the whole EUK thing is going to affect quite a few other places as well, not just Woolies.

 

Think I might have to pop down to Woolies tomorrow, as I like getting the £9.90 DVD's usually :(

 

I think alot of people feel the same - The fact they could be closing actually wants me to visit a store and have a look around their entertainment section.

I have a friend who is the manager of a Woolworths store and basically although the stores will continue to trade at the moment as has been mentioned above deliveries into stores will be limited to say the least - Basically stores will be selling what stock they have and what is in the depot. So over the coming weeks unless a rescue package is put into place quickly the stores will be looking empty across all areas and in regards to the entertainment section new releases might not even be delivered/sold in stores as companies obviously don't want to ship their stock to EUK only not to be paid and lose their stock :unsure:

 

As I say, I wouldn't want to say too much myself just now from what I know since we're essentially supposed to be "gagged", but EUK will be providing the other retailers they have a contract with as a priority over Woolies since we're part of the same umbrella (Woolworths Group PLC) and any breach of contract there won't result in EUK getting in more hot water. But I'm not even sure what stock EUK will be able to get in as a wholesaler in order to supply anyone with as things stand.

 

2Entertain is a joint venture between BBC and Woolworths Group PLC who own 60% and 40% respectively. They generally publish all the DVDs of BBC programmes such as Doctor Who etc. They are not in any immediate danger since they're not part of the Woolworths retail arm, but I believe Woolworths Group are trying to sell their 40% share to the BBC in order to help out the retail section. Whether such a deal will happen is another thing though.

 

Camelot have also stopped business with us, so we're not able to sell lottery tickets or scratchcards, which I'm actually kind of chuffed about as the queues were always being held up with people wanting some convoluted, long list of different lottery lucky dips and whatever. So hopefully with that out of the equation just now we'll be able to serve people quicker and hopefully get a bit of income for the company, since this is the most profitable time of year. On the plus side, we have been absolutely 100% assured that any hours that we do work we will be paid for.

 

And yes, Only Men Aloud. I knew that. :P

 

And thanks for the support everyone, hopefully there'll be light at the end of the tunnel. But it would certainly help if everyone popped along to their local branch and did a bit of the old Christmas shopping there. As I say, there's plenty of good stuff to be found, as well as the Same Difference single. :lol:

Edited November 27, 200816 yr by Scott McFly

Isn't EUK the only profitable part of wollies tho?

So that's why all the albums chart boxes were full of "temporary out of stock" stickers on, all they had in my woolies were pile of Rydian and Leona and a couple of the top ten, hardly any DVD's either, but they had Mama Mia and a few of the new ones. Poor Woolies, I can't see our Woolies having much left to sell coming up to Xmas, the shop is pretty bare now. :(

I was just looking for the chart CDs that Woolworths are selling at the moment for £5 and their main website and all other links are off line :huh:

Woolworths set for huge stock clearance

 

By James Thompson

Friday, 28 November 2008

 

The administrator to Woolworths has vowed to pay its staff while its stores stay open past Christmas, as the Prime Minister pledged to provide support for employees facing redundancy.

 

 

The retailer collapsed into administration on Wednesday night, putting up to 30,000 jobs at risk. While the jobs of store staff are safe until after Christmas, some head office staff will be made redundant in the next few days.

 

Deloitte revealed that it has hired Hilco – the restructuring specialist that failed in its bid this week to buy Woolworths' 800-store retail chain for £1 – to assist in the management of the high street chain. Hilco is expected to soon begin a huge stock clearance programme that will have a major impact on the retailer's rivals over the critical Christmas trading period. Yesterday, Gordon Brown said: "The important thing is in the long run that employees in the company can get other jobs quickly."

 

Deloitte is trying to find buyers for the retail chain and EUK, its wholesale entertainment division, which sells DVDs and CDs to supermarkets and is part of the administration process.

 

A Deloitte spokeswoman said: "There has been a substantial amount of interest in both parts of the business so the administration team is reviewing them."

Edited November 28, 200816 yr by PopB!tch

Yesterday, Gordon Brown said: "The important thing is in the long run that employees in the company can get other jobs quickly."

 

yeah sure, how is that going to work if other companies go under, hypocrite.

I was just looking for the chart CDs that Woolworths are selling at the moment for £5 and their main website and all other links are off line :huh:

 

If I remember rightly the only chart ones just now are Boyzone, Leon Jackson, Oasis, Only Men Aloud and The Smiths. There's a whole load of CDs not in the chart for £5 though, stuff like One Night Only, Black Kids, Oasis (Stop The Clocks), Cascada and a good few others that escape me just now. But yes, the website and in-store ordering are both offline until further notice.

