Woolies closes for good
Wednesday - WOOLWORTHS closed its doors for good yesterday (Tuesday) in Sleaford spelling the end of an era spanning over 70 years on the town's 'high street'.
Customers filtered in to pick up the last few bargains but with most things already snapped up, including most of the fixtures and fittings, the once busy store looked a sad and empty sight.
Sleaford was one of the last five stores to close in Lincolnshire and among the final 200, mostly smaller, branches in the country to sell off their last items of stock in a phased closure of the debt-ridden business by administrators Deloitte.
Store manager Debbie Keal said it was a sad day for the 27 staff, some who have been there for many years. She said: "The customers have been very nice and a lot of kind words from people." The new Subway shop across the street gave staff platters of free sandwiches as a parting gesture and other customers had brought in cakes.
Mrs Keal added: "It is not just losing a job, it is losing the friendship more than anything and you know you will lose touch. I worked at the Boston store for nine-and-a-half years and then came her in October, but I went back to work at Boston for their last day."
She said one or two staff had found new jobs and many had interviews lined up, so things were quite hopeful. She commented: "We are very employable people. Other firms would take Woolworths staff on because we are well trained and as it is such a fast moving environment we work in we are very adaptable. If there are other jobs out there companies would be pleased to have us."
Mrs Keal thought staff would have a bit of a get together once things had settled down. She said it had been a strange few weeks but could not blame the queues of people looking for a bargain.
Ken Hewitt had worked at the store for four years but had worked in a previous job for 25. He said: "Sleaford will miss it, no doubt about it. Nobody knows what will take its place. I don't think anybody will move in for a while."
Tania Gaston had only joined the staff three months ago having moved to the area from Scotland. She said: "It is OK as I have a baby on the way so I will not be going for another job just yet."
Woolworths, which had 815 stores, went into administration in November with debts of 385m. Administrators Deloitte tried but failed to sell the business as a going concern and are now negotiating selling off the individual stores and parts of the business in what has been the biggest casualty on the high street of the economic downturn.
* The Standard asked Sleaford people what they thought of the closure:
Teresa Harland of Sleaford said: "It is a sad day. They have been around a long time and I think everybody is going to miss it.
"I did do quite a lot of shopping at Woolworths and I don't know where it has gone wrong. They have always been a busy shop. At the end of the day what else have we got in Sleaford – not a lot."
Martyn Reeves of Ruskington said: "It is a sad day. I suppose they were not selling the right things but we have all got used to having Woolworths around. I go in there occasionally but I cannot say I'm a regular.
"The store standing empty will make everywhere look worse and we have a couple of empty shops on Southgate already."
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Weather for Sleaford
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 10 C to 22 C
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