Discussion
Our local Wollies is about to re-open as a Wilkinsons type shop in the next few weeks. It was one of the oldest Wollies in the country and at one time (very recently) was one of their top 10 £ per sqft sites.
The people who will lose out the most from this will be the small independent poundies.
The people who will lose out the most from this will be the small independent poundies.
illmonkey said:
"The store has pick and mix but has abandoned CDs, DVDs and children's clothing. Instead it has new lines including a craft and pet section with a stronger focus on products by local firms, including one which makes wooden toys."
So the store does make money, probably by selling CD's etc, so you decide to stop selling them and sell wooden toys?
To be honest, the only time I ever went into Woolworths for a CD or DVD in recent years was the one in Wokingham, when I had a contract there, because it is the only place in Wokingham that sells CDs and DVDs. Other than that I wouldn't bother. So the store does make money, probably by selling CD's etc, so you decide to stop selling them and sell wooden toys?
So you could argue that this is a wise move given the competition from HMV (and, previously Virgin Megastore -> Zavvi -> R.I.P.) and, to some extent, WH Smiths.
From what I heard.. Woolworths committed to massive orders for Xmas 2008, from the 2007's good trading. All before the Credit bust..
Far East supply anD massive lead times to get a good price was a major factor. Banks closing on their debts and borrowing.
If the Wellworths girl manages tgo make a profit albeit small, doesn't try and grow the shop/brand too much why shouldn't she succeed. A single store is surely more manageable than a whole chain..
Far East supply anD massive lead times to get a good price was a major factor. Banks closing on their debts and borrowing.
If the Wellworths girl manages tgo make a profit albeit small, doesn't try and grow the shop/brand too much why shouldn't she succeed. A single store is surely more manageable than a whole chain..
Something didn't stack up for me about the whole show.
They did £8k in their first day - which, we have to assume, will be the busiest day of trade they'll see this year.
Even if they repeat that over a full week, we're only talking around £54k turnover per week.
At best, they'll be getting 50% gross profit over the entire store - which doesn't leave a lot of money once all costs have been taken out.
And this is based on sales being maintained at £1k / hour over a full week. Which just won't happen.
I really hope she hasn't put her house on the line for this venture, as I can see her being out on the streets by Christmas.
One of the big issues she has is that she's buying a lot of her stock from P&H - who aren't cheap for indies and that her buyer is a snotty nosed kid - who behaves like a 10 year old.
He will have absolutely zero credibility in the hard-nosed world of buying - so won't get the connections to get the deals.
I can see why she's taken him on - he will have come at discount rate - but buyers are one thing you can't cut costs on. Paying a decent buyer a decent wage because they have the right connections and the right, mature, and hard-nosed attitude, would be much more profitable to the business than paying a 22 year old kid around £15-£18k / year to do the job.
They did £8k in their first day - which, we have to assume, will be the busiest day of trade they'll see this year.
Even if they repeat that over a full week, we're only talking around £54k turnover per week.
At best, they'll be getting 50% gross profit over the entire store - which doesn't leave a lot of money once all costs have been taken out.
And this is based on sales being maintained at £1k / hour over a full week. Which just won't happen.
I really hope she hasn't put her house on the line for this venture, as I can see her being out on the streets by Christmas.
One of the big issues she has is that she's buying a lot of her stock from P&H - who aren't cheap for indies and that her buyer is a snotty nosed kid - who behaves like a 10 year old.
He will have absolutely zero credibility in the hard-nosed world of buying - so won't get the connections to get the deals.
I can see why she's taken him on - he will have come at discount rate - but buyers are one thing you can't cut costs on. Paying a decent buyer a decent wage because they have the right connections and the right, mature, and hard-nosed attitude, would be much more profitable to the business than paying a 22 year old kid around £15-£18k / year to do the job.
oobster said:
Jdavis said:
her buyer did seem a bit of a tit!
Definitely. The old bag, Tricia, I hope she gets sacked. The town crier bloke was annoying too.
That buyer though, imagine turning up late on the 1st day the shop opens. t
t.Alfa_75_Steve said:
Something didn't stack up for me about the whole show.
