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Ledbury’s ‘son of Woolies’ – and a visual identity inspired by the past

Graham Soult October 18, 2011 Independent Stores, Market Towns, Retail History, Variety Stores, Woolworths 2 Comments

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Wellworth It! in Ledbury (8 Oct 2011). Photograph by Graham Soult

Wellworth It! in Ledbury (8 Oct 2011)

Dorchester’s famous Wellworths may have had to change its name to Wellchester at Shop Direct’s behest, but a store in the Herefordshire town of Ledbury is still evoking the memory of Woolworths in both name and visual identity.

Ledbury’s Woolworths (store #696) … Continue Reading

As Wellworths becomes Wellchester, Claire Robertson talks tweaking and expansion

Graham Soult September 16, 2011 Brands, Independent Stores, Interiors, Variety Stores, Woolworths 5 Comments

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Wellchester's Claire Robertson (8 Sep 2011). Photograph by Graham Soult

Wellchester’s Claire Robertson (8 Sep 2011)

For someone who makes a habit of visiting old Woolworths – and I’ve racked up about 140 so far – there can be few ex-Woolies sites more celebrated than the one in Dorchester (store #403).

The story is well known: former Woolworths … Continue Reading

Shop Direct’s move to protect the Woolies brand – Wellworth the bad press?

Graham Soult November 03, 2010 Brands, Online, Woolworths 3 Comments

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New and old logos

New and old logos

Last week’s news that the celebrated Wellworths store, in Dorchester, is being forced to change its name by Shop Direct reignites one of the most interesting threads to emerge from Woolworths’ collapse – the battle for the good bits of Woolies’ legacy.

The gist of this latest development is that Shop Direct – who, you’ll remember, bought the Woolworths brand … Continue Reading

Out of the ruins of Faith comes Hope

Graham Soult June 29, 2010 Footwear, Independent Stores 2 Comments

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Shoe shopping. Image by Allie Hylton

Shoe shopping. Image by Allie Hylton

It’s always good to hear of a retailer that is rising from the ashes, Wellworths-style, so I was pleased to read in The Appointment magazine about the enterprising staff of the former Faith shoe store, in Chelmsford, Essex.

Faith, you may recall, collapsed into administration in April, putting the … Continue Reading

The fight to be Woolworths’ heir

Graham Soult January 08, 2010 Brands, Independent Stores, Marketing, Online, Variety Stores, Woolworths 2 Comments

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Shop Direct's Woolworths.co.uk

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 … Continue Reading

Woolworths to make a high street return?

Graham Soult November 23, 2009 Brands, Property, Woolworths 2 Comments

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Vacant former Woolworths store

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 … Continue Reading

Alworth the wait? The latest ‘Son of Woolworths’ opens its second shop

Graham Soult November 13, 2009 Brands, Variety Stores, Woolworths 9 Comments

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Alworths in Amersham

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, … Continue Reading

Two pairs of Wellies?

Graham Soult August 07, 2009 Online, Property, Variety Stores, Woolworths 9 Comments

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Wellworths store in Dorchester. Photograph by Nigel Mykura

Wellworths store in Dorchester. Photograph by Nigel Mykura

I was interested to read on This is Money a few days ago that Claire Robertson of Wellworths fame is apparently in talks with “unnamed venture capitalists” (are they ever not unnamed?) over funding for expansion. The article claims that the Dorchester-based enterprise is hoping to open up three more former … Continue Reading