‘I worked at Wilko for 27 years – they’ve put profit before people’ | UK News

Wilko staff who have worked at the popular store for decades say they are angry and heartbroken as their shops face closures that ‘could have been avoided’.

They are among the nearly 10,000 employees of the UK high-street favourite that will find themselves out of jobs in the next month.

Administrators PwC have been designated to sell off Wilko’s assets, including its brand and shops, after failing to secure a rescue deal for the whole business.

This week The Range bought the Wilko brand – but it won’t save many jobs.

Wilko – or Wilkinson’s – has been part of the fabric of the British high-street since it was founded in Leicester in 1930.

If you work at Wilko and will no longer have a job, we want to hear about your memories of the store and what it has been like to work there. Please get in touch and email liam.coleman@metro.co.uk

There are still 400 stores across the country that will close in the coming weeks – and former members of staff say they have been through ‘hell and back’ since it went into administration.

Carol, who has worked in merchandising in a Midlands store for the past 27 years, started as a Christmas temp before going on to work full-time.

While many staff speak of how Wilko has felt like a family for them, for Carol the meaning is literal.

Her two sons both work in the store, and are also facing redundancy.

She told Metro: ‘Everyone here is heartbroken that we are going to close, it’s going to be a huge loss not just for customers but for everyone in the area.

‘I’m angry because this could have all been avoided. When I first started it was one of the best paid, best perked jobs in retail, and over the last few years that has all changed.

‘We were a discount store and we made loads of money, and then about ten years ago they decided they wanted us to be something that we weren’t.

‘When we started selling £15 cushions and £20 toilet seats that’s when we started to see sales dropping.’

Carol added: ‘We went from a family that’s all together to just being treated as numbers.

‘We were a stack it high, sell it cheap make a profit company. But they didn’t want that anymore.

‘The refusal to accept there was a problem is the reason why we are having to close.’

The mum-of-two said Wilko used to ‘stand for families and helping families by being reasonably priced and being a part of the community.’

She said some of the most important roles of the store weren’t just making money, but they had elderly and vulnerable customers who would come to Wilko just for a chat.

She said: ‘We have had a lady who comes in every Friday, and she eats fish and chips on the bench in the store. It is the only time she gets out and every week she comes in for a chat.

‘I think you will find there are lots of people like that and they are going to miss the place hugely.

‘We are and always have been very customer orientated, we know them by name and we know the ones who are lonely and need a chat. We are part of the community that we’re in.

‘All the big stores now are all just about profit.’

Carol’s store is closing next week. She said all of the staff have planned a team meal for their last supper.

She added: ‘We’ll all be supporting each other over the next however long, all wishing each other the best, and trying to keep the family together.’

David, 36, started working as a Saturday boy at his local store when he was 17, and has spent his entire working life at Wilko.

He progressed and went to university thanks to the brand, but now he has no choice but to look for another job for the first time in 19 years.

The supervisor said it has felt like a ‘messy divorce’ with some staff, who helped set up and build stores now having to also take out the final stock.

He said: ‘It’s a family here, the people here have been a part of my life for every major part of it.’

‘The team I work with, most of them were in tears in the canteen just yesterday talking about this.

‘People have been through hell and back the last few weeks.’

He said the uncertainty over the future of the store has ruined what has been a great career for some staff.

He said: ‘The media speculation, the lack of confirmation from any of the big bosses, everyone has found out every event through the press.

‘It’s made staff feel undervalued. People are leaving angry from a place they have loved for years.’

‘People have been burying their heads in the sand. Clearly it wasn’t working for a long time but they were still telling us administration was never an option and never going to happen.’

Like Carol, David said he will miss the staff and the customers the most, along with the community that had been built within his store.

He told Metro: ‘Generally everyday it is the same customers who you are serving, you know who they are and what they do and what they want. Everyone will miss the personal approach. I’ve grown up with these customers. I know their lives, I’m seen them have kids, their kids have kids.

‘It has left a bitter taste in my mouth how it is all ending. Leaving a career where everyone I’ve met I’ve enjoyed working with, it is hard. ‘

‘The divorce part – I’m not divorced – but my staff have said it is like that. The way you are clearing the shelves and the stores, and you are doing it because you’re being forced to leave not because you want too.

‘The average length of a team member is more than 10 years, that’s across the country.

‘You don’t get that anymore, retail is high turnover, high stress, it’s not the same.

‘I came here for a job but stayed because of the people.

‘Nothing will ever be able to replace Wilko.’

• Some names have been changed to protect the identity of staff

MORE : All the companies that have bought Wilko as the discount store disappears from the high street

MORE : When is Wilko closing down? All the dates you need to know

MORE : Wilko brand ‘bought by The Range in £5,000,000 deal’

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