Wilko has unleashed its first wave of store closures as the retail giant is being forced to shut down every single one of its branches following the collapse of a rescue deal on Monday.
The chain has confirmed it will close almost 400 stores across the country with all shops expected to close by next month.
On Tuesday morning the first closures hit, with the 176 outlets set to close by the end of next week shown in our interactive map below.
Administrators from PwC said that 9,100 Wilko employees will be made redundant before early October.
There were signs of a rescue deal with HMV boss Doug Pitman taking on hundreds of shops but this fell through due to rising costs.
The group’s two warehouses are closing while most of the operations at its support centre will also cease.
Closure details for the remaining 222 stores will be set out later with all of the shops set to close by October.
Wilko has outlets all across the UK but particularly in the East Midlands, where there are 53 shops and in the South East and North West, where there are 49 stores and 46 stores respectively.
Leeds and County Durham have the most Wilko stores in any local authority, with both having six outlets.
There are also five Wilko stores each in Nottingham, Sheffield and Bristol. The high street chain has struggled with fierce competition from discount brands and out-of-town retail centres.
The HMV deal fell through earlier this week. Doug Putman, founder of Putman Investments, said: “It is with great disappointment that we can no longer continue in the purchase process for Wilko having worked with administrators and suppliers over several weeks to seek a viable way to rescue it as a going concern.
“We had financing in place and received the full support of PWC, Wilko management and staff representatives, which we are deeply thankful for considering what a challenging time it has been for them.
“However, commitment to overhauling the trading framework of the business with partners and the costs of running Wilko’s legacy operations infrastructure combined has meant that a stable foundation could not be secured to ensure long term success for the business and its people in the way that we would have wanted.”
For the latest personal finance news, follow us on Twitter at @ExpressMoney_.
