Collapsed retailer Woolies' stores to be sold off by Christmas

29 November 2008

Hundreds of stores belonging to retail chain Woolworths in the UK are set to be sold off in the coming three weeks to prevent further rental bills. 

Potential suitors who have reportedly envisaged interest in buying Woolies retail stores include Primark, Asda and Iceland. Discount chains Aldi and Lidl were also reported to be interested in acquiring some of the well-positioned high street stores.

Administrators of the firm, Deloitte, have appointed real estate management firm CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) to sell the stores. The sale is expected to be an expedited process, with reports suggesting that there is less than a month to go to offload these stores if the company wanted to avoid more costs in terms of another month's worth of rentals. 

If that holds true, the administrator would need to find buyers and secure deals before Christmas. Reports suggested that the coming three weeks would be rather busy for the administrators, as rental payments are most often made for a quarter. This time, however, there would be not stock or funds to pay the rent, and hence the pressure would be on to complete the job in under a month.

There was widespread sadness for the retail group's 30,000 employees, with the UK prime minister Gordon Brown pledging government support to help ensure that staff were paid, and those laid off would find other jobs.

Reports also suggested that BBC Worldwide had agreed, albeit in principle, to pay over £100 million to Woolworths. 2entertain, a publisher of DVDs including those of Doctor Who and the Blue Planet, is a 60:40 joint venture between BBC's commercial arm and Woolworths.