M&S latest victim of crunch

Annabel Williams • Published 7 Jan 2009 17:00 0 Comments

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A MARKS & Spencer store in Caversham became the first casualty of the chain's cash problems yesterday - just hours after Reading's 87-year-old branch of Woolworths closed its doors for the last time.

Hundreds of shoppers descended on Woolies in Broad Street throughout Tuesday to grab a final bargain or simply bid farewell to their favourite staff.

But yesterday (Wednesday), it was announced that M&S is proposing to close 25 Simply Food shops - including the 30-month-old Caversham store - amid more than 1,000 job cuts because of "tough" trading conditions.

In the 13 weeks to December 27, its UK like-for-like sales fell by 7.1%, and food sales fell by 1.1%.

M&S says there will be a consultation period with the Caversham shop's 28 employees, who will be helped to find new jobs, but has given no indication of when that will happen or the exact closure date.

The shop replaced budget supermarket Iceland in St Martin's Precinct in August 2006, re-employing many of its staff.

The store manager declined to comment yesterday, but Sir Stuart Rose, M&S chairman, said: "We believe we have looked at every available option and opportunity to keep the Caversham store open, but in this tough trading environment it is no longer commercially viable. We have a great team here and I would like to thank them for their commitment and for their hard work."

Reading East MP Rob Wilson said: "Marks & Spencer gave the area a bit of a lift when they came here and to lose them so quickly is extremely depressing."

M&S's Broad Street store and the Lower Earley Simply Food branch will stay open.

At Woolworths the 73 members of staff posed for pictures and chatted to loyal customers to the sound of popping champagne corks as they counted down to closing the doors at 6pm.

Tilehurst customer Jonathan Bunce, the last customer to leave, said: "It's a sad day. Woolies has been part of my life for about 20 years and it was something of a tradition to go in there for pickâ€˜n'mix, toys and games when I was a child. It is going to leave a massive hole in Reading."

Woolworths was brought to Britain by American tycoon Frank Woolworth in 1909 but the chain was forced into administration on November 26 with debts of around £385m. The closure of its 807 stores leaves 27,000 staff redundant.

Rumours have begun to spread that budget store Wilkinsons is interested in the vacant unit.

This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 08 Jan 09

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