The story
Founded by Frank Winfield Woolworth in 1909, in Liverpool.1
Establishment of the business
The British branch of the F. W. Woolworth Company, which had been founded in Pennsylvania, F. W. Woolworth & Co. Ltd, was founded by Frank Woolworth in Liverpool, England, on 5 November 1909. Frank Woolworth allegedly had ancestry in Woolley, Cambridgeshire – Frank claimed he had traced his ancestry through the Pilgrim Fathers to a small "farm in middle England". When Frank eventually travelled to England in 1890, he docked in Liverpool and travelled by train to Stoke-on-Trent for the purchase of china and glassware for Woolworth's ranges, but also noted his love of England in his diary and his aspirations for bringing the Woolworth name to England:
I believe that a good penny and sixpence store, run by a live Yankee, would be a sensation here.
During the buying trip, Woolworth met a young clerk, William Lawrence Stephenson, who was recommended to him by John Wanamaker. Wanamaker had established a large chain of department stores across the United States and was one of Woolworth's heroes. Stephenson was invited to London to meet Woolworth again, and was offered the job as director of the new company, which he accepted.
After the idea for the creation of the British business, Frank Woolworth had offered invitations to shop managers in the United States to establish shops in the UK and had only received offers to take positions at the time of his illness in March 1909 from Fred Woolworth of the Sixth Avenue and Samuel Balfour of the 14th Street shops in New York City. After these initial offers, Byron Miller, a superintendent in a Boston shop, also offered his assistance and set sail with the other volunteers on the steam boat Kaiserin Auguste Victoria on 29 May 1909 for England from Hoboken.
Frank Woolworth expected other members of staff to admire the volunteers in establishing FW Woolworth & Co in Britain. However, Carson C. Peck, vice president and general manager of the company, had reservations with enlisting staff members to travel to Britain, questioning whether Woolworth had indeed created the new business adventure following a dream, or due to his dissatisfaction with the current condition of the American branch.
Peck also asked those who were willing to volunteer to reconsider their decision, claiming that those who had volunteered were unaware of the uncertainty and risks involved and that some were only tentatively willing to engage in Woolworth's new endeavour: His concerns mainly centred on the fact that the majority of the managers who followed the decision did so out of loyalty to Woolworth, and that moving such a valuable resource already established in the United States to what was a financially unproven "Little Infant" in the UK would have a detrimental effect upon the "Bread and Butter" of the Company.
To me it seems that these return sheets are in danger of being misunderstood and that it is a good deal like asking a boy to volunteer to go into a bear's den when he does not know whether he is to eat a nicely cooked luscious bear's steak, or be eaten by a great, big black bear.
1900s–1910s
Despite reservations such as Peck's, the decision to launch in the United Kingdom went ahead as previously planned by Woolworth. He considered several locations for the first shops, together with future possible sites. The chosen location for the first shop was 25-25A Church Street and 8 Williamson Street in the centre of Liverpool (the street addresses of the different entrances). It opened on 5 November 1909 with a performance by a full orchestra, circus acts and fireworks.
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As a means of adherence to American trading tradition, only viewing of items was allowed on the first day of the shop's opening. This included guests being given complementary tea while being entertained by a traditional brass band in the refreshment room. The event was reported positively by the local newspaper, the Liverpool Courier, which praised the decor of the shops along with the value and range of items on sale.
Despite local press praise, British national newspaper the Daily Mail likened Frank Woolworth to American showman P. T. Barnum and claimed that the location had been decided as part of a contingency plan in the event of failure so as to facilitate escape from any financial liability. Despite these reservations, the shop proved to be a success; large queues outside and low priced 3d. and 6d. ("threepenny and sixpenny") items leading to it being almost stripped bare of goods before the end of the first day of trading and being attributed to mass purchased mass-produced foreign and local goods.
The business expanded into Ireland, opening a shop on Grafton Street in Dublin on 23 April 1914 Plans and one on High Street in Belfast on 6 November 1915.
At the onset of the First World War, F.W. Woolworth & Co. had 40 shops in Great Britain and Ireland located in most major cities - from which a total of 57 staff including shop managers had enlisted; the majority of whom did not return after the end of the war in 1918. Despite American staff again offering their services to the Woolworths branches in Britain, remaining staff increased their efforts to cope with the lack of staff members throughout the war with several staff members being promoted to managerial positions.
Shops in the United States, which were then stocking ranges also present in British shops, were dependent upon European manufacturers which had adopted newer production methods than their American counterparts.
1920s–1930s
Following the First World War, the company continued to expand with the opening of further branches. By 1923, there were 130 branches, and William Lawrence Stephenson (1880–1963) became managing director. He implemented a strategy of major expansion, with the company buying or building freehold properties. Many of the shops had distinctive faience tiled art deco frontages. The expansion was funded entirely out of earnings and without any borrowing or further capitalisation. The 400th branch, at Southport, Lancashire, opened on 12 July 1930, and the company was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1931. The US parent company reduced its holding in the company to 51.7% at that time. In 1934, the 600th shop was opened, in Wallington in Surrey.
