Former Woolworths in Llandudno (25 Sep 2009)

Well, that’s a coincidence. Having blogged about the former Woolworths in Llandudno just a couple of days ago, Alworths has announced today that it will be taking over the site for its 11th store – and its first in Wales.

Having been occupied by a discount book store (Publishers Book Clearance) from April last year until just a few days ago, the Mostyn Street premises will reopen as Alworths on 13 August – earlier, it would seem, than the unofficially revealed new Alworths stores in Hertford and Tiverton.

Former Woolworths and Publishers Book Clearance, Llandudno (25 Sep 2009)

I’ve made a bit of a habit lately of rumbling Alworths’ store plans ahead of the official announcements – probably to the despair of the lovely PR people – so all credit to MD Andy Latham and his team for getting one over me with this latest news!

The only whiff I got ahead of time was somebody finding Soult’s Retail View yesterday via a search for ‘Alworths Llandudno’ (which naturally piqued my curiosity), coupled with an awareness that the Llandudno site was now vacant again.

Pound-Mart's Cupar store (now Alworths), prior to closure. Photograph courtesy of Pound-Mart

Interestingly, just like the new Llandudno shop, several of the latest Alworths stores occupy former Woolies units that have temporarily housed other retailers – including those in Forfar and Cupar (previously Pound-Mart), and Hertford (formerly Well Worth It). As well as monitoring the BT Phone Book, it seems I need to keep an eye out for ‘end of lease’ sales as a possible sign of an impending Alworths.

Heading to Llandudno (20 Sep 2009)

Talking about the Llandudno outlet, Andy Latham rightly flags up that it will be Alworths’ “first coastal store”, and that Alworths will therefore “tailor the ranges accordingly”. In addition to the usual Alworths ranges, “holiday essentials and a range of beach toys” are promised during peak summer months.

Llandudno from the Great Orme (20 Sep 2009)

This sounds like a canny move – after all, Llandudno is a vibrant and highly attractive seaside resort, that still attracts a great many holidaymakers to enjoy the Great Orme Tramway, the Haulfre Gardens, and the town’s impressive pier. The top end of Mostyn Street has reportedly suffered from the loss of Woolworths, so a store that caters equally for both locals and visitors may be just what’s needed to perk things up again.

Empty unit in Llandudno's Mostyn Street (25 Sep 2009)

Just as Alworths’ press release for the Alloa store was interesting in flagging up its plans to open a further seven stores in Scotland “over time”, the Llandudno announcement reveals ambitious plans for Wales too. Latham reveals that the fledgling chain is “looking at a variety of other sites in both North and South Wales and we are looking to open a minimum of five more Alworths stores in Wales over the next year.”

This inevitably raises the question of where in Wales Alworths might open up next. As we know, many of the old Woolies sites have been snapped up already, including several – among them Barmouth, Cardigan, Chepstow, Porthmadog and Pwllheli – by The Original Factory Shop, a retailer with a product mix not too dissimilar to that of Alworths.

Of the three vacant Woolies sites in Wales that I blogged about a couple of days ago – in Caernarfon, Holyhead and Colwyn Bay – the former would seem the most likely potential location for an Alworths. Colwyn Bay, in contrast, has quite a bit of competition already, including Home Bargains, Instore and Argos in the buzzing Bayview Shopping Centre, and the planned branch of The Original Factory Shop that I mentioned in my earlier post.

When I first blogged about Holyhead back in November, I remarked that it was “just the kind of place where the closure of Woolies has left a really big hole.” I continued: “Though there is a Wilkinson on one of the out-of-town retail parks, I couldn’t spot any department store or good quality variety store in the town centre – just the type of gap that a store like Alworths could hopefully fill in the future.”

With Alworths now making its presence felt in North Wales, we’ll have to wait and see whether Holyhead is indeed part of its future plans.

Alworths fascia

Following on from my blog post about Alworths opening in the Clackmannanshire town of Alloa, it has now been confirmed that the new store will open this week, on Wednesday 21 July. The site, at 49 Shillinghill, was occupied by Ethel Austin, prior to that retailer’s collapse earlier this year. 

Quoting the MD Andy Latham, Alworths’ press release about the store opening highlights the point made in my earlier blog about it being the first store in the chain not to be located in an ex-Woolworths site: 

“Opening our tenth store will be a significant milestone for us. We’ve always maintained that we were not limiting our store search to just ex-Woolies sites… Our priority, as always, is to find good sites in traditional market towns and to be a local department store on the high street.” 

Like the nine other Alworths stores to date, the Alloa shop will stock “a mix of branded toys, sweets, homeware, stationery, entertainment products, seasonal goods and garden items”, as well as offering “a large selection of pic ‘n’ mix along with party accessories, cards and wrap.”

Alworths in Amersham (14 May 2010)

Given a blank canvas rather than the shell of a former Woolies, it will be interesting to see how the interior of the Alloa Alworths turn out.

This picks up on the point I made in my earlier review of the Amersham store, following my visit back in May, when I remarked that “as the Alworths chain expands further – and particularly if it starts taking over shops that were not formerly Woolworths – it will be interesting to see how it develops its own, more confident store interior style.”

