Woolworth (officially Woolworths Group PLC) was a listed British company that owned the High Street retail chain Woolworths. It also owned other companies such as the entertainment distributor Entertainment UK, and book and resource distributor Bertram Books.
The Woolworths store chain was the main enterprise of the group. Originally a division of the American F. W. Woolworth Company until its sale in the early 1980s,[2][3] it had more than 800 stores in the UK prior to closure. Woolworths sold many goods and had its own Ladybird children’s clothing range,[4] WorthIt! value range and Chad Valley toys.[5] They were also well known for selling Candyking pick ‘n’ mix sweets.[6] It was sometimes referred to as Woolies by the UK media, the general public, and occasionally in its own television adverts.[7][8] The British company also owned and ran F. W. Woolworth Ireland until 1984 and Woolworths (Cyprus) until 2003.
On 26 November 2008, trading of shares in Woolworths Group was suspended, and its Woolworths and Entertainment UK subsidiaries entered administration.[9] Deloitte closed all 807 Woolworths stores between 27 December 2008 and 6 January 2009, resulting in 27,000 job losses.[10] Woolworths Group plc entered administration on 27 January 2009,[11] and it was officially dissolved on 13 October 2015.[12] The collapse of Woolworths was a symbol of the credit crunch and financial turmoil in the United Kingdom at the end of 2008.[13][14]
In February 2009, Shop Direct Group (now The Very Group) purchased the Woolworths trademark and internet address, which continued as a retail website until its closure in June 2015. In 2017, after former director Tony Page expressed a wish to buy the Woolworths name from Shop Direct, there was talk of Woolworths returning to British high streets.[15]