WILKO stores in Rugby, Leamington, Coventry and Solihull will close by early October after a bid to save the retail chain fell through.
The GMB union has confirmed all 400 Wilko stores across the UK will shut down after a rescue bid from HMV owner Doug Putman failed due to rising costs.
Last week it was hoped that the branches – at Coventry’s Cathedral Lane Shopping Centre and Cannon Park, Leamington’s Royal Priors, Rugby Central and Solihull’s Chelmsley Wood Shopping Centre – would stay open after they were not included on a list of 52 due to close this week.
The list was published a day after B&M Bargains announced it had entered into an agreement to buy 51 other Wilko stores – the locations of which have not yet been revealed due to confidentiality – in a deal worth up to £13million.
But it is understood these stores will not be run under the Wilko brand.
Poundland is understood to be interested in buying up to 70 Wilko stores and rebranding them.
A spokesperson for administrators PwC said: “It has become clear that no significant part of the Wilko operations can be rescued as a going concern.
“It is anticipated that all stores will be closed by early October.”
Joint administrator Zelf Hussain added: “Despite the significant and intensive efforts of both ourselves and Putman Investments – the remaining party interested in buying a significant part of the business as a going concern – a transaction could not be progressed due to the inability to reduce central infrastructure costs quickly enough to make a deal commercially viable.
“We continue to work with potential buyers for different parts of the business and are confident of completing transactions in the coming days.”
Redundancies are now likely for all 12,500 staff at the family-owned business.
The firm, founded in 1930, has been hit by ‘incredibly challenging trading conditions’ says PwC, both throughout the pandemic and more recently through the impact of the cost of living crisis.
