Wilko: Former boss hopes high street retailer can be saved

Gordon Brown was managing director of the firm from 1992 to 2007

A former boss of Wilko has spoken of his hopes that the troubled store chain could be saved.

The homeware retailer, founded in Leicester and based in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, entered administration on Thursday with 12,500 jobs at risk.

Gordon Brown, managing director from 1992 to 2007, said he was surprised by how fast the situation had developed.

He said he was hopeful an investor who understood the brand could be found to save the company.

Formerly known as Wilkinson, the firm was founded in 1930 by JK Wilkinson.

"He was a very strong character, but really understood retail," said Mr Brown, who joined the company's board in 1991.

Wilko entered administration on Thursday, with 12,500 jobs at risk

A year later, when Mr Brown took the helm, the firm was still largely based in the Midlands and had about 100 stores, compared to 400 today.

Mr Brown said Wilko had recently lost ground to "more aggressive" competitors, such as Poundland, Home Bargains and B&M.

"In the middle of the road you're liable to get knocked down, and sadly, that's what's happened today," he said.

Mr Brown, a former Conservative deputy leader of Rutland County Council, said the business was no longer the "really aggressive, low-price, low-cost operator" it had been in his time there.

"The focus on low-cost, low prices to customers, exceptional service was not as razor-sharp as it was before," he said.

"They seem to have moved upmarket from where they were, and that's had a really big impact on the way the customer shopped at it.

"The pricing structure... wasn't as aggressive as people like the Poundland, the Home Bargains and the B&M, particularly."

'A hard road'

Asked his feelings on the firm's troubles, he said: "I'm very sad, as are many of my colleagues from that time, and I really feel sorry for the staff - the dedicated staff, the hard-working staff - that are there today.

"I'm not privy to the detail but my view is that somebody will come along and pick up the bits of the company… but I think it will be different from Wilko as we know it, or used to know it.

"It's going to be a hard road to get back to where they were... it's not going to be a short-term solution."

The firm's future depended on finding an investor who recognised the brand's strength and what it stood for among customers, he said.

"Customers expect low prices and a wide range of products [from Wilko] and... a range of promotions that were exciting that they would want to buy," he said.

"I think there's a real opportunity... to move back to that and really demonstrate that they are a power to be reckoned with."