Le-Willows
- Northallerton
- Northfield
- Norwich
- Nottingham (9)
- Nuneaton
- Oakham
- Orpington
- Oswestry
- Pembroke Dock
- Penge
- Perry Barr
- Peterborough (2)
- Peterlee
- Plymouth
- Poole
- Porthmadog
- Portsmouth
- Preston (2)
- Pwllheli
- Rainham
- Ramsgate
- Reading
- Redditch
- Redhill
- Retford
- Romford
- Rotherham
- Rowley Regis
- Royal Kingston Upon Thames
- Rugby
- Runcorn
- Rushden
- Sale
- Salford
- Scarborough
- Scunthorpe
- Selby
- Sheffield (6)
- Shipley
- Sittingbourne
- Skegness
- Skelmersdale
- Slough
- Solihull
- South Shields
- Southampton
- Southend On Sea
- Spalding
- St Albans
- St Helens
- Staines
- Stockton On Tees
- Stoke-On-Trent
- Stourbridge
- Stratford
- Strood
- Stroud
- Sunderland
- Sutton
- Sutton-In-Ashfield
- Swansea
- Taunton
- Telford (2)
- Thetford
- Tipton
- Trowbridge
- Uxbridge
- Wakefield (2)
- Wallasey
- Walsall
- Walthamstow
- Warrington
- Washington
- Waterlooville
- Watford
- Wellingborough
- Wembley
- West Drayton
- West Ealing
- Weymouth
- Whitehaven
- Widnes
- Wood Green
- Woolwich
- Worksop (2)
- Worthing
- Yeovil
- York
What other retailers are closing?
It’s not just shops either, food and pub chains have also been hit, resulting in brands like Wetherspoons and Frankie & Benny’s closing.
Following the pandemic businesses were struggling to bounce back anyway, only to then be hit by soaring energy bills.
In August, Clarks shoes shut the doors on its store in Fareham for food.
Before that Clarks closed a store in Dundee on July 25.
Although, some chains have managed to defy high street troubles and are actually set to open new shops.
These include discount chains like Poundland and Greggs which is aiming to open 150 new sites this year.
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