The Alloa store now gives Alworths that opportunity to do something different and distinctive with its shopfit, defining it as a modern retailer with its own identity and vision, rather than one that some might perceive as harking back to the past.  

The news release also confirms Alworths’ plans to open a further seven stores in Scotland “over time”, and its intention to have 22 sites across the UK by the end of 2010. With the chain set to have ten stores by the end of July, it suggests that new shops will be opening at the rate of two or three a month for the rest of the year – a  similar rate of expansion, in fact, to when Woolworths was at the height of its growth in the 1920s.

We already know where the 11th store will be, and have a strong hint as to the location of the 12th. The arrival of a new Alworths in Hertford was reported a few days ago in the local press, with the customary job ad on the Peopletime website giving an opening date of August. The store will occupy the former Woolworths in Maidenhead Street – pictured here in happier times – which until this month housed a Well Worth It store. The latter is apparently moving to the nearby town of Hoddesdon instead, but is not, as far as I can tell, any relation to the Wallsend shop of the same name.

Former Woolworths, Tiverton (22 June 2009). Photograph by Lewis Clarke

Though there is no official confirmation yet, the 12th Alworths will, reportedly, be in Tiverton in Devon. Many thanks to the eagle-eyed John, who let me know that “according to the BT Phone Book, [Alworths] have had the telephone put on at the old Woolworths premises in Fore St, Tiverton, Devon.”

Alworths Tiverton - revealed via the Phone Book

Sure enough, a quick search of BT’s online Phone Book brings up details of the yet-to-be-announced Tiverton store. Presumably, however, no-one will be there to answer the phone for a few weeks yet…

Thank you to Lewis Clarke for the shot of Woolworths in Tiverton, which is © Copyright Lewis Clarke, and licensed for re-use under the Creative Commons Licence.

Alworths fascia

Just a week after its first two Scottish stores opened in Forfar and Cupar, the variety store chain Alworths is now “recruiting for enthusiastic, customer focussed individuals to work at its newest store opening in Alloa in July 2010.” 

Alloa, in Clackmannanshire, is exactly the type of location that we are getting used to Alworths opening stores in – a small town of less than 20,000 people, with a pleasing, compact centre. However, given that Alloa’s former Woolworths was snapped up by Poundland over a year ago, it appears that Alloa’s new Alworths – the retailer’s tenth shop in all – will be the first to open in premises that were not previously a Woolworths store. [UPDATE, 28 June 2010: I now understand that Alworths will be taking over Alloa's former Ethel Austin site.]

This move is both significant and inevitable. The dwindling pool of vacant Woolies stores in half-decent and suitable locations has always meant that Alworths would, before long, need to cast its property net wider if it is to grow. More importantly, perhaps, doing so is also likely to benefit the brand, by helping Alworths to build a distinctive and modern identity that isn’t just based on bringing former Woolworths sites back to life. 

The lack of appropriate former Woolworths sites may well be one reason for Alworths not yet making it to the North East, and I understand that there are no imminent plans for the retailer to open stores in this region. However, I’m told that the chain is continuing to scout for suitable locations across the country, and that there would be no bar to opening North East shops if the right premises in the right locations could be found. 

Meanwhile, another recently launched retail chain – the supermarket Haldanes – appears to be having some difficulties in finding, and sustaining, the right store locations. 

Launched at almost exactly the same time as Alworths, Haldanes’ first store opened in Prestonpans, in East Lothian, back in November. Since then, the business has been busy snapping up stores that the Competition Commission had required the Co-operative Group to divest following its acquisition of Somerfield, with its estate peaking at 25 shops. However, sites in Dunbar and Hemsworth have closed this month after less than three months of trading, while the company’s Chairman, Arthur Harris, has “confirmed there is a consultation process ongoing with staff and unions about redundancies across the chain”. 

Somerfield logo

The reasons for Haldanes’ “drop in returns” are unclear, and could be a combination of factors, such as location, range, price, or an unfamiliar brand. It’s interesting, however, that even the Co-op has reportedly seen a “plunge” in sales in the Somerfield stores that it has retained and converted to its own fascia, while independent retailers who bought stores are apparently projecting sales declines of up to a quarter. 

Whatever the reasons are, blaming the presence of an existing out-of-town Tesco store for the challenging trading at Wick’s Haldanes doesn’t really wash. It’s true that Tesco’s unceasing expansion provokes strong reactions from many – most recently the ‘Queen of Shops’ Mary Portas – and that its arrival can impact negatively on existing centres.

However, if a supermarket, like Haldanes, chooses to open a store in a location where Tesco is already established – in Wick’s case since November 2006 – the onus must surely be on that incoming retailer to do its homework beforehand, and to develop a way of trading better and cleverer than its competitors.

Sometimes, I feel, it’s just too easy for retailers to blame Tesco for their difficulties instead of reflecting on what they can do to improve and differentiate their own performance.

Screenshot of STV's coverage

Alworths in Cupar opened today, taking over the premises that were latterly Pound-Mart and, before that, Woolworths.

The fledgling chain’s first foray into Fife – and Scotland – ahead of another store opening, in Forfar, on Friday, has unsurprisingly prompted some decent media coverage, including from BBC News and STV.

