Spotted! – The First Big Name Victim of the 2009 Recession

Over the last few days I have been planning my financial journey up to Christmas, and one of my main conclusions is that I plan to cut out all spending with the essentials of food, shelter, warmth and transport (to be fair, during this period I will also be making debt repayments and the odd “emergency” is sure to pop up). I am specifically talking about such items as books, CDs, DVDs, computer games, electrical goods, toys, clothes and stuff for the garden. Basically, if it’s plastic I’m not interested!

Funnily enough, whilst researching my plans I was browsing today’s finance news only to find that Woolworths seem to be in trouble. Now, Woolworths is the sort of shop I wouldn’t have minded going into as a child. They had lots of toys at Christmas time and there was always lots of kids there pulling them off the shelves and having a go in store. However, looking back as an adult, the range was only the same size as can be expected in Tesco or Asda nowadays. I really couldn’t tell you the last time I ever bought anything from a Woolworths store. In a time when the smart money seems to be drilling down to smaller and smaller niche markets, Woolies seem to be caught in the general headlights somewhere between Poundstretcher and Wilkinsons!

Take two seconds now to think about what is stocked in Woolworths and compare these items to the list of things I will not be purchasing over the next quarter – it’s an exact match! As times get harder and the recession really starts to kick in, Woolworths sales must nose dive. Don’t be surprised to see a well known name disappear from our High Street in the next few years.