1940s–1950s
Expansion was effectively suspended between 1940 and 1950, owing to the Second World War and post-war restrictions, but then resumed. The 800th branch, at Wilton Road, Victoria, London, opened in September 1953.
A shop was opened in Kingston in Jamaica in 1954. This was followed in 1959 by one in Salisbury in Southern Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe); its layout was based on that of a shop in Guildford. Woolworth also operated shops in Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, and the West Indies.
On 22 May 1958, the 1,000th branch (known as "Portslade" to distinguish it from the existing Hove branch) opened in Boundary Road, Hove. The peak of 1,141 branches was reached in the late 1960s. From then until the US parent sold out in 1982, a number of branches were closed and sold, and at the time that ownership shifted to the UK, there were about 1,000 branches.
1960s–1970s
Woolworths tried the large out-of-town or hypermarket format in the 1960s with the Woolco shops. While some of these were closed, the majority were sold to the Dee Corporation in the early 1980s and reopened as Gateway hypermarkets, later being taken over by Asda.
One of Woolworths' flagship locations, on Briggate in Leeds, suffered a major fire in 1969. The shop, which opened in 1913, was spread over four floors and sustained extensive damage, requiring a total refit. The shop was not open to the public at the time and the building was evacuated, avoiding fatalities, although some staff suffered minor injuries. It took several hours for the fire to be fully extinguished.
1980s–1990s
In 1982, the British Woolworths and its sister chain B&Q were acquired by Paternoster Stores Ltd, the forerunner of Kingfisher plc. Woolworths Group plc was formed by the demerger of Kingfisher's general merchandise business, and began trading as a listed company on the London Stock Exchange on 28 August 2003, using the symbol WLW.
In October 1984, the Woolworths shops in the Republic of Ireland were closed. In August 1996, market research was undertaken by Woolworths investigating opportunities to re-enter the Republic of Ireland market. About 32 potential locations were identified that could support a Woolworths location. However, the project did not proceed beyond the market research phase.
During the 1980s, management rationalised merchandise lines into clearly defined categories: entertainment, home, children (toys and clothing) and confectionery. Many Woolworths branches were downsized during this time. Older branches in major cities were sometimes almost as large as the major department stores nearby. In 1987, for example, Woolworths left its five-floor branch on Briggate in Leeds (now occupied by House of Fraser), which it had occupied since 1913, and kept only its smaller single-level branch in the Merrion Centre. This was in an area of the city centre which had less pedestrian traffic, of shoppers who were generally on a lower budget.
Woolworths did have several smaller outlets during the 1990s which sold music and confectionery. Smaller outlets with a similar format were also tried at the Sheffield Meadowhall Shopping Centre, but closed in 2003; the Manchester Music and Video shop was superseded by a larger MVC shop, owned by Woolworths Group.
In the late 1990s, the management extended the Woolworths brand into other retail formats and alternative channels to accelerate growth by taking advantage of changing retail trends. Some larger-format shops were opened under the Big W brand, similar to Wal-Mart in the US. Although it was successful at the beginning, the format failed to catch on; the original plan had relied upon leveraging the involvement of other Kingfisher group retailers, but following the de-merger this was no longer possible.
2000s–2010s
Following a period of losses, Woolworths confirmed in 2004 it would abandon the Big W concept. The group sold seven of the 21 Big W shops in 2005 to Tesco and Asda. The gross internal floor area of the remaining sites was reduced to an optimum trading size of around 40,000 to 50,000 square feet (4,600 m2). Following this, they were rebranded as Woolworths Out of Town shops.
The newly independent Woolworths faced severe competitive and financial pressures. The market for physical copies of music, one of Woolworths' main money spinners, shrank in the early 21st century; specialist music chains such as Our Price collapsed. The major supermarket chains expanded into many of Woolworths' product areas, and the fast-expanding Wilkinson challenged it directly on the high street.
Woolworths did not generally follow the trend started in the 1980s of opening shops at out-of-town locations. One of its few out-of-town stores opened at Dudley's Merry Hill Shopping Centre in 1989, but this closed within a few years due to disappointing trade.
In an attempt to raise the group's corporate profile under the chairmanship of Gerald Corbett, Woolworths sponsored a show garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2004. Designed by a group of graduate students from Pickard School of Garden Design, the contemporary-formal style garden was awarded a silver medal.
In the middle of 2006, the business launched an in-store collection service for items ordered on their website or in-store, to complement the already established in-store ordering system. In late September 2006, the Big Red Book was launched, to compete directly with the Argos catalogue.
Woolworths launched the WorthIt! brand as a value range in 2007. The first advertising campaign for the brand aired on 15 June 2007 and featured the characters of Wooly the sheep and Worth the sheepdog. Further advertising campaigns featured celebrities such as Rolf Harris, Jackie Chan, and Kelly Osbourne. The brand covered a wide variety of products including confectionery, electricals, alcohol, jewellery, perfumes, and clothing.