While the BBC accompanied its piece with a well-chosen photo of a (generic) Alworths store interior, STV’s choice of shot – under the headline “Hundreds flock to Cupar Alworths opening” – gave me my biggest retail-related laugh in a while.

The photo depicts a crowd of people, about twelve abreast, stretching as far as the eye can see. On this basis, you could be forgiven for thinking: “Wow, Alworths in Cupar – a little town of about 8,500 people – really is popular, isn’t it?” By the looks of it, most of those 8,500 were there at the opening!

However, having subjected the photo to further scrutiny, I began to smell a rat. For one thing, it’s clear that the streets in Cupar’s attractive and historic centre – never mind the pavements – are barely wide enough to accommodate so many people at once. Equally, any sign of an actual Alworths store in the photo is conspicuous by its absence.

Rather, I suspect that someone at STV has searched their stock photo library with the keyword “crowd” and used the first thing that showed up, however laughably unsuitable that might be. Is it me, or is that rather lazy journalism?

Is this what you were looking for?

After all, if STV had just done a Google Image Search for ‘Alworths’, I’d have been happy to share a shot from the Soult’s Retail View archive with them. Still lazy, admittedly, and undoubtedly less amusing… but surely a more appropriate way of illustrating the story!

Former Woolworths, Seaham (2 April 2010)

Recent comments on this blog about the former Woolworths in Church Street, Seaham have given me the nudge that I required, having taken some photos of the store back in April but not yet got round to writing about it.

Just like the Woolworths in Benwell and Byker, the Seaham shop is one that had bitten the dust long before the company’s administration in 2008. Featuring the five bays and central pediment that characterises Woolies stores from the 1920s and 30s, Seamaster suggests that the store closed down in the mid-1980s - a period when there were quite a few store closures following the UK business’s split from its American parent.

Former Woolworths, Seaham (2 April 2010)

In its scale and grandeur, the former Woolworths is undoubtedly one of the finest shop buildings in Seaham. This makes it a particular shame that the present shopfront is so dismal, disconnected architecturally from the upper half of the building, and having complete disregard for the property’s symmetry. It’s a far cry from the 1970s, when old photographs suggest that the building’s original and harmonious shopfront was still in place.

If its past as a Woolies is the building’s first story, then its second and more recent story relates to it being a branch of the clothing retailer Ethel Austin. When I visited in April, however, the Ethel Austin store had itself closed down, one of the first 114 stores to be shuttered following the Liverpool-based firm’s collapse – yet again – into administration.

Though too late for Seaham, a rump of 90 stores were rescued in April, following their purchase by the firm’s previous owner,  Elaine McPherson. However, the longstanding Ethel Austin brand looks set to disappear, with the stores remodelled into a new fashion and homewares chain called Life & Style, alongside the head office for the business moving from its historic base of Liverpool to Altrincham.

Time will tell whether Life & Style can succeed where Ethel Austin could not - or whether, as one commentator has observed, it is “just Ethel Austin with a different name”.  On balance though, it probably is the right decision – albeit a sad one – to ditch a 76-year-old brand that was starting to become so associated with failure. For now, however, the Ethel Austin name will no doubt live on in the fascias of closed-up stores such as the one in Seaham.

Byron Place shopping centre, Seaham (11 Sep 2009)

With the appealing (and almost fully let) Byron Place mall having shifted Seaham’s retail centre of gravity to the bottom end of Church Street since its opening in 2007, the prospect of the town’s old Woolies securing a new tenant anytime soon does seem uncertain.

Exterior of Byron Place mall, Seaham (11 Sep 2009)

However, it would be a neat conclusion to the story if one of the successor chains to Woolworths – such as Alworths – were to bring a variety store offer back to Seaham’s old Woolies building after an absence of a quarter of a century. Indeed, with Alworths opening stores in Scotland later this month, there must now be a reasonable chance of seeing Alworths stores in the North East before too long.

Whoever eventually moves in to Seaham’s former Woolworths, let’s hope that they also take the opportunity to do something about the dispiriting shopfront, allowing the property to once again be an object of beauty and pride on the high street.

Former Woolworths (now Alworths) in Amersham (14 May 2010)

While staying in London a couple of weekends ago, Alworths in Amersham (above) wasn’t the only former Woolworths I managed to visit…

Having arrived at King’s Cross, first stop was the St George’s Centre in Harrow, where the large, two-storey former Woolies (store #1198) is still empty. However, Peacocks and Sports Direct are reported to be moving into some of the space, while TK Maxx apparently plans to extend its existing store.

Former Woolworths in St George's, Harrow (14 May 2010)

The supposed presence of Woolworths is still announced on the outside of the shopping centre.

Outside of St George's, Harrow (14 May 2010)

A little further along the Metropolitan line, the old Woolies in the attractive suburb of Pinner (store #706) – seen here in its former guise – is now a Poundstar discount store. It opened as a Woolworths on 8 October 1937, and closed following the chain’s 2008 collapse.

