Talk:Woolworths (United Kingdom)/Archive 1

Big W links to the wrong page, I think?

- Jax

Store count
Regarding this sentence, which I have partially commented out
 * There are currently 806 Woolworths stores, each with an average of 8,440 square feet of retail space. There are also 19 out of town stores, with around 40,000 square feet of retail space.

Are the out-of-town stores included in the 806 total, or are they in addition?

BTW, I have put back a lot of the older material; it was reasonably solid stuff, not just the usual factoid "let's include every advertising slogan" over-completeness that *should* be pruned IMHO.

Fourohfour 11:09, 16 February 2006 (UTC)
 * This has now been resolved; the most recent figures have been updated based upon the group's most recent public information. [[Image:SConfident.gif|15px]] J O R D A N [ talk ] 11:51, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

Big red book
I have just removed:

''which was designed to be a direct copy of the Argos catalogue. Although it proved to be no were near as good''

In reference to The Big Red Book as I find it entirely opinionated. --Sotonmatt 23:16, 3 March 2007 (UTC)


 * The previous edit put in the comment "Although it proved to be no were near as good" along with some vandalism. The reference was for "which was designed to be a direct copy of the Argos catalogue", and this can be confirmed by reading the linked article. The vandalism has been removed, though. Fourohfour 13:36, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

West End of London Woolworths
In addition to the comments about a lack of Manchester branch should it be mentioned that unlike the majority of other retailers Woolworths does not have a branch anywhere in the West End of London since the closure of the Oxford Street branch of Woolworths in the early 1980s. Is this relevant for Wikipedia? --Wrh1973 18:50, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

Very much so. I just added a section about them in the music trade. Vital inclusion as they were the #1 retailer of records, tapes and (eventually) cds for many, many years. 205.188.117.73

Removed "Other missing stores"
The Manchester (non-)store has relevance because it is a special case. As there is nothing particularly notable about the other non-store locations (the relevance of one case does not automatically make them all relevant), I have removed the list.

We could bloat out articles with semi-relevant facts and *countless* manufactured lists if this were the case. The question is, would the inclusion of such a list be justified in another retailer's article? I don't believe so.

The West End of London may be a special case, but unless we have a clear *third-party* reference for why there are no stores there (*and* it is relevant to the article), I would leave it out.

Fourohfour 14:23, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

According to available information, Kingfisher closed a number of major stores in the 1980's and sold the freeholds to raise cash for other investment projects. They also closed some stores and redeveloped them to let out to other tenants. Years later, Woolworths saw expansion opportunities to return to some of those places, and in some cases, Kingfisher had former branches that were empty that they got Woolworths to return to. In a number of cases, branches were vacated when a new branch was opened in a nearby shopping centre. In some cases other retailers made such attractive offers to WW for leases that they closed stores.

The overall effect was somewhat random and there is probably a story behind each individual situation. But that would involve creating an entire list of all the branches they ever had with opening and closing dates etc. and so on. That might be an interesting project, but here is not the place for something like that. 82.26.57.60 (talk) 22:56, 15 March 2010 (UTC)

Mascots
I have added Wooly and Worth, the puppets from the commercials. I saw them on the site and wondered why they were there. Then I saw 'wool' in Woolworths and figured it out. I also found commercials on YouTube. I live in the US, where everyone thinks Woolworths are dead and gone. If anyone thinks they don't belong here, just take them out. It's not a big deal to me.Sposato (talk) 00:37, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

Number of stores
I have corrected the number of stores to 802 high street (to be reduced to 801 when the Leicester store closes) and 17 Out of town. I can't give a source unfortunately because even the company itself quotes the wrong numbers in trading statements, and stores open and close. (Perhaps there's a way to get a list of stores from the website - it has a store locator) If having these figures in without a source isn't acceptable, then remove them entirely. Please don't replace them with incorrect ones.

Evidence that this isn't vandalism: The 17 out of town stores are Edinburgh, Bristol, Rotherham, Glasgow, Stockton, Bradford, Tamworth, Newark, Norwich, Belfast, Birmingham, Newport (in Wales), Beckton (London), Manchester, Loughborough, Newcastle and Bristol Imperial Park. Aberdeen and Hull closed 12 months ago - perhaps this is where the 19 figure came from? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 87.75.128.43 (talk • contribs).

