As regular readers may know, I worked for Woolworths until it closed down in January this year. You can read the series of articles I wrote in the aftermath of its closure. In one of my articles, I wrote about the poster that appeared in the staff area this time last year. It announced: Remember […]
The failing economy of Kirkcaldy
It was revealed yesterday that Gordon Brown will spend part of his summer doing voluntary work in Kirkcaldy, the town where he grew up which forms the major part of his constituency of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath. It is also my home town. Some uncharitable people have suggested that his job may involve digging holes, something […]
Gaps in the Mercat
Yesterday, for the first time in a while, I took a trip into Kirkcaldy’s main shopping centre, the Mercat. I’m very familiar with the first set of shops that meet you from the entrance. I passed them all many, many times on my way to work at the late, great Woolworths. This opening corridor is […]
The wonderful web presence of Woolworths
Regular readers will know that until January this year I worked for Woolworths — I wrote about my experiences. Since then I have taken an interest in the future direction of the brand, which was sold last month to Shop Direct. The new, online-only version of Woolworths is not set to launch until this summer. […]
Woolworths rises from the ashes
I was happy to hear on the radio this morning that the Woolworths name has been bought. I had begun to fear that the brand had been damaged too much by the events since November, but it seems as though Woolworths will still live on in some form. The buyers are the Barclay Brothers, and […]
Spare part
I see that the BBC’s iPM blog is asking for the human stories behind the current unemployment figures. Well, I am a human face of two recent news stories. As readers are no doubt sick of reading by now, one of those stories was the loss of around 27,000 jobs at Woolworths. The other is […]
The blunder of Woolworths
By the time I started working for Woolworths, the company was pushing its in-store ordering system big time. In Summer 2006 The Big Red Book was launched to encourage customers to make use of the ordering facility. As sales assistants, we were always encouraged to offer to order any items that weren’t in stock. Unfortunately, […]
Woolworths: Childhood memories and adult gripes
I have felt very sad about the demise of Woolworths ever since the business began to unravel in front of my eyes around two months ago. I was not sad so much because of my job — I was planning on leaving after the Christmas period anyway. I was just sad to see Woolies go […]
Woolworths as it was known and loved, and neglected
In 1982, the British arm of Woolworths was separated from the American parent when it was bought by retail consortium Paternoster, later to become Kingfisher. It changed the direction of the company forever. According to the Woolworths Virtual Museum, BBC News reported on Woolworths being under British ownership for the first time against a backdrop […]
Woolworths: The curiously British US-based company
Today, the shutter came down for the final time at Woolworths Kirkcaldy, Store 1201. It was among the final group of branches to close. It is the end of an era. This institution had been a fixture in Britain’s High Streets for almost 100 years. The history of the original company set up by Frank […]