What does the collapse of Wilko mean for the UK high street?
News emerged this morning that a rescue deal by HMV owner Doug Putman had collapsed, leading to a further announcement of the likely closure of all 400 stores and the loss of 12,500 jobs by early October.
The demise of Wilko has sparked concern for the thousands of people who will be made redundant, as well as the high street as a whole as hundreds of sites will be left vacant – adding to the long list of current empty stores.
Numerous bids and offers have been weighed up by administrator PwC, but only one has materialised and that was the purchase of 51 stores by B&M, to be relaunched under its own fascia.
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