The first set of Wilko stores under its new owner opened over the weekend, marking the discount chain’s return to the high street.
The Exeter and Plymouth stores are the first two out of five planned by The Range owner CDS Superstores, which rescued the brand from administration in September.
Both branches will stock the retailer’s home and garden range, mixing brands with its own label. There is also an on-site paint mixing service in both stores.
Self-service terminals are also in the stores where customers can browse and order from the 100,000 items available on Wilko’s website for home delivery.
Subscribe to Retail Gazette for free
Sign up here to get the latest news straight into your inbox each morning
CDS Superstores, which said it would prioritise hiring former Wilko employees for the new stores, has recruited three quarters of the original team in Plymouth and a third of the Exeter team across all levels.
Chief executive Alex Simpkin said: “The customer reaction to the new stores opening today has been fantastic and proves we’re doing the right thing in returning this much-loved retailer to UK high streets.”
Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter
8 Comments. Leave new
Marvin
The point is it isn’t any different.
Wilko failed owing to the legacy of poorly located stores, in onerous leases it couldn’t exit, in poor locations…just as Chris says in the article. Stripped of that liability the model works.
Key now is for Chris and the team to select locations well and they will succeed. His team aren’t held back subsidising literally a hundred or so loss making sites.
Good luck to them, retail is incredibly simple when you stop over analysing and stick to the basics.
Are these new stores going to have any manned checkouts open or just self service? I stopped shopping in my local Wilko because they were forcing customers to use self service.
And how is this any different from the Wilko model that failed?
Probably better managed, that’s the difference between making a profit and not making one.
Chris Dawson has given the answer in the article. Only 80 to 100 stores were in the right place, the rest weren’t. Sadly Wilko lost it’s way but this guy isn’t daft. He will rebuild the brand slowly and make it profitable. Read his backstory, left school at 16 unable to read and right and built the Range Stores from scratch.
Will hemel Hempstead reopen
Why not open them as The Range stores?
Any chance you could find out how many ex Wilko staff have been taken on by The Range and what the pay rates are, just so we can compare. Thanks