A further ten Wilko stores in the West Midlands will close in the coming days following the closure of a quartet of stores this week as the company winds down operations.
Shops in Hanley, Kings Heath, Shirley and Worcester will close on Sunday, followed by Great Bridge and Tamworth on Tuesday and Bloxwich, Droitwich, Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton next Thursday.
This follows units in Brownhills and Stafford closing today and Uttoxeter and Walsall this Thursday which collectively employ 74 staff.
The four stores are part of a portfolio of 52 across the UK to shut down this week, resulting in 1,016 staff being made redundant.
Distribution centres in Worksop and Newport have also closed, resulting in almost 300 further redundancies, following the high street homeware retailer collapsing in August.
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Separately, administrators at PwC have entered into an agreement to provide discount retailer B&M with the option to acquire up to 51 properties after the administration trading period concludes at those particular sites in a deal worth up to £13 million.
Zelf Hussain, Jane Steer and Edward Williams from PwC were appointed as joint administrators of Wilkinson Hardware Stores, Wilko and Wilko.com on August 10.
The business had around 400 stores and employed 12,500 people at the time of the administration. HMV’s owner Doug Putman had tabled a bid to buy 300 stores but it eventually broke down.
A statement from PwC said: “Despite extensive efforts, it has become clear that no significant part of the Wilko operations can be rescued as a going concern.
“As a result, the joint administrators have informed all staff that they will sadly commence the closure of all stores, the two distribution centres and the cessation of the majority of activities of the support centre.
“It is anticipated that all stores will be closed by early October, resulting in the redundancies of a further 9,100 employees in those stores. Staff at 124 stores have been informed that those outlets will close on, or before, September 21.
“Timings for the closure of the remaining 222 stores will be announced in due course.”
A dedicated employee team is providing support to affected staff, including assisting in the statutory redundancy claims process.
Mr Hussain said: “Despite the significant and intensive efforts of both ourselves and Putman Investments – the remaining party interested in buying a significant part of the business as a going concern – a transaction could not be progressed due to the inability to reduce central infrastructure costs quickly enough to make a deal commercially viable.
“The dedication shown by all team members during this period has been hugely humbling and we are grateful for the patience and understanding they have shown.
“As with those who have already been given notice of redundancy, we will guide and support those team members impacted over the coming weeks through the redundancy claims process.
“We also continue to collaborate closely with relevant agencies and engage with any potential employers to help facilitate a quick return into new employment for those impacted.
“We continue to work with potential buyers for different parts of the business and are confident of completing transactions in the coming days.”
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