Banbury’s Wilko store will close next week

06/09/2023

The company’s administrators named Banbury as one of 52 stores set to shut

Banbury’s Wilko store on Bridge Street will close next Thursday (September 14).    It is one of 52 stores named by the company’s administrators PwC as permanently shutting next week.

Yesterday PwC confirmed that it had offloaded 51 of the chain’s 400 stores to budget retailer B&M, but it warned that a further 52 stores would close with the loss of 1,016 jobs.

Next Tuesday 24 branches will close with the remainder, including Banbury, two days later.   PwC said that no interest had been shown in the 52 stores by any potential purchasers of the Wilko store portfolio.

One shop worker at the Banbury store told Banbury FM things had changed since COVID-19.   She said: “We used to be really busy but it all changed after the pandemic.   People weren’t coming in any more.   It’s a case of use it or lose it.”

Edward Williams, joint administrator, said: “In the absence of viable offers for the whole business, very sadly store closures and redundancies of team members from those stores are now necessary.

“The loss of these stores will be felt not only by the team members who served them with such dedication, including through the uncertainty of recent weeks, but also the communities which they have been a part of.

“We are enormously grateful for the support of team members during this difficult period and remain committed to doing all we can to help affected staff, assisting them with processing redundancy claims and working with relevant parties to help secure new employment as quickly as possible.”


Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam

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