Former Woolworths (now Poundstar) in Pinner (14 May 2010)

Having travelled to the end of the line at Amersham, there was time on the return journey to pay a visit to the old Woolworths in Edgware Road (store #2031). In June 2008, just a few months prior to Woolies’ collapse into administration, the 21,000 sq ft Edgware Road store was one of four Woolworths stores in London to be acquired by Waitrose.

Former Woolworths (now Waitrose) in Edgware Road (14 May 2010)

According to the Woolworths nostalgia site 100thBirthday.co.uk, a Woolworths store first opened on the Edgware Road site on 21 March 1914, with an extension built in 1936. In 2000, it became one of the first pilot stores for the short-lived Woolworths General Store format, which apparently accounts for its renumbering to store number 2031 (for an explanation of Woolworths store numbers, check out this post from a couple of days ago).

Next stop was a store, at 120/122 Brentford High Street (store #829) that bears no architectural clues of ever being a Woolworths; indeed, I only knew it ever existed by speculatively Googling ‘Brentford Woolworths’ in advance of my stay in the suburb’s Premier Inn, and happening upon a postcard image of the store from the 1950s.

The ‘F W Woolworth’ fascia can be seen to the right of the picture, in the (then) modern County Parade. The store must have been fairly new when the photo was taken, given that it only opened in March 1954.

Postcard of the Brentford Woolworths store in the 1950s

Sadly, Woolworths’ presence on Brentford High Street was fairly brief, on the scale of things; 100thBirthday.co.uk reports that “the store did not prosper in the 1960s and was among the first stores to be closed on economic grounds during a review in 1974″.

Here’s a similar view today – by comparing the details of the two shots, and the street numbers, it looks like Woolworths would have been where the Vanity Lounge, Ouch Tattoo & Piercing and Law for All units are today.

Former Woolworths, Brentford (14 May 2010)

Last but not least, it wouldn’t have been possible to visit London without checking out one of the former Woolworths that’s now a Clas Ohlson. Step forward Kingston-upon-Thames (store #43), where Woolworths occupied the Market Street site from 5 May 1931 until the firm’s collapse 18 months ago.

Former Woolworths (now Clas Ohlson), Kingston-upon-Thames (16 May 2010)

Having repeatedly called for Clas Ohlson to come to Newcastle, I’m pleased to say that the actual store experience lived up to my expectations. The unit has been comprehensively refitted to remove any sense that it was ever a Woolworths – the opposite, it must be said, of Alworths in Amersham - creating an interior that is cool, modern, and attractively lit.

In terms of product range, the store is the eclectic mix of “modern hardware” that Clas Ohlson seems to have made its own – perhaps not so much a “chic Woolworths” as a hybrid of Robert Dyas, Maplin and Lakeland, with an inevitable Ikea-esque whiff of Sweden in the store’s look and feel.

I’d certainly look forward to paying another, longer visit to Clas Ohlson, though the distance to Kingston means that the recently-opened Leeds or Liverpool stores may be more likely targets. However, give the press release from yesterday which states that “Clas Ohlson plans… 17-22 new stores during the 2010/2011 financial year, of which 6-10 in the UK”, perhaps that longed-for Newcastle branch will yet be forthcoming.

Alworths fascia

It seems that the ‘son of Woolworths’ chain Alworths has two new stores in the offing. Fife Today is reporting that Alworths will be opening up in the former Woolworths store in Cupar, while jobs are already being advertised for a new store in Forfar, in Angus, that is due to open in June.

If confirmed, these will be Alworths’ eighth and ninth stores in total, and its first outside the south of England. [UPDATE, 1 June 2010: The Scotsman has reported today that the Cupar store will open on 16 June and the Forfar shop on 18 June, with plans for another eight Alworths stores in Scotland].

Screenshot of site advertising jobs at Alworths Forfar (31 May 2010)

As blogged about in July, Cupar’s old Woolies, in Crossgate, had been taken over by Glasgow-based value retailer Pound-Mart, alongside other former Woolworths sites in Rutherglen, Forfar and Bathgate. However, the Pound-Mart shops in both Cupar and Forfar closed down at the end of April, after just eight months of trading.

As far as I’m aware (it’s not entirely clear, given that the Pound-Mart website still lists them as open), the closures of the Forfar and Cupar stores leaves Pound-Mart with a three-strong store portfolio in Scotland – centred upon its flagship store in Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street – but, according to the website, with continued plans to expand during 2010 and 2011. 

Pound-Mart's Cupar store, prior to closure. Photograph courtesy of Pound-Mart

Alworths, meanwhile, has been steadily pursuing its own growth plans, taking over former Woolies sites in Didcot, Amersham, Evesham, Warminster, Wokingham, Cosham and, most recently, New Milton in Hampshire. To date, however, only two shops have opened in 2010, suggesting that Alworths’ stated ambition to open 22 shops in the 12 months to November 2010 may have been over-optimistic. 

Still, adopting a sensible approach to growth is often no bad thing for a retailer – the collapse of businesses like Vergo Retail and Silverscreen shows what can happen when a retail chain expands too rapidly, taking on new stores before it’s properly got to grips with the existing ones. It will be interesting to see whether Alworths’ first appearance in Scotland signals a shift in pace in its goal to become a truly national, small-town variety store retailer. 

