Woolworths Group
 Woolworths Group Logo (2001–09) |
|
|
|
| Public limited company | |
| Traded as | : : WLW |
| Industry | Retail and distribution |
| Fate | Merged into Very |
| Predecessor | F. W. Woolworth & Co. Ltd (1909–99) |
| Successor | Woolworths.co.uk (2009–15) |
| Founded | 6 November 1909 in Liverpool, England |
| Founder | Frank Winfield Woolworth |
| Defunct | 6 January 2009 (stores) 13 October 2015 (dissolution) |
| Headquarters | London, England |
|
Area served
|
UK and Ireland |
|
Key people
|
2001 to 2007; Gerald Corbett (Chairman) Trevor Bish-Jones (CEO) 2007 to 2008/9; Richard North (Chairman) Steve Johnson (CEO) |
| Products | General merchandise |
| Revenue | £2,969,600,000 (2008) 
|
| Profit | £7,500,000 (2008) 
|
| Owner |
F. W. Woolworth Company (Woolworths Holdings Company) |
|
Number of employees
|
400 (2009)
|
| Parent | Public Limited Company : |
| Divisions | Woolworths plc Entertainment UK Ltd |
| Subsidiaries |
Big W (UK) Entertainment UK Woolies Woolworths General Store Ladybird (owned by Shop Direct) Chad Valley 2 Entertain (co-owned with BBC) Woolworths Music Woolworths Premier Woolworth Records |
| Website | www.woolworthsgroupplc.com (archive copy) |
Woolworths Group plc was a listed British company that owned the high-street retail chain, Woolworths. It also owned other companies such as the entertainment distributor Entertainment UK, and book and resource distributor Bertram Books.
The Woolworths store chain, which had more than 800 stores in the UK prior to closure, was the main enterprise of the group, selling many goods and having its own Ladybird children's clothing range, Chad Valley toys, and WorthIt! value range. The chain was the UK's largest buyer of Candyking "pick 'n' mix" sweets. It was sometimes referred to as "Woolies" by the UK media, the general public, and occasionally in its own television commercials. The British company also owned and ran F. W. Woolworth Ireland until 1984 and Woolworths (Cyprus) until 2003.
On 26 November 2008, trading of shares in Woolworths Group plc was suspended, and its Woolworths and Entertainment UK subsidiaries entered administration.Deloitte closed all 807 Woolworths stores between 27 December 2008 and 6 January 2009, resulting in 27,000 job losses. Woolworths Group plc entered administration on 27 January 2009, and it was officially dissolved on 13 October 2015.
In February 2009, Shop Direct Group purchased the Woolworths trademark and internet address, which continued as a retail website until its closure in June 2015.
The British branch of the F. W. Woolworth Company, which had been founded in Pennsylvania, F W Woolworth & Co, Ltd was founded by Frank Woolworth in Liverpool, England on 6 November 1909. Frank Woolworth had ancestry in Woolley, Cambridgeshire— Frank claimed he had traced his ancestry through the Founding Fathers of the district to a small farm in middle-England. When Frank eventually travelled to England in 1890, he docked in Liverpool and travelled by train to Stoke on Trent for the purchase of china and glassware for Woolworth's ranges, but also noted his love of England in his diary and his aspirations for bringing the Woolworth name to England:
...
Wikipedia