I realise that the corporate site has the figures 806 high street and 19 out of town. It's wrong. These things do happen. I seriously can't believe that you'd rather have incorrect information, just because it can be referenced.If you don't like the figures I've put in, then get rid of them until the corporate site is updated. Or maybe replace the figures with "approximately 800 high street and 20 out of town stores"? Also Ayr store opened two weeks after King's Lynn, so I changed that too. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 87.75.128.43 (talk • contribs).


 * (I don't know who you were replying to above, BTW). Fourohfour 14:52, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Can you please demonstrate clearly where you got your figures from?
 * Perhaps Woolworth's figures are simply out-of-date? I would rather have that (provided they were correctly-dated using "as of") than uncitable guesswork/original-research. If the figures you put in aren't citable, or if you figured them out yourself via non-obvious means, they can't go in, period.


 * WP has rules that information has to be (a) Citable from a known-reliable source and (b) Not original research for very good reasons that apply here.


 * Please let me make clear that (a) There's nothing personal in this and (b) I'm sticking to the rules here not for the sake of being a bureaucratic pedant, but because I don't intend letting this escalate into an endless morass-like discussion about your reliability, their reliability, quality of research, etc, etc. In short, one of the reasons such rules were made in the first place.


 * We can, of course, note that Woolworth's figures may be inaccurate by tagging them appropriately (e.g., dating them to when they *were* correct (if known) or removing them altogether if they're blatantly wrong. But any other figures need citation.


 * So, in short, please include your sources or reasons for believing that figures are wrong (and not simply out-of-date).Fourohfour 14:52, 15 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Note: Vandalism to this page has taken place from address 87.75.128.43. It's unclear if this is the same user, but it's too much of a coincidence for me to give it the benefit of the doubt. Fourohfour 19:18, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

Pre-owned video games
Could someone supply a source for this? Certainly none of the Woolworths I've been to sell pre-owned video games, this, at the very least, needs to be qualified by an area of the country.

81.179.100.150 12:39, 22 December 2006 (UTC)


 * I don't believe this either; I think the person may be confusing this with the "bargain bin", which often contains goods whose cases were lost or damaged *before* they were sold. I have removed the claim, and asked the user to provide a verifiable source if they wish to put it back (The original edit is here, BTW.) Fourohfour 13:18, 22 December 2006 (UTC)


 * I can verify that Woolworths do infact sell pre-owned video games as of September 2006. I believe the trial is to last one year. An employee of the firm myself, I actually helped prepare the first set of games. The system is promoted as "Games Exchange". Samluke777 13:41, 22 December 2006 (UTC)


 * I can't find anything about it on the web. Are there any links? Fourohfour 15:38, 22 December 2006 (UTC)


 * [[Image:Woolworths_games_exchange_dsc01437.jpeg|thumb|Photographic evidence?]] During my shift this evening I managed to take this photo in passing (hence the dodgy angle) - I'm meant to be working after all! I've not been able to find anything on the website but the fact that it is a trial may very well be why not all stores have it. Samluke777 01:17, 23 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Good enough as evidence at any rate, thanks! Don't get me wrong, I'd prefer an "official" corporate statement clearly describing Woolies' intentions, etc., but I'm putting the sentence back anyway. Fourohfour 14:16, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

Winfield brand
I can remember during the 1970s and 1980s Woolworths using the Winfield brand name on some of its own products but have no idea of exactly whien this started and finished also some Woolworths stores (Penrith being one) unsuccesfully tried with small grocery/supermarket sections in the 1980s. Penrithguy 17:38, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

According to their museum website at the Winfield name was introduced in 1963 and survived until the mid 1980's. I suppose that someone could ask them for the cessation date, but if that isn't already published somewhere else, citing it here would be original research. 82.29.215.181 (talk) 17:43, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Streets Online
Does anyone know whats going on with streets online? The sites been down for some months now and I can find no mention of the brand being dropped or re-named? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.130.196.55 (talk) 19:57, August 29, 2007 (UTC)
 * Send them a message through their website and they will help you out, so long as you have a user account. 86.130.158.154 19:02, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

