Wilko's going bust!

[chrisbainbridge]

Wilko were great to drop into to get something so I could then feed my habit of cheap sweets.

[Jurek]

I've never been in a Wilkos.
I don't think I've ever seen one.

[grams]

My nearest Wilko is in Wood Green shopping centre, which was possibly once a gleaming retail paradise but each shop has been progressively replaced with its Vimes Boots theory-proving low cost (but not even cheap) alternative and the whole place is like digging through your spam folder and worrying about the people that fall for this shit.

Funnily enough Wilko always seemed like somewhere that a decent variety of reasonable functional stuff without getting super price gougey. Which is no way to run a business.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I've never been in The Range.
I did go in a B&M once, just out of curiousity; no headlights, disappointingly.

[Wowbagger]

The only B & M I've ever heard of is Busch & Muller - which I presume is what Cudzo was referring to.

I can't recall ever visiting Wilkinson's. I think there's one somewhere near Southend high street.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

B&M York burnt down before COVID as did Burger King not far away.

The Range in York hasn’t burnt down and had toilet rolls during COVID. That’s all I know.

[Cudzoziemiec]

The only B & M I've ever heard of is Busch & Muller - which I presume is what Cudzo was referring to.

I can't recall ever visiting Wilkinson's. I think there's one somewhere near Southend high street.

B&M is a sort of amalgam of furniture and home-tat with DIY. Maybe a bit like Ikea crossed with B&Q, but not as big as Ikea, and tattier. At least judging by the short time I spent in one.

But yes, to me it only meant Busch & Muller for many years; I think I only became aware of the chain of shops a few years ago. You've missed nothing.

[Mr Larrington]

B&M sell much of the same stuff but they're all out of town and it tends to be utter tat, and not even cheap.  Best to use Screwfix for DIY stuff.

ditto Screwfix - or son of Screwfix, Toolstation (prices often cheaper but fewer in-store stock items so "next day collection"

Toolstation in these parts has the disadvantage of being on the wrong side of the A406 so whichever route you choose to cycle there requires a lengthy detour to cross the six lanes of smelly traffic.  On the other hand, Screwfix has no bike parking chiz.

[bobb]

I've been in a B&M once. Only because they offer free parking for customers. Paranoid I might get clamped, I went in, walked around a bit so at least I'd be on their CCTV as a "customer", then pissed off elsewhere....

[Mrs Pingu]

I've never been in a Wilkos.
I don't think I've ever seen one.

+1

[robgul]

B&M sell much of the same stuff but they're all out of town and it tends to be utter tat, and not even cheap.  Best to use Screwfix for DIY stuff.

ditto Screwfix - or son of Screwfix, Toolstation (prices often cheaper but fewer in-store stock items so "next day collection"

Toolstation in these parts has the disadvantage of being on the wrong side of the A406 so whichever route you choose to cycle there requires a lengthy detour to cross the six lanes of smelly traffic.  On the other hand, Screwfix has no bike parking chiz.

Out of curiosity, having worked just off Higham Hill Road back in the 1970s, I had a "Google Streetview drive round" the area and down to the Billet and around - I knew the facade of the Stow had been retained but was surprised to see the Tote board still standing (the track was a very big site with both dog racing and for a while stock car racing)

My memory is fading . . .  do you know what the pub at the end of Brettenham Road used to be called (that was the after work drinking hole)?  IIRC it was an Ind Coope pub.

[Mr Larrington]

My memory is fading . . .  do you know what the pub at the end of Brettenham Road used to be called (that was the after work drinking hole)?  IIRC it was an Ind Coope pub.

Not a scooby.  Don’t often go down that way.  Also I've only been here since 1996

[ElyDave]

Popped into my local branch today, can't remember what for  but they didn't have it. Ended up walking out with 10quids worth of seeds for 3 quid

[orienteer]

Wilko was welcome as a replacement for Woolworths, selling useful bits and pieces. Their stock control got very bad even before the pandemic. Now we've lost Wickes and Halfords from Uxbridge (to make way for a retirement block) there are no useful shops left other than a Decathlon. Screwfix is theoretically a bike ride distant, but as noted above has no cycle parking facilities, likewise Toolstation, and both are a fair way off any bus route.

