WILKO shoppers will soon be able to get thousands of products directly to their doors in less than 25 minutes.
The beloved discounter is continuing its resurgence after falling into administration in 2023 and shutting all its shops.
The chain has now teamed up with courier service Deliveroo and will be delivering a range of 3,000 homeware essentials.
Available through the Deliveroo app product ranges include: garden, home, kitchen, DIY, cleaning, pet care and storage.
It means you can bag the items Wilko is most known for like dog poo bags and sachets of seeds in under 25 minutes.
The rollout is set to start with just 10 sites in the UK, before rolling out more widely.
The first 10 sites are:
This will be the first time Wilko has offered an on-demand, rapid delivery service.
The partnership will be expanded to a further 50 locations across the country by the end of the year.
Alex Simpkin, group chief executive officer at CDS Superstores trading as Wilko and The Range, said: “It’s great to be making Wilko so much more accessible to its loyal customer base.
“There’s a huge love for the brand and while we continue to open new stores this partnership gives us the opportunity to reach people quicker. All the great things you expect from Wilko and more in as little as 25 minutes!”
Wilko is the latest brand to sell homeware essentials on the Deliveroo app.
Eric French, Chief Operating Officer at Deliveroo, said: “It’s fantastic to welcome family favourite Wilko onto Deliveroo and to offer their huge range of household essentials for delivery in as little as 25 minutes.
“Our customers really value the convenience of having the high street brought to their doorstep, and that’s why we’re excited to continue our collaborations with well-loved retailers like Wilko as we expand ‘Deliveroo Shopping’ and add more selection for our customers.”
You can download the Deliveroo app through your phone’s app store for free.
Millions of hearts broke around the country when beloved high street staple Wilko announced it was shutting all of its shops.
The discount retailer is slowly rebuilding its presence on high streets after collapsing into administration in August 2023 and closing all of its 400 stores.
Following several failed rescue bids, fellow bargain chain The Range bought Wilko‘s name and intellectual property.
CDS Superstores, trading as The Range and Wilko, relaunched the latter’s website shortly after the sale went through and began selling classic Wilko products in the former’s stores.
Then, in late November, the retailer shocked fans by announcing that physical stores would also be making a comeback.
By December, three shops were open in Plymouth, Exeter, and Luton.
In March, a further two sites opened in St Albans and Rotherham. In August the chain welcomed its sixth store in Poole.
Wilko has confirmed that its Uxbridge store will open its doors to customers at 9am on November 22 – right in time for Christmas.
This store launch forms part of Wilko’s expansion plans, with a further national roll-out planned.
Most recently the chain also launched its first Amazon webshop on the retail giant’s site.
Shoppers can browse and shop ranges including pet essentials, cleaning products, paint, electricals, storage, homewares, and soft furnishings such as curtains and bedding.
Here is a timeline of what happened to Wilko
It has been a tough time for retailers since Covid and the last few years have seen many vanish from our high streets.
The rising cost of living and expensive rents have all been playing a part in the demise of some of our much-loved high street names.
This week saw the return of the beloved record chain Our Price.
The record store was once a staple of the UK high street from the early 1970s until 2004.
The first store was on London‘s Finchley Road, and the brand had as many as 300 branches at its peak, making it one of the biggest music store chains in the UK.
Last week Our Price revealed it would be making a return as music lovers will once again be able to buy thousands of vinyls and other merch.
Shoppers can browse the catalogue online for now only, owners have not ruled out the return to physical stores at some point in the future.
Toys R Us is also among those which has managed to make a comeback.
The popular toy brand opened up nine new shops in 2023 after vanishing from the high street in 2018.
However, the new stores are slightly different as they are “shop-in-shops” and are located inside WHSmith stores.
Toys R Us will be opening 30 new shops across the UK this summer following the successful opening of almost a dozen stores last year.
In October last year, Paperchase also made a return after closing all of