They did £8k in their first day - which, we have to assume, will be the busiest day of trade they'll see this year.
Even if they repeat that over a full week, we're only talking around £54k turnover per week.
At best, they'll be getting 50% gross profit over the entire store - which doesn't leave a lot of money once all costs have been taken out.
And this is based on sales being maintained at £1k / hour over a full week. Which just won't happen.
She said that her viability level was £38k per week, or just under £2 mill a year. Should be possible from 6k sq ft. The fact that her landlord has money in the business is a positive. Historically a lot of Woolies staff are part time and I doubt that she would normally have the number shown in the programme working at one time. She should be able to make a GM of 55%, especially as she has dumped the low margin stuff like cd's? I thought that she came across as pretty level headed and capable. Agree with you about the buyer though. Utter nob.They did £8k in their first day - which, we have to assume, will be the busiest day of trade they'll see this year.
Even if they repeat that over a full week, we're only talking around £54k turnover per week.
At best, they'll be getting 50% gross profit over the entire store - which doesn't leave a lot of money once all costs have been taken out.
And this is based on sales being maintained at £1k / hour over a full week. Which just won't happen.
I still struggle to see where the money will come from.
Home Entertainment may be low margin, but it's one area which gets people into the stores.
I also didn't see news and mags or cigarettes - which are pretty much essential in terms of driving footfall.
It's a brave move - and I hope, for her sake, it works - but I just can't see any long-term viability for that store. I think sentimentality rather than sound business has driven her to do it.
(Dorchester isn't a great place in which to be operating - my previous employer has been trying to offload the lease to their store there for several months now, but can't get rid of it - whereas most of their stores were easily off-loaded to other retailers - that tells me there isn't an awful lot of footfall in the area)
Home Entertainment may be low margin, but it's one area which gets people into the stores.
I also didn't see news and mags or cigarettes - which are pretty much essential in terms of driving footfall.
It's a brave move - and I hope, for her sake, it works - but I just can't see any long-term viability for that store. I think sentimentality rather than sound business has driven her to do it.
(Dorchester isn't a great place in which to be operating - my previous employer has been trying to offload the lease to their store there for several months now, but can't get rid of it - whereas most of their stores were easily off-loaded to other retailers - that tells me there isn't an awful lot of footfall in the area)
JonRB said:
Quite why it needed two staff to deal with a problem with a curtain rail I don't know.
This is a local sport. The current champions are Chertsey, another town that had a particularly grim Woolworths as it happens, and I saw some good (albeit too sporadic for proper championship-level play) attempts in Woking when I was unfortunate enough to be a retail-working teenager - not in a Woolworths.The aim of the game is to monopolise the time of as many of the staff on the shop floor as possible. Getting both of the people at a two-man till occupied is relatively entry-level and most people can do it. Advanced-level practitioners will be able to enter a shop and by use of cunning gambits such as "making the lottery machine break" or "the credit card that just won't scan" can have the attention of two till staff, the duty manager, the bloke that rounds up the baskets, and several helpful members of the public all at the same time.
Of course, since many Woolies stores were poorly managed, they were easy pickings as nobody would be coming out to figure out why an enormous queue is backing up at one of the tills and the same person is remaining at the head of it.
telecat said:
Woolworths made their record profit the year before they went bust!!! Something went wrong last year. That could have been too much borrowing or some other factor.
Hmmmm, let me think, I just cant seem to remember anything financial going wrong in the last year (only the whole banking system going into meltdown) 
The manager came across very well and looked like she should make a go of it.
Was that kid the buyer though?? (I missed the start)
I wouldn't employ him to buy a packet of fags for me.
Astounding how in their fledgling business, he was given so much power over deciding what would and wouldn't sell - those photo frames will be gathering dust for a good while.
Was that kid the buyer though?? (I missed the start)
I wouldn't employ him to buy a packet of fags for me.
Astounding how in their fledgling business, he was given so much power over deciding what would and wouldn't sell - those photo frames will be gathering dust for a good while.
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