Like I said - The website is down, so you can't access it to send a message. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.143.230.99 (talk) 22:31, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Woolworths Ladybird.jpg
Image:Woolworths Ladybird.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

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BetacommandBot (talk) 06:07, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Woolworths group logo.gif
Image:Woolworths group logo.gif is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 06:08, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

England and United Kingdom
I wonder if England and Uk are being used to mean the same thing. England is part of the UK, and Woolworths had and has many stores in Scotland. 78.156.64.207 (talk) 09:06, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

"Lolita Midsleeper Combi" furniture, bed,  movie,...
This Woolworth Company uses wiki,...

But, that's not the relevance of this story:

< http://theregister.co.uk/2008/02/01/woolworths_bed_outrage >:

They sell child furniture named "Lolita", or recently have stopped; they, as well, sell copies of the movie:

< http://www.woolworths.co.uk/web/jsp/product/index.jsp?pid=11401556 >.

&#91;&#91; hopiakuta Please do  sign  your  signature  on your  message. %7e%7e  Thank You. -]] 02:50, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Chad valley.jpg
Image:Chad valley.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to ensure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 21:41, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Worst civilian disaster of World War Two?
Is this true? I was told that The Tube disaster at Bethnal Green[] was larger, not to belittle the loss of life, but can anyone confirm?

Tommygunatkins (talk) 15:23, 21 November 2008 (UTC)

The incident at Bethnal Green was an accident whereas that at New Cross was caused by an enemy attack. Perhaps this article needs a slight modification to clarify that point. 82.29.215.181 (talk) 23:57, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

To the above reply I would add the following: Another web site states "This was the worst tragedy in the entire V weapon campaign and one of the worst civilian disasters of World War II." The Woolworths museum website is currently down but I have checked the content on an archive service and they do not actually make any claim like that. They merely say that the casualties at New Cross were more than all in their other stores all put together for the reentire duration of the war.82.29.215.181 (talk) 00:07, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

Woolworths now officially in administration
According to the BBC

Please could people stop dicking around with a perfectly good edit stating this, it's now a mess. Sle (talk) 17:14, 26 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Please assume good faith. Everyone who has being editing this article has been doing so in order to try to improve it. The mess you describe might have been this revision, where I'd just tidied up the references but made a mistake in doing so, although quickly spotted this and corrected it. Adambro (talk) 18:19, 26 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Events are changing by the hour, a perfectly good edit an hour ago may be inaccurate now. Sometimes artefacts (and I've done it myself) are created when new details are added which don't completely mesh with previous details. If things continue to change at the current rate, it may be worth adding a current events template to the article.KTo288 (talk) 13:35, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

Woolworths Virtual Museum web site
The Woolworths Virtual Museum which was hosted as a sub-domain on woolworth.co.uk was created and run by volunteers. They are working on getting the site back on the internet in the new year. 82.29.215.181 (talk) 23:21, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

Is the store in Barbados the last one remaining that will continue to use the "Woolworths" name?
Is the Bridgetown, Barbados store the last one that will now use the Woolworths name? Any idea of other Woolworth stores to remain?

Woolworths strong - Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation - BARBADOS (November 26, 2008)


 * No, some other countries still have Woolworth stores, such as Germany's Woolworth GmbH. --TubularWorld (talk) 19:42, 28 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Berlin alone has 3 Woolworth Supermarkets, all over Germany there are more than 150 stores, and a website (http://www.woolworth.de/). It's a bit funny that the article does not even mention that.  192.166.198.50 (talk) 19:52, 2 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Thing is, they're not the same firm. Like the UK company, the German firm originated from the US F.W.Woolworth. But besides that, they share little history. I'd say it would be similarly irrelevant to mention that the Australian Woolworths supermarket chain continues trading. Samluke777 (talk) 17:06, 3 June 2011 (UTC)

Is/Was
I might just be being a bit nit-picky, but shouldn't the article still read Woolworths Group plc is (not was), as the parent company (Group) still exists, even though the stores are closed. Any thoughts? --TubularWorld (talk) 20:59, 6 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Of course it should. Adambro (talk) 21:10, 6 January 2009 (UTC)
 * If it means anything, I think your version reads better.KTo288 (talk) 23:21, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

