Wilko to RETURN to High Street: Five new stores to open before Christmas - Is one near you?
Wilko will open five concept stores
PA
Ahead of a national roll-out across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, Wilko will open five concept stores within months, in good news for Wilko shoppers who were devastated to see the brand disappear from the High Street.
The new shops will stock Wilko-brand products as well as other well-known brands and open before Christmas 2023.
CEO of CDS Superstores, trading as The Range and wilko, Alex Simpkin said: “For the majority of its 93 years, wilko was an incredibly successful business that gave its customers exactly what they needed to get their home and garden jobs sorted.
"It was their advanced own-brand capabilities that encouraged us to invest in the brand and wilko.com and we’re excited to now be selling wilko products online once more and across our 200 stores network.
WATCH NOW: Shoppers saddened by Wilko shutdown
"The public reaction to the loss of wilko stores was undeniable. It’s clear that there’s a huge love for wilko and we’ve seen an encouraging demand for the return of its own-brand products.
"That’s why we’ve taken the decision to reintroduce wilko back to many of the high streets and communities that it used to so proudly serve.
“Our team from wilko that joined us through the acquisition has shown true resilience, they’ve set to work to integrate the best parts of wilko into The Range’s operational systems.
"We’re expanding that team every day with new wilko hires and can’t wait to extend that back out to local communities.
“We’ll endeavour to give ex-wilko employees priority as a part of the recruitment process for the new stores.”
While administrators were unable to reach a rescue deal for the whole of Wilko, parts of the company were purchased by well-known retailers.
This included The Range, which bought the Wilko brand, website and intellectual property.
The company has recently relaunched the Wilko website, and this week announced Wilko products would be stocked in The Range stores from this Friday.
Full list of new Wilko stores
The first two locations will be:
- Plymouth
- Exeter
This will be followed by two locations in the South-East.
There will also be a store in the North which will be announced imminently.
In addition to these five stores set to open by Christmas, the retailer said for the first time in the brand’s history, Wilko stores are planned for Northern Ireland.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Wilko stores closed by October 8 but The Range has today announced plans to open new stores
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Poundland owner Pepco agreed a deal to buy up to 71 Wilko properties, while B&M entered into an agreement to buy up to 51 sites.
Poundland has been reopening a number of former Wilko stores in recent weeks, with 19 more Wilko-to-Poundland conversions opening their doors this weekend.
It will mean Poundland has opened 56 former Wilko shops under the brand in just five weeks.