Woolworths had a strongly unionised workforce, with shop stewards such as Paul Thompson of Unite (formerly the Transport and General Workers' Union) particularly active in the north of the UK.
In July 2008, the board rejected a bid from Iceland founder Malcolm Walker to buy Woolworths' 819 shops for £50m. Walker's bid did not include Entertainment UK or the stake in 2 Entertain, and also avoided taking on Woolworths' debt and pension liabilities.
On 12 August 2008, Woolworths Group announced the appointment of Steve Johnson, former chief executive officer of Focus DIY, to the post of chief executive. He replaced Trevor Bish-Jones, who had left in June. Woolworths scrapped its interim dividend in September 2008, after it announced a pre-tax loss of £99.7m for the six months to 2 August. At the same time, Johnson outlined a possible turnaround plan to sell 120 shops, axe a quarter of its products, reduce web operations and cut jobs.
At that time, the retailer's largest shareholder was Iranian property developer Ardeshir Naghshineh, with a 10.2% stake. A consortium led by Icelandic investor Baugur, called Unity owned a 10% stake in Woolworths. In October 2008, Sir Alan Sugar, founder of electronics firm Amstrad, increased his stake in Woolworths to around 4%. Theo Paphitis, owner of stationery retailer Ryman, also stated his interest in the company.
The 2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession reduced availability of credit and consumer spending.
On 19 November 2008, The Times reported that the Woolworths' retail business was a target for restructuring specialist Hilco UK, who would buy the retail arm for a nominal £1; this was confirmed the same day. The deal would have left Woolworths Group with its profitable distribution and publishing businesses and a reduced debt load. Ardeshir Naghshineh criticised the plan, recommending instead that the company sell some of the shops to raise more funds.
The group's banks, GMAC and Burdale, rejected the deal and recalled their loans, forcing the group to place the retail business and Entertainment UK into administration. On 26 November 2008, the trading of shares in Woolworths PLC was suspended, and Neville Kahn, Dan Butters, and Nick Dargan of Deloitte were appointed joint administrators. When the company entered administration, it had a debt of £385 million. The administrators announced that they were aiming to keep the company as a going concern over the crucial Christmas period, although analysts feared that any heavy discounting would create a domino effect and drag down other high street retailers. Deloitte later announced they had received "substantial interest" in Woolworths.
When news of Woolworths' entry into administration was widely publicised, National Lottery operator Camelot immediately suspended Woolworths from selling their lottery tickets and scratch cards, as well as preventing claimants from redeeming prizes at the shops.
On 5 December 2008, Woolworths recorded their greatest single day takings of £27 million, and axed 450 head office and support staff jobs. A closing-down sale started on 11 December.
On 17 December 2008, administrators announced that all 807 Woolworths locations would close by 5 January 2009 (later changed to 6 January), with 27,000 job losses. Deloitte's Neville Kahn also said that it was unclear how much of Woolworths' debt would be paid. In the last few days of trading, discounts of up to 90% were offered, and a number of shops sold all of their stock, many selling all of their fixtures and fittings too.
The shops were closed in phases, and the final two closing days were moved back a day to try to sell more of the remaining stock and to ease logistics of closing.
207 shops closed on 27 December 2008
37 closed on 29 December
164 closed on 30 December
200 closed on 3 January 2009
remaining shops (199) closed on 6 January 2009
The former chief executive of Kingfisher, Woolworths' former parent company, and Ardeshir Naghshineh, a major shareholder of Woolworths, criticised the closures.
On 19 January 2009, the owner, Woolworths Group, announced its intention to also enter administration, as it could no longer pay its debts. The application was heard by the High Court on 27 January, and Woolworths Group PLC entered administration.
The trade unions complained of the collective redundancies and they started various legal actions before the UK tribunals based on the absence of proper consultation of the employee representatives. The UK Court of Appeal referred the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union which partially disagreed with the unions by an important decision of 30 April 2015.
2020s
In October 2020, an unverified Twitter account named @UKWoolworths announced that Woolworths UK was planning to relaunch. The announcement was reported by dozens of mainstream British websites, including MailOnline and the Daily Mirror. Within hours The Very Group, the owner of the Woolworths brand, confirmed that the account was a hoax. The stunt was perpetrated by a teenage student, Luke Castle, who claimed to have run it as an experiment "testing the brand loyalty of the British public".
In January 2024, it was announced that Woolworths may make a return 15 years after it closed, when the German company announced its expansion throughout Europe and the UK was one of its high priorities and this looks more likely, following the closure of Wilko just a year earlier in the UK. Woolworth GmbH's chief executive told BBC News that the UK was on his "bucket list" of destinations for international expansion.
From Wikipedia’s article on Woolworths (United Kingdom), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4