NPOV
Don't get me wrong, I personally think it a great shame that there was no successful rescue deal: however, in this paragraph, the word "unfortunately" in the sentence "However unfortunately a deal could not be met in time" is POV, so I've removed it Dom Kaos (talk) 21:11, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

I understand that as at 13th January 2009, the Tony Page rescue attempt for 125 or so stores is still being looked into. This was reported about in The Sun on 9th Jan, and which contradicts an article in The Sun on 7th Jan which said that he had failed. 82.29.215.181 (talk) 21:37, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

Manchester Fire
Can anyone confirm for certain that the store (branch number 4) on Piccadilly did not re-open after the fire in 1979. My recollection was that it was a long time being repaired etc. and that it did re-open, but that within a very short space of time it fell foul of the first wave of Kingfisher closures, and closed in about 1986. 82.29.215.181 (talk) 20:33, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

2 articles
Does anyone else think that keeping the two articles (Woolworths (UK) and Woolworths Group) is a good idea? To separate the fact that one entity (Group) is about the former 800 stores, and that the new article is about just the new online retailer, which is not a high street retailer. Personally I think that it would become a terrible mess if we tried to merge the two. --TubularWorld (talk) 15:41, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

Number of Stores (Peak)
The info box states that the peak number of stores was 819.

That might be correct for the operation under Woolworths Group Plc since the demerger from Kingfisher, but it is not historically correct. They had far more branches than that.

According to an article about the history of the company at the following url: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Kingfisher-plc-Company-History.html they had grown to 1000 branches by May 1958, and that the peak was reached in the late 1960's of 1141. 82.29.215.181 (talk) 01:28, 18 May 2009 (UTC)

Missing history!!!
What happened between 1914 and 1982 ?????

I needed some information relating to the inter-war years...

EdJogg (talk) 12:29, 10 June 2009 (UTC)

A buyer for the business is still being sought?
I was reading through the store closures piece and read the phrase "a buyer for the business is being sought."... ????????????????????????????????? Hasn't Woolworths been bought by Shop Direct someone should research and edit this sentence to fit what has actually happened or is happening. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Super wiki editor (talk • contribs) 19:39, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

Shop Direct have purchased the "Woolworths" "Ladybird" etc. trade marks and that is all they have purchased. They have not purchased the business. As at February 2010, it would appear that the company has effectively been liquidated apart from certain remaining assets (eg the interest in 2entertain). Given that the premises, material assets, and trademarks have all as good as gone, it is hard to see that there is a business that could be sold. Whether SD could successfully relaunch Woolworths stores on the High Street is a separate matter altogether. There is some opinion that the goodwill of Woolworths - wherever it was - was not in the actual name, and that to capture it requires non-intellectual property attributes and resources that SD don't have access to. But that sort of analysis is outside the scope of this encyclopaedia article.82.26.57.60 (talk) 09:02, 4 February 2010 (UTC)

First Store
There was only one first store in Liverpool, but it had entrances on two roads and therefore there were the two street addresses on the original flyers. The second branch was in Preston.

I have made some alterations to try and correct this, but the whole section has been wrongly written as if there were actually two separate shops opened in Liverpool on the same day. This needs thoroughly going through and sorting out. 82.26.57.60 (talk) 08:37, 4 February 2010 (UTC)

Manchester Piccadilly Branch
It is simply incorrect to say that the M/C Piccadilly branch never reopened after the fire. I was a student at M/C Uni between 1980 & 1984, and I clearly remember one of the first things I did after arriving in September 1980 was buying a stack of cheap LPs in a sale at the Piccadilly store. I moved from M/C in 1985 and I'm pretty certain the store was still trading then. I'm not bothered enough to try to find a confirmation source, but that part about there being no store in central M/C after the fire needs removing as it is plain wrong. Draggleduck (talk) 19:41, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

I have found a source for this. The store closed in 1986. Corrected and reference provided.82.26.57.60 (talk) 20:53, 21 April 2010 (UTC)