Wilko: retailer to shut final shops on Sunday after sudden and dramatic collapse - which stores will close

Wilko will close its doors for the final time on Sunday, as the collapse of the 93-year-old retailer comes to a close.

The discount hardware and furnishings chain has been shutting its 400 UK stores over the past month after tumbling into administration in August, and on Sunday (8 October), the final 41 stores will close down.

Store shelves are already bare as remaining products are being sold to help repay Wilko’s outstanding debts.

It will bring to a close one of the largest high street failures in recent years.

The family-owned business hired administrators from PwC after it came under pressure due to weak consumer spending and debts to suppliers.

PwC held talks with interested firms but was unable to secure a rescue deal for the whole firm, with a potential takeover by HMV owner Doug Putman collapsing.

To pay off creditors, administrators sold off a raft of the company’s asset and deals were agreed to sell up to 71 stores to Poundland, and to sell up to 51 shops to fellow rival discounter B&M. However, both deals did not include staff, and now almost all of Wilko’s 12,500 workers have been made redundant.

Last week, Poundland said it had offered jobs to more than 200 former Wilko workers and has already reopened 20 of these sites under its brand.

The Range struck a deal to buy Wilko's brand, website and intellectual property for £5 million and will sell Wilko products “in-store”.

It will also restart home deliveries through wilko.com after the closure of Wilko’s remaining stores.

Administrators for Wilko confirmed in filings last week that the business owed around £625 million when it went bust.

The documents also showed the retailer’s pension fund was left more than £50 million in deficit and is unlikely to receive more than £4 million following the insolvency process.

Which stores will shut its doors on Sunday?

The following stores will shut on Sunday October 8:

– Neath, Neath Port Talbot

– Bromley, London

– Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire

– Cardiff, Wales

– Selby, North Yorkshire

– Arnold, Nottinghamshire

– Portsmouth, Hampshire

– Oswestry, Shropshire

– Chester, Cheshire

– Hucknall, Nottinghamshire

– Ayr, South Ayrshire

– Widnes, Cheshire

– Horsham, West Sussex

– Birkenhead, Merseyside

– Kingston Centre, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire

– Parkgate, Rotherham, South Yorkshire

– Perry Barr, Birmingham, West Midlands

– Castleford, West Yorkshire

– Porthmadog, Caernarfonshire

– Brighouse, West Yorkshire

– Chelmsley Wood, West Midlands

– Swansea, Wales

– Sunderland, Tyne and Wear

– Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire

– Silverlink, Newcastle, Tyne and Wear

– Chesterfield, Derbyshire

– Sutton, Surrey

– Derby, Derbyshire

– Scarborough, North Yorkshire

– Crystal Peaks, Sheffield, South Yorkshire

– Plymouth, Devon

– Ely, Cambridgeshire

– Loughborough, Leicestershire

– Liverpool, Merseyside

– Stratford, London

– Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear

– Coventry, West Midlands

– Sheffield, South Yorkshire

– Exeter, Devon

– Luton, Bedfordshire

– Wood Green, London.