Wellchester
 | |
| Company type | Stationery, Confectionery |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Predecessor | Woolworths Group |
| Founded | 2009 |
| Founder | Claire Robertson |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Dorchester |
Key people | Claire Robertson |
| Products | General merchandise |
| Owner | Claire Robertson |
Number of employees | 23 |
Wellworths is a retail store in Dorchester, Dorset, United Kingdom.
History
January 2009 saw the closure of the final 200 Woolworths stores in the UK, including the Dorchester branch. At the time of closure, Claire Robertson was the store manager and after the closure of her branch, she decided to open her own version of the store in the former Woolworths premises[1] with the "help" of local buyer Daniel Roy.[2] Claire secured investment for her new business and planned to open her store with 22 of the 25 staff that previously worked at the former Woolworths store, along with one new staff member.[3] It is hoped that the store would become known as Wellies and manager Claire Robertson hopes to sell Wellington boots because of this.[4] Claire is confident that in the many years to come, Wellworths can become as popular as Woolworths and she hopes to open more stores throughout the United Kingdom.[citation needed] BBC Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans officially re-opened the store on 11 March 2009 at 10am.[5]
On 2 April 2009, BBC One aired a documentary entitled How Woolies Became Wellies: One Woman's Fight for the High Street, following Claire Robertson's journey from the closing of Woolworths to the opening of Wellworths.[6]
Differences between Woolworths and Wellworths
Clothing will not be sold because there is no supplier available for a small independent shop.[7] On Opening Day, as shown by the BBC documentary, one shopper noted the complete lack of music CDs on sale, previously a big part of the Woolworths business.
However since then, a small area of shelf space has been dedicated experimentally to DVD's and CD's, and has slowly expanded, as more have been bought.
100,000 Customers in 3 months
Just three months after the opening of the store by Chris Evans, Wellworths celebrated it's 100,000th customer. Heather Ikin and her daughter Hannah were the unsuspecting customers. Claire Robertson said that she never expected to get through 100,000 so soon after the store's opening day.[8]
References
- ^ "How Woolies Became Wellies: One Woman's Fight for the High Street". 2009-04-02.
- ^ "The Wonder of Wellworths". Dorset Echo. 2009-02-11. Retrieved 2009-05-24.
- ^ "From Woolworths to Wellworths : Woolies shop reborn". This is Money. 2009-02-12. Retrieved 2009-02-12.
- ^ "Bust Woolies store is back... as Wellworths". The Sun. 2009-02-12. Retrieved 2009-02-12.
- ^ "Wellworths of Dorchester, Woolworths and surviving the British Recession". 2009-02-24. Retrieved 2009-02-24.
- ^ How Woolies Became Wellies: One Woman's Fight for the High Streeton BBC TV Listings, 03/04/2009
- ^ "Woolworths Closure: Manager Reopens Woolies Store In Dorchester And Calls It Wellworths". Sky News. 2009-02-12. Retrieved 2009-02-12.
- ^ "Wellworths welcomes 100,000th shopper". Dorset Echo. 2009-06-23. Retrieved 2009-07-02.
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