I know it will sound spoilt, but in my younger years, every Christmas when I knew I would get voucher from a member of the family. I would be praying in my mind "please not a Woolworths voucher, please not a Woolworths voucher".
OK, having just written this down it sounds terrible, what a bad person I am. All will be forgiven I promise. My point though is this. I would never want the vouchers because I found there was nothing I could spend them on in store. And when your a teenager it begs the question... What was Woolworths brand? and who was their target consumer?
It's a name that has been on the high street for almost a hundred years but it looks as though that the economic downturn has finally been the one to put the last nail in the coffin of this well known store chain (unless of course there is some dramatic buy out at the eleventh hour)
The news prompted me to think. When was the last time I went to Woolies and what did I buy?
To be honest I don't think it was all that long ago and classically it was to get a bag of pick and mix. An item the media were all to keen to jump on in news reports last week. To be fair the sweets were good.
But was that all Woolworths was? A glorified sweet shop? People forget the range of items available from Cd's, DVDs, games, toys, clothes, stationary, gardening tools, the list goes on.
If the place was such a treasure chest of goodies why did the consumer not do what it's best at and spend spend spend?
The main problem Woolies had was a marketing one. What was the prime item the store sold? Because it never advertised itself as a shop that sold everything.
The second problem is the company never kept up with the changing and developing conditions of twenty first century shopping. Customers were more likely to get Books, Cd's and DVDs from Smiths, Waterstones, HMV or the Internet. Asda and Tesco provided cheap clothes and Wilkinson or Homebase could usually provide anything else.
When you go back 30 years, I'm told via family sources that customers used to cue outside every Saturday morning because Woolies used to be the first store on the high street to get the new vinyls. How things have changed since then.
Woolies lost it's way along the path set by the capitalist consumer high street. With so many chains specialising in certain products being born over the last 20 years, steadily increased wall to wall advertising and the Internet offering a web of quick, cheap and easy shopping, Woolworths was always going to be fighting a losing battle.
When next shopping ask yourself, will we miss Woolworths that much? Items Woolies used to sell will still be available in other chains and shops, even the pick and mix.
The customer simply is spoilt for choice, it's sad to say, but it's unlikely the store will be missed.
Woolworth was one of the oldest chain businesses the UK had to offer. However if you fail to offer the public something new and keep regenerating then the consequences will be suffered
Woolies looks doomed to high street history, De Facto is, its not the first, it certainly won't be the last.
All eyes now turn to Dixons and Currys to see if they are the next chain on the high street to fall.
As for my sin of not wanting a Woolies voucher as a gift. I always found I could get Cd's and DVDs cheaper in other stores, I was too old for toys and I would never have brought ten pounds worth of sweets. Therefore I used to spend them on other people, usually Christmas shopping for family members eleven months later.
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