Happy New Year Unless You Work For Woolworths!

Woolworth's has now gone. The demise of a major retailer, that many of us view as much a part of our growing up, as cord trousers; x-ray spectacles; Shaun Cassidy; The Rocky Horror show and, off course Dr Who, was never a good thing but Woolworths had a part to play in many of our lives. If you're a child of the 1970, (in any shape or form), then Woolies would have been part of it...mainly the pick & mix part of it.

The trouble is that most of those 1970s children gave it a miss once they had become adults. I am no expect about the history of Woolworth's but I would place good money that after the '70s things were never the same for them. No, Woolworth's were stuck in an era and, despite attempts, could never get that era back especially with the growth of the supermarkets which have/are causing some unfavourable changes to the British high street.

I guess no-one is that surprise about what has happened to Woolworth's but that doesn't mean 'we' should not be upset by the fact it has gone. It is more upsetting when you read a story from today's news - Woolworth's staff in Jersey and Guernsey will not get any redundancy money, (see BBC News - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7809195.stm ), due to the fact these islands are self governed so do not have the same statutory benefits as a mainland worker...it isn't always nice to be a tax haven it seems. Whatever your view, it does seem very unfair that these staff members aren't getting a redundancy package; surely some of them must have been with the company for years.

Hopefully, the Jersey and Guernsey governments will be able to offer some type of monetary help but that isn't something I would put money on.

Woolworth's final end is bad enough, but the manner it is happening is something akin to a deceased prey having it's bones picked clean. The following remarks from a Woolworth's manager is sadly telling-

"I've obviously had instructions to sell fixtures and fittings, so half of those have been removed by customers as well.
"There's a price on everything in the store. We were under strict instructions to make sure we got as much sold as possible so we're down to sort of unpacked socks and stuff like that."