 

And the 3 for 2 chocs has finished, but I think all the Xmas accessories and gifts are still on it. Although if they are going to be doing a clearance sale then who knows what'll be on that. As mentioned, EUK does turn a profit as it is so there may not be any need to discount CDs etc. but this is obviously a pretty unique situation.

 

I believe as from now you won't see any "out of stock" CDs, DVDs or games on the shelves as we'll be taking them off and filling the gaps with either sale items or recent chart dropouts. Basically anything we can sell.

One question, the price of the albums is now 1 pound in Woolies? 4 all the albums?! Because I am looking the web and I am seeing very normal prices.

I am one of the 30,000 of employees whose job is on the line if the store closes and I cannot stand all this press speculation, stirring up panic, especially in the store I work in there was massive things about us not opening and now, having seen other companies going down in the news I can bnow appreciate the worry and the fear of beiong unemployed and not knowwing anything, where the press keep making things sound worse and causing panic

One question, the price of the albums is now 1 pound in Woolies? 4 all the albums?! Because I am looking the web and I am seeing very normal prices.

 

Where the heck did you read that? The ones I listed are £5 special deals that were in place before things turned ugly and the large majority of chart CDs are still £10-£12. And you'd be doing well to read it online because the website is offline just now and has been for a couple of days now.

 

But I'm with Dave on this one, the press are completely trying to cause mass panic by completely exaggerating everything. Customers are asking absolutely ridiculous questions and commenting on things they've seen and heard, and even though we're not supposed to be talking to them about it, it's very difficult not to when the press is putting things in people's heads.

A blanket ban on telling customers things seems to be a retail tactic. When there was a E-coli outbreak in a Morrisons on the West Coast we were told a tiny bit about it and informed not to say owt to customers or talk about it within ear shot of customers. And were on the East Coast.

 

 

Back on topic, Wollies in Dundee is well stocked with the exception of the CD rack. Oh, and your games section is horridly understocked.

 

Aside from that it's hard to see why there the company is failing, from my experience in Cupar, St Andrews, Glenrothes and Dundee

http://images2.moneysavingexpert.com/vouch...mailVoucher.pdf

 

bargain central - an extra 10 or 20% off items in store... and with new albums by The Verve, The Smiths, Leon Jackson and Oasis now a fiver - that means they'll now be £4.50 - stocking fillers

So that's why all the albums chart boxes were full of "temporary out of stock" stickers on, all they had in my woolies were pile of Rydian and Leona and a couple of the top ten, hardly any DVD's either, but they had Mama Mia and a few of the new ones. Poor Woolies, I can't see our Woolies having much left to sell coming up to Xmas, the shop is pretty bare now. :(

 

You should see the games section in Preston's Woolies - they've either got games no-one wants, or have been "temporarily" out of stock since September. And it's not hard to see why they're going down the drain - the company that I work for has a supplier that can sell us (for example) A4 week to view diaries for about 50p. Woolies' price for the same type? £4.99.

 

And it's a shame to see them in this much sh!t - I've got fond memories of them. Especially since my first job was as a Saturday girl in the main Edinburgh branch.

CD Sales will be at least 20% down next year due to this closure....

Was in the cheltenham branch yesterday an all the chart albums were where the current chart CDs once were, but the selection was very poor and all over the shop (if you'll excuse the punn :rolleyes:) All they had in terms of new CDs was CRaig Davids GH and albums that ghad been on promotion for a while e.g Cascada, Ultrabeat, Killers, etc...

an woolies sales assistant here and i cant see why people think we are having a sale. TBH som stuff I have on sale went up in price!

Surely the biggest worry is that EUK supplies Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Sainsburys and Zavvi! We might be seeing the end of the cheap cd era if not the end of the whole physical recorded entertainment industry!

EUK is supposedly profitable and being lumped within Woolworths it can't get credit insurance for its stock it sends out. If it gets sold off, which they're hoping for, then all will be fine with EUK.

 

And quite a few names are interested in the Woolies retail arm, including Tesco!,

Surely the biggest worry is that EUK supplies Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Sainsburys and Zavvi! We might be seeing the end of the cheap cd era if not the end of the whole physical recorded entertainment industry!

 

Zavvi? Really? :o They have so much stock I'm surprised they don't have their own distribution system.