A lesson easily learned - become crap and you deserve to fold.

Not a good day for music though.

For many people outside the major towns and cities they remain(ed) one of the few outlets selling a range of music.

I couldn't have put it better myself.

I never go in there, it's so full of tack.

I do feel for all those who will be losing their jobs tho...

I fail to understand how the the collapse of a major High street retailer who carried music and DVD as major lines can possiblily be construed as "Good news". Another blow for the record buying public who like buying CD's rather than purchasing their music by download.

It may hurt in the short term but it could open the door for more forward thinking retailers in the future.

I shop at my local Woolies a lot. I'm very disappointed by this news as they are/were the main outlet in my town for music and dvd. Also they had a good choice of electricals, toys, etc. They recently introduced a range of budget CDs which had reasonable quality sound and featured up to 20 tracks for

Yes - my friend In Walton, Surrey just said the same; they recently revamped his Woolies and he loves it.

I still think the time is right for specialist, caring shops that do downloads as well as physicals and are staffed by true lovers of all the different types of music - well overdue.

We used to have a two dedicated record/music shops, but the record industry slumped and they both went bust. People turned to the likes of Woolworths because they could buy other things at the same time. The market changed and many kinds of specialist shops closed.

I'm not sure I'd ever go to a shop to buy a download. Much more comfortable to browse and download at home.

I do sympathise with your view. I miss the specialist shops, but not sure that their return is realistic.

I won't miss geting chased out the shop having nicked a handful of " pick and mix ".

JK you are wrong on this. You live in central London where you have an amazing choice of shops.

For small towns and cities and various other parts of London the Woolies is the only department store on the High Street - most being dominated by Kebab and Chicken and Charity Shops with the occasional Tesco Express.

Therefore is serves many people for their music and electrical goods and stuff like Christmas decorations - as well as cheap kids clothes and household items.

It is not glitzy but much loved by many. I shop in my local Woolies every month for something and if it closes it will decimate our High Street.

A very sad day for 840 shopping streets in the UK - all the staff and all their regular customers.

Yes it needed a revamp - but it did not have the money to do so.

Did the record buying public actually shop in Woolies though???

Ill miss Woolies cos its an institution and is still the only shop alongside WH Smith and Boots thats been in my local small town centre since childhood (and yes along with Our Price and 2 independent stores thats where I bought a lot of singles when I was younger)

....but nowadays its just tat. 80s artists with several greatest hits compilations for

Let's face it, we're going to lose every high street chain in the UK and will end up only with out of town superstores, where you can get everything. A nearby Asda has a chemist, a bank, a post office, an optician etc. They even do "pic'n'mix" so who needs Woolworths ?

I'm perhaps a weird record buyer who doesn't care whether something was a hit or not. I used to love B sides, and I find many of the non hit tracks by an artists to be very enjoyable, so not having big hits on a CD isn't an issue for me. I do still buy CDs in Woolworths. The alternatives are W H Smith or Tesco, neither having much of a range of choice and both being quite pricey. This is, of course, setting aside the internet record shops such as Amazon or Play.com which offer free postage and have good offers. I do buy from them, but I prefer to be able to browse and pick things up and enjoy the hands on shopping experience.

I heard this morning that someone has expressed an interest in buying Woolworths, so I hope they manage to keep the stores open.

It is sad of course for the people who may lose their jobs.

However, will the media stop saying that it is done to the credit crunch, it was over 350 million in debt and that can't be just accumlated this year. Sounds to me that poor management and failing to move with the times may be the reason along with other stores offering the same products for less money.

There are not many (if any) stores near me offering the same products for less money than Woolworths. Maybe in the larger cities there will be.

I've heard a few people say that it has failed to move with the times, but I'm never sure what they mean. They sell a variety of goods and I have enjoyed shopping there. In what way have they not moved with the times?

Its not just Woolies retail shops though is it.
Its also Entertainment Uk!! This is the firm that distributes to everyone else----asda , tesco, hmv etc etc and have a hand in generating most of the special offers in and features in TV ads.
So this could all become quite a threat to the whole industry.
Woolies has always been troubled since inception , but what really caused this problem was the demerger from Kingfisher. They took Charterhouse --the company that owned all of the Woolies shops, after committing them to new leases at premium rates.
It was a move a bit like the one that destroyed the Pub industry -- injecting seperate landlord companies into the system expecting big payments.
Personally I see the threat of having to go through a recession without a woolies a bit fearful.
( ok and yes a good proportion of my households income comes from that quarter)
DD

Good points.

Some small HIGH STREETS could be decimated if WOOLIES closes - it will have a knock on effect. In fact their least profitable stores are probably propping up whole streets of shops as "destinations"

Once WOOLIES starts closing there will a domino effect on the streets where it closes. That is the POWER OF GOOD OLD WOOLWORTHS.

The MEDIA have slagged the shop off all the time - yet their shops are always busy - just not making enough money in these high costs days.

The MEDIA and GOVERNMENT are slaves to Tesco - Sainsbury and Wallmart. They wish this to happen to increase once again their profits and their dominance.

They should sell it for sixpence.

for sixpence, Zoo, you can pick'n'mix - three Woolies, two MFI's and a Northern Rock.