Confirmation has come from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) that 299 jobs will be lost at Wilko’s two distribution centres in Worksop, Nottinghamshire and Newport, Wales.
This follows the announcement that 269 members of staff at Wilko’s Support Centre in Worksop were to be made redundant on Monday 4 September. Wilko first went into administration at the beginning of August.
Administrators have also confirmed that 52 stores nationwide will close, leading to 1,016 staff redundancies. All of these stores will cease trading by the end of the day on either Tuesday 12 September or Thursday 14 September.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) says that it will announce which of its stores will be closing on Wednesday 6 September, with redundancy taking effect from Thursday 7 September.
Joint Administrator Edward Williams 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, in addition to the already announced redundancies at the support centre and distribution centres.
“We know this has been a deeply unsettling time for everyone concerned and would like to express our gratitude to all Wilko team members for the dedication and support they have continued to give the business in the most trying of circumstances.”
Furthermore, it was announced earlier today [5 September] that rival retailer B&M had agreed to acquire up to 51 Wilko properties for a maximum of £13 million. B&M is expected to reveal more details on the reopening of these stores alongside its interim financial results on 9 November 2023.
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