As one of the more interesting retail stories to emerge from the debris of Woolworths’ collapse, I’ve blogged previously about the opening of Alworths stores in Amersham and Cosham, and the launch of its website. I hadn’t, however, had the chance to visit an Alworths store myself, given that there are none yet here in the North East, and none close to anywhere else that I’d been travelling. When I was in London in a couple of weekends ago, I therefore took the opportunity to hop on the tube to Amersham in Buckinghamshire, to check out an Alworths store for myself. 

Sycamore Road in Amersham (14 May 2010)

I’d only once been to Buckinghamshire before, and never to Amersham. Upon arriving at the station, it struck me as an attractive and quite well-to-do market town, typical of those that encircle Greater London. The shops are a good mixture of independents and chains, including high street staples such as M&S Simply Food (in the former Budgens), Costa, Greggs, Waterstone’s, Iceland, and the very first branch of the now 50-strong toy shop chain, The Entertainer.

There are also branches of some chains that are well-known to southern shoppers but not seen up here in the north, such as the home shop Cargo and the ironmongers Robert Dyas. The latter, I noted, featured the retailer’s new logo and store design, certainly conveying a fresher and more modern image than the old look, spotted earlier that same day in Harrow.

Robert Dyas in Amersham (14 May 2010)

Old-style Robert Dyas in Harrow (14 May 2010)

Many of Amersham’s stores are clustered along the main thoroughfares of Hill Avenue and Sycamore Road, the latter proving quite a challenge to cross given the volume of traffic passing through the town. Alworths sits in a good location in the middle of Sycamore Road, sharing its building with a new WHSmith store that only opened in April, in a unit that previously housed Halfords.

WHSmith and Alworths in Amersham (14 May 2010)

I’ve no idea if WHSmith’s arrival was influenced by Alworths already taking over the Woolies unit next door, but it’s certainly a positive thing for the town to have two decent retailers occupying a building that was completely empty for the latter part of 2009.

So, what about Alworths then? The first thing to note is that Amersham does seem like a good choice of location, with no other department or variety store in the town. Depending upon the product being sought, WHSmith, Robert Dyas and The Entertainer seem likely to offer the main competition.

Alworths in Amersham (14 May 2010)

Externally, the distinctive purple and blue fascia was easy to spot, while the window display was pleasingly simple. Clutter outside the store was also kept to a minimum, restricted to a display of plants and pots and a freestanding National Lottery sign.

Though there was a steady flow of of schoolchildren and others popping into Alworths, my initial reaction was that the store didn’t seem very busy for a Friday lunchtime. On the other hand, when I visited Superdrug and Julian Graves a little later I was the only customer in both those stores, suggesting that the town in general was having a quiet spell. (Many thanks, incidentally, to Rory in Julian Graves, who was able to offer some useful suggestions of where I might find lunch in Amersham. The Boot & Slipper pub proved to be a good choice!)

Upon entering Alworths, my overwhelming sensation was one of familiarity. Indeed, you could be forgiven for thinking that you had stepped into a Woolworths, given the very similar look and feel. At the front of the shop, an impressive (and inevitable) pick and mix selection and a decent range of CDs and DVDs are among the first items that a customer sees.

On key criteria, I felt that the store performed well – it was well stocked, prices seemed reasonable, and the staff were friendly and smart in appearance (the latter something that didn’t always seem to be the case in old Woolworths stores, perhaps due in part to the unflattering red uniforms).

I did feel, however, that there were a couple of important areas for improvement. The first related to navigation around the store, which was more difficult than I expected. Though there was signage (for ‘Toys’, ‘Home’, etc.) around the edge of the store, I felt that the gondola units in the middle of the shopfloor would also benefit from some signage, either attached to the units or suspended from the ceiling above.

My second criticism concerned the slightly tired and dowdy quality of the store interior. This had clearly been retained from the old Woolworths store – hence the quick turnaround in getting the store opened last November. In doing that, however, Alworths didn’t really feel like a shop that had only been open six months. The ceiling, for instance, bore all the signs of having many years of hanging signs and Christmas decorations attached to it, while the floor was patched in several places with yellow and black gaffer tape.

Like many old Woolworths stores, the narrow and deep shape of the unit also reinforces the slightly gloomy feel. Inevitably, this is more difficult to do anything about, but it would make a real positive impact if Alworths was able to get more light into the back of the shop, either by bringing in extra daylight through the street frontage (currently largely obscured by screens), or by using artificial light creatively.

Assuming that Alworths is indeed a success – as I hope it will be – investing in these kinds of improvements will greatly enhance the customer experience, and will reassure shoppers that their local store is planning on being around for the long term. As the Alworths chain expands further – and particularly if it starts taking over shops that were not formerly Woolworths – it will be interesting to see how it develops its own, more confident store interior style.

Alworths fascia

…and it’s going to be in Cosham, a northern suburb of Portsmouth, Hampshire.

Due to open in February, this will be the first new Alworths store since the initially flurry of five stores that launched back in November. With a total of 22 stores slated to open during Alworths’ first year, one assumes that further announcements will be forthcoming over the coming months.

