Blog
B&M to purchase 51 Wilko stores
Sep
Reading Time: 2 minutes
B&M buy 51 Wilko stores
Retail giant B&M has agreed to purchase 51 stores from Wilko administrators – for a whopping £13 million. A previous bid from M2 Capital – who previously bought HMV stores – fell through last week, leaving many anxious. It’s believed this deal – to purchase as much as 300 of the spaces – collapsed on account of Wilko’s debts to suppliers.
Nonetheless, now retail park favourite B&M has announced they might be taking on greater than 50 stores across the UK, with more details on opening dates to return alongside B&M’s half-year financial results this November.
B&M currently runs a staggering 1,150 stores across the UK and in France, and the purchased Wilko stores are expected to rebrand as B&M.
Currently, it’s unknown what is going to occur to the remaining Wilko stores. HMV owner Doug Putman continues to be in talks to take over some stores, nevertheless there may be an anxious wait for 1000’s of Wilko employees currently facing redundancy. When the firm announced administration back in August, it employed over 12,500 people.
Just yesterday, almost 270 employees on the Wilko support centre lost their jobs in the corporate’s head offices.
It continues to be unknown which Wilko stores have been bought by B&M, and the locations are being kept under wraps. There may be also much discussion being had concerning the location of the present stores. Wilko stores are likely to be on the town and city centres – useful for those without cars. Nonetheless, most B&M stores are only out of those locations, in retail parks. So, will B&M create a brand new, inner-city mode of retail for themselves?
The sale of the 51 Wilko stores is believed to be enough to settle a few of the current debt held by the business and may even have the ability to pay for workers wages and other business costs.
Here at MoneyMagpie, we are going to keep you within the loop with all the newest updates on this huge deal. Because the discount giant B&M takes over a small chunk of Wilko stores, will other competitors step forward to snap up these locations?
