Woolworths (UK) to close all stores by January

Woolworths (UK) will end 99 years of high street trading by 5 January when it closes 807 stores and lays off 27,000 permanent and temporary staff. Deloitte, the accountancy firm in charge of managing the collapsed chain, will now abandon its attempts to sell either the Woolworths’ retail group or the distribution business, Entertainment UK, as a going concern. Neville Kahn, a partner at Deloitte, said: “We are now moving to the closing-down sale period." The stores will be shut down in groups of 200 stores a day on 27 and 30 December as well as 2 and 5 January. Overall, 22,000 full-time staff will be made redundant and an additional 5,000 temporary workers will lose their positions. Some 300 of the stores are under offer from other retailers and Kahn said: “They will be able to offer new employment to people in the area.”

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