So far, Alworths stores have all opened in former Woolworths sites in the south of England, and have brought many former Woolies employees into the business. In these respects, the Cosham branch – seen here in its previous guise, and to be run by a former Woolworths manager - is no exception.

As the number of available Woolies sites dwindles, however, it will be interesting to see the other types of properties that Alworths goes for, and the speed with which it grows beyond its current southern England heartland. Certainly, the experience of one of the other new kids on the retail block – Haldanes, the recently launched supermarket chain that has so far snapped up 26 Co-op and Somerfield branches from Scotland to Essex – shows that in the right market conditions, it needn’t take very long for a new retailer to build a nationwide presence.

Former Woolworths (now M&Co), Alnwick (23 Jan 2010)

I’m ashamed to say that in more than a decade of living in the North East, I’d never – until yesterday – paid a proper visit to the attractive and historic Northumberland market town of Alnwick – named by Country Life magazine, in 2002, as the “best place to live in Britain”. 

Emerging from one of the town’s many quaint alleys into the principal shopping thoroughfare, Bondgate Within, you can see why it won that accolade. The town centre has some lovely public spaces and landmarks, with the consistency of the architecture and array of independent shops helping to create an environment with real character. Indeed, it’s no mean feat that even Alnwick’s Sports Direct store – housed in a historic building in Market Street – manages to look quite attractive.

Attractive sign at the entrance to the town

Alnwick also appears to boast plenty of good pubs and tea rooms – always an important factor in attracting people to visit and shop in a town. Certainly, I can commend the superb lunch that we enjoyed in Hardy’s Bistro at the White Swan Hotel, an 18th century coaching inn famous for housing fittings and the First-Class Lounge from RMS Olympic, the Titanic’s almost identical sister ship.

The junction of Bondgate Within and Market Street, Alnwick (23 Jan 2010)

Because there are so few visually incongruous buildings in the town centre, the ones that there are really jar – most notably the modern property housing Iceland, and the rather unappealing former Threshers premises. The latter, however, could be markedly improved by installing a more sympathetic shopfront in terms of colour and design. 

Former Threshers, Alnwick (23 Jan 2010)

On the topic of shopfronts, I was impressed with what M&Co has done to transform the former Woolworths store in Alnwick. Ballysundriven’s May 2009 photo on Flickr shows the sad appearance of the property following the demise of Woolies. Prior to its opening in October last year, M&Co looks to have installed a smart new shopfront that complements the historic building within which it sits, and makes it difficult to recognise the property as being a former Woolworths. 

Former Woolworths (now M&Co), Alnwick (23 Jan 2010)

In previous posts I’ve talked about the gap that Woolworths’ demise has left in many smaller market towns, where the absence of a general retailer – selling a bit of everything – is keenly felt. In Alnwick, the fabulous Proudlock House and Home store – selling furniture, gifts, homewares and hardware over three levels – certainly fills that hole to some extent.

However, the quite large number of empty units that pepper the town centre do suggest that Alnwick would still benefit from the arrival of a footfall-driving variety retailer, such as Boyes or Alworths, to limit the amount of retail spend that leaks down the A1 to larger centres such as Newcastle and Morpeth.

Shop Direct's Woolworths.co.uk

Just a quick post this evening, but I wanted to flag up a well-written and interesting article by Kiran Stacey in yesterday’s Financial Times, entitled “The fight to be Woolworths’ heir”.

The piece covers some of the same themes as my own blog posts about Wellworths, Alworths and Shop Direct’s Woolworths brand, but gives some new and interesting insights into the operation of each business through talking to Wellworths’ Claire Robertson, Alworths’ Andy Latham and Shop Direct’s Matthew Hardcastle.

Alworths fascia

Notably, the article tackles the issue of the three retailers’ similar names, and – contrary to what has been reported previously – suggests that Shop Direct is no more happy with Wellworths than it is with Alworths:

We’re not happy with what Alworths is doing. They are trading on the old Woolworths name and brand. Meanwhile, Wellworths is trying to be Woolworths in all but name, and we are not very happy with that situation either.

Certainly, it looks like the tension between Shop Direct and the other ‘new Woolies’ is not going to vanish anytime soon.

Alworths' website

Meanwhile, I’ve noticed that Alworths has launched its website at http://www.alworths.com/ in the past few days. The colour scheme is, arguably, a little on the psychedelic side, but the content and overall impression is very good, conveying a distinctive brand personality that is bright, friendly, fun, local, and family-oriented.

The ‘Rate your visit’ form and the opportunity to nominate an Alworths staff member for a ‘Star Service Award’ are also really nice touches. Similarly, though there are no clues as to where Alworths’ future stores will be, visitors to the site are invited to ‘nominate a location’, to help Alworths achieves its goal of opening “20+ stores” during 2010, and its ultimate expansion “towards a chain of 200 stores”.

I’ve been really impressed with Alworths’ marketing and PR efforts to date. The company seems to have been quite adept at celebrating the qualities that people most liked about Woolworths – such as the service, value and range – while avoiding the traps that ultimately contributed to Woolies’ demise, and creating a personality that is fresh and new.

I wish the business well, and look forward to seeing how it develops over the coming months. Up here in the North East, perhaps I could nominate Chester-le-Street as somewhere that “a variety chain with stores at the heart of the High Street” would be likely to do well?