I now mostly buy bits and pieces from eBay, being careful to avoid Chinese suppliers with their long delivery times.

[grams]

You can just take your bike into Screwfix or Toolstation. No one's ever said a word and I've seen plenty of other people do it.

B&M sells very little that isn't low-quality straight-to-landfill tat, like the worst imaginable version of a poundshop.

[Mr Larrington]

There’s scarcely room for more than two customers in my local Screwfix, never mind a Perfectly Good Gentleman’s Mountain Bicycle

[Jurek]

There’s scarcely room for more than two customers in my local Screwfix, never mind a Perfectly Good Gentleman’s Mountain Bicycle

Might I recommend Tool Station on Blackhorse Lane?
They are cool with bicycles.

[Basil]

B&M sells very little that isn't low-quality straight-to-landfill tat, like the worst imaginable version of a poundshop.

I came across¹ Terry's Chocolate Oranges for 50p last year.  I purchased a severalness.
¹Almost literally.

[Mr Larrington]

There’s scarcely room for more than two customers in my local Screwfix, never mind a Perfectly Good Gentleman’s Mountain Bicycle

Might I recommend Tool Station on Blackhorse Lane?
They are cool with bicycles.

Oooh, ta!  Didn’t know there’s one there - the one I've used before is bloody miles away.

[Wowbagger]

There’s scarcely room for more than two customers in my local Screwfix, never mind a Perfectly Good Gentleman’s Mountain Bicycle

Well, if you were fixing a screw, you would need at least the space for two people.

[onerousdeporte]

My nearest Wilko is in Wood Green shopping centre, which was possibly once a gleaming retail paradise but each shop has been progressively replaced with its Vimes Boots theory-proving low cost (but not even cheap) alternative and the whole place is like digging through your spam folder and worrying about the people that fall for this shit.

Funnily enough Wilko always seemed like somewhere that a decent variety of reasonable functional stuff without getting super price gougey. Which is no way to run a business.

We had the same store, good for cheap panetone, toilet paper (when on offer) baby wipes and cheap knock off lego by the cup.

[onerousdeporte]

You can just take your bike into Screwfix or Toolstation. No one's ever said a word and I've seen plenty of other people do it.

B&M sells very little that isn't low-quality straight-to-landfill tat, like the worst imaginable version of a poundshop.

Dodgy booze and cat litter....

[Cudzoziemiec]

My nearest Tool Station is an ex-petrol station, retaining the canopy, so I just lean the bike against the plate glass window. Screwfix however is a nordinary shoppe in a street otherwise full of bars, coffee shoppes and restos, but there is plenty of decent bike parking on the street. In fact they're at different ends of the same street, but it's a long street which changes character from one end to the other. Come to think of it, if you carry on beyond Tool Station, you come to one of the Wilkos, but by that time the street has changed name.

[Ian H]

This market town has a Screwfix and a Toolstation in close proximity to each other, separated only by a foul-smelling Greggs.  Fortunately they're out on the industrial estate, so out of sight unless needed.  I have no idea where the nearest Wilko might be.  The only one I have ever visited is (possibly was by now) in Ealing.

[Snakehips]

So far it would appear that 14 Wilko stores have been confirmed for imminent closure

The Fort Birmingham, Bournemouth, Shipley ,Stockton ,Scunthorpe, Narborough Road in Leicester, Rotherham, Skegness, Grantham, Merthyr Tydfil, Cleethorpes, Woolwich, Redditch,Llanelli

I'm glad to see my local one is not on this list. It is my go-to store for DIY bits and pieces (now that Wickes has become an Aldi) and I've bought a lot of paint there over the years. I recently had an urgent need for a basin wrench and the didn't let me down.