The Town Herald

The netpaper about Elftowners, by Elftowners, for Elftowners.

Cheerio, Woolies

Written by [Chimes]



In December 2008 Britain lost one of its biggest nationwide stores, Woolworths. Due to the credit crunch and the 'recession' Woolworths was sent into administration and all of the stores were shut down (though, through research I have just found out that they have an online store and blog, all is not lost!). The closure of the 90 year-old company sadden Britain, I know I miss the big red Woolworths sign that covered the front of the biggest lot in our town centre.

For those of you who don't know, Woolworths was the sort of shop you could buy anything from. From games consoles to clothes, from sweets to the odd bit of garden furniture - it was like heaven for someone looking for everything bar groceries. Sure, there were other shops like it but Woolies was always there, it had been there forever - well, forever if you were under ninety. It'd be rare that you'd not see a Woolworths sat in the middle of a British town. It looked at home.

It's sad though, that it lost its home on its ninetieth year, so close to one hundred, only to be kicked off its horse at the last hurdle and all of its employees felt the bump of the hard ground beneath their rumps.

But it wasn't all doom and gloom, especially if you're a bargain hunter. During the last few days that it was open, Woolies were selling things at phenomenally low prices. True, you'd have had to elbow people, get a black eye and break your leg to get the item you wanted due to the lack of stock but who can deny a good bargain? As people we revel in gaining from people's misfortune, if even subconsciously, so it's no surprise that this last move went down a treat with the happy shopper. They may have been sad to see it go but they were certainly happy to get their goodies out of it.

There is one thing that still confuses me about the situation, however. Before the company went into administration they had Jackie Chan appearing in their adverts... So, how does this struggling company afford to pay Jackie Chan? I mean, it's Jackie Chan! The man has starred in over a hundred films, so he has to be pretty expensive to hire, not to mention the royalties they must have had to pay to keep the advert on the air.

I think we may have stumbled upon the real reason that Woolworths couldn't afford to keep going. Or, maybe I am being unfair? I loved the shop but I can't help but see a flaw in their logic. Recession, lack of money all around, closures happening here, there and everywhere... so what do they do? They hire Jackie Chan. Smart move there, Woolies, smart move. I commend you and your brains. Well done.

Even though I may be criticising them, I miss the massive shop where you could buy pretty much everything (except books, which strikes me as quite odd, oh well...). Life goes on, I suppose. It does make you curious though... What's going to replace it? We'll just have to wait and see.



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