Vacant former Woolworths store

An interesting story in today’s Times about what it claims is Shop Direct’s plan to “bring Woolworths back to the high street”, with “room for up to 200 stores under the famous red fascia”.

Of course, some might well claim that Woolworths has already been brought back to the high street in the form of Alworths, Wellworths or the like. The difference here is that Shop Direct actually owns the Woolworths brand – having paid £7m for it back in February – so could bring the stores back in name as well as spirit.

Adding some flesh to Shop Direct’s hints last month about there being “an opportunity [for] a chain of [Woolworths] stores in towns across the UK”, the Times article reveals that Shop Direct has no intention of running bricks-and-mortar shops itself, but is looking instead for franchisees. Given that there are barely 200 old Woolies sites left vacant – including some, frankly, in awful locations – Shop Direct’s plans would presumably see a good number of stores opening up in premises that were never a Woolworths before.

Could it be 'Store Opening' soon?

Undoubtedly, any move to resurrect Woolworths as a high-street chain will be welcomed by those shoppers who still miss, and have affection for, the Woolworths name in their town centres. However, given the current enthusiasm for bringing Woolworths (or Any-other-worths) back to the high street, you have to wonder – as the Telegraph has – whether more could have been done to prevent the business from closing in the first place.

Alworths in Amersham

Following in the footsteps of Dorchester’s Wellworths, Stornoway’s Wee W and even Wallsend’s Well Worth It, the latest ‘son of Woolworths’ store – Alworths – opened the doors to its second store in Amersham, Buckinghamshire yesterday.

To date, the various Woolies ‘offspring’ have  tended to be one-off, locally-driven responses to the gap that Woolworths left on particular high streets. In the case of Wellies and Wee W, the impetus has even come from former Woolies staff.

Stornoway's Wee W

Alworths also has a strong Woolies connection, in that its founder and MD, Andy Latham – hence the ‘AL-’ in Alworths – used to be Woolworths’ head of store and concessions development. Where Alworths differs from the others, however, is in embarking upon an ambitious opening programme from the very start. This makes it the first genuine retail chain to emerge from the ashes of Woolworths, though speculation remains that Clare Robertson’s much-celebrated Wellworths might expand beyond Dorchester before long.

Alworths’ inaugural store, in Didcot in Oxfordshire, opened a week ago, poignantly (and intentionally) on the 100th anniversary to the day of Woolworths first appearing on a UK high street.

Three more stores – in Evesham, Warminster and Wokingham – are due to open in the next fortnight, with Alworths reportedly planning to open an ambitious total of 22 stores over the next 12 months.

However, as Alworths makes its presence felt across the south of England, the obvious question is whether it can succeed where Woolworths ultimately failed. In short, is there a place in modern retailing for Alworths? And, if so, what does Shop Direct – owner of the now online-only Woolworths brand – have to say about the matter?

The industry paper Retail Week has been surprisingly sniffy about Alworths’ prospects, with editor Tim Danaher asking “what’s the point of reinventing something which failed, particularly as all the best ex-Woolies stores will now have been taken by other retailers?”, and endorsing the view of an RW reader who had argued that “The son of Woolworths already exists – it’s called Wilkinson”.

When news of the Alworths venture was first announced, RW also suggested that the new business had missed the boat – if it wanted to capitalise on the goodwill towards the old Woolies, then it was no good making its appearance ten months after Woolworths’ demise.

Admittedly, Alworths was quite a long time coming – Latham and his then business partners were talking about the idea for the business as far back as February – but I do, in this instance, think RW’s scepticism is unjustified. Here, in summary, are a few reasons why I think Alworths stands a good chance of success.

1) People want it

Though some people have questioned the point of a new Woolworths-like chain, reaction in the places where Alworths is opening seems to be largely enthusiastic. Indeed, some towns, such as Chippenham, have been clamouring to get an Alworths of their own – even to the extent of making rather patronising comments about “the people who would use” the Poundland store that is slated for the town’s former Woolworths site.

That enthusiasm is because, ten months on, many towns still do have an empty shop where their Woolies used to be, and still miss not being able to buy locally the types of products that Woolworths used to sell. Which brings us on to the fact that…

2) Alworths stores seem to be opening in sensible locations

Alworths in Didcot

Look at the list of Alworths stores announced to date – Didcot, Amersham, Evesham, Warminster and Wokingham – and it’s clear that all are relatively small market towns with a population of less than 30,000.

This seems a canny move, given that it’s in exactly these types of (usually Wilkinson-free) locations that a variety store – selling a wide range of goods that cannot be easily obtained elsewhere in the town – is likely to thrive, and where the absence of Woolworths has been most keenly felt. Which brings us on to the fact that…

3) Alworths is not Woolworths

At its time of closure, Woolworths had more than 800 shops. In a year’s time, Alworths might have 22.

Where the good bits of the Woolworths business were dragged down by its unprofitable and frankly grotty stores in other locations, Alworths has the advantage of being able to choose sites that fit the business as it is today. Furthermore, all will be clean, fresh and modern, and able to offer a much better customer environment than many Woolworths stores were able to.

For me, the size and quality of the store estate was Woolies’ biggest problem towards the end, not the product mix. Which brings us on to the fact that…

4) Alworths is not 99p Stores / Home Bargains / Poundand / B&M Bargains / The Original Factory Shop (delete as applicable)

99p Stores

One of the strengths of Woolworths was that you could pop in for a box of staples, a Lego model, a pair of pillowcases, and some wine glasses and be pretty confident that the store would have what you wanted.

While the discounters that have been snapping up old Woolies sites across the country are undoubtedly successful, and clearly have a place on the high street, there’s a difference between Woolworths’ – and now Alworths’ – range-driven offer, and those newer stores that seem to be driven instead by price.

Yes, I can drop into Poundland or Home Bargains and get some great offers – but with those stores I find it much harder than with Woolworths to know exactly what will be available from one week to the next. Which brings us on to the fact that…

5) Alworths is essentially Woolworths with a different name (but don’t tell Shop Direct that)

One of Alworths’ strengths is clearly its sense of familiarity. All its stores to date are in former Woolies locations, look rather like Woolies inside, sell similar products to Woolies, and in most cases seem to be managed and staffed by former Woolies workers. The main difference seems to be the blue and purple Alworths logo, which is a far cry from the old Woolworths red.

Beyond the Andy Latham link, there are many similarities at an operational level too – for example, Alworths’ head office staff are former Woolworths alumni, and even the signage supplier, stock management system and PR company are the ones that Woolworths used to use. The name, of course, also has a ring of recognition. Which brings us on to the fact that…

6) Alworths seems like an effective brand

One of my quibbles about the aforementioned discount chains – 99p Stores, Home Bargains, Poundand, B&M Bargains, The Original Factory Shop – is the sheer lack of imagination behind their names. They are not so much brands as a description of what they do.

One of the strengths of Woolworths was that its name had some history and meaning. In evoking the name of the chain’s founder, Frank Winfield Woolworth, it gave it a face; an identity. I think that’s why we can feel an affinity with brands like John Lewis, Boots, WHSmith, even Jessops, but don’t have the same affection for faceless (and now defunct) ones like Kwik Save, What Everyone Wants or Your More Store.

In this case, of course, there’s nobody actually called Alworth, though the ‘AL-’ for Andy Latham is a neat touch. There are real people called Alworth though, so there’s always scope (perish the thought) for Alworths to create a fictional, Hollister-style backstory to match its brand values.

On the downside, the lack of an obvious shortened version of the Alworths name, vis-a-vis Woolies and Wellies, is clearly an oversight. None of Alies, Allies or Alwies are entirely successful. Which brings us (slightly tenuously) onto the fact that…

7) Shop Direct is reportedly grumbling about what it says are the similarities between Alworths and Woolworths… but the British will always support the underdog

Alworths taking at least a sprinkling of inspiration from the former Woolworths reportedly hasn’t gone unnoticed by Shop Direct, the current owners of the online-only Woolworths brand.

It has been widely reported that Shop Direct has “fired a warning shot” over the launch of Alworths, partly driven by the fact that – interestingly – it has not ruled out bringing Woolworths back to the high street itself through a licensing arrangement.

According to Mark Newton-Jones, chief executive of Shop Direct:

We think there is an opportunity [for] a chain of stores in towns across the UK… That is even more of a reason we would defend our position… We are not going to stand by and allow that to happen, using a name and a product mix and trading off the back of the goodwill of the Woolworths business.

Presumably, Shop Direct has been irritated by headlines such as “Woolworths set to relaunch as Alworths”, “The return of ‘Woolworths’ – as Alworths” and “‘Woolworths’ set to return to the high street next month”, which have very much framed Alworths as Woolworths’ rightful successor. To be fair though, this association does, as far as I can tell, seem to have been driven by the media, rather than Alworths itself.

It is an understandable association though. Shop Direct may have bought the Woolworths name, but it seems to me that the actual Woolies heritage – and much of the affection for it – is retained in those vacated stores on our high streets and for the people who used to work there, more so than in a website that, beyonds its name, struggles to evoke the same sense of connection. If a store reopens in the same place as an old Woolworths, featuring the same staff selling very similar products, then of course people are going to feel that their old Woolies has come back in all but name.

Whether Shop Direct’s reported ‘legal letter’ leads to anything more remains to be seen, though its interesting that the company is at the same time reported as having “no issue” with Wellworths. I wonder if this is because the Wellworths brand is not a new creation, but has a previous history – entirely unrelated to Woolworths – as the name of a Northern Irish supermarket chain. That aside, there is always a danger, from a PR point of view, of a large company that is battling with an underdog stoking resentment for the very brand that it is fighting to protect.

Wellworths store in Dorchester. Photograph by Nigel Mykura

Needless to say, in summary, I wish Alworths all the best. I genuinely believe that there is a place for it, and look forward to seeing its store estate creeping northwards in due course.

As long as Alworths keeps doing what it’s doing right – and avoids the pitfalls that Woolworths fell into – there’s every reason, in my view, to think it will be a success.

Many thanks to Hamilton PR for allowing me to use the photographs of Alworths in Amersham and Didcot.