Three Lothians stores among first Woolworths to close

Published on Thursday 18 December 2008 12:27

Three Woolworths stores in the Lothians are to be closed on the first Saturday after Christmas.

The Leith, Corstorphine and North Berwick branches will shut in the first wave of closures ordered by the chain's administrators.

Deloitte is set to flood stores - including five in Edinburgh and several more across the Lothians - with 50 million extra items over the next week in the final run-up to Christmas.

Discounts already running at up to 60% will be even heavier as the administrator looks to clear stock.

Signs in stores will also show a countdown to their final closure dates to encourage shoppers as Woolies' staff brace themselves for redundancies.

Woolworths will close its 800 stores in groups of around 200 starting on Saturday, December 27. All the other Lothian stores will shut after December 27 and before January 5, but the exact dates are yet to be announced.

Joint administrator Neville Khan said: "I guess it is a very difficult situation for a lot of people, particularly the staff, and we are trying to deal with it in as sensitive a way as possible."

But he raised hopes that jobs could be saved, saying that – as far as possible under privacy laws – Deloitte would pass on the details of current Woolies employees to the buyers of the stores.

Mr Khan also revealed that administrators are in talks over the sale of Woolworths trademark and its Worth It! value brand, meaning that the famous retailer may not disappear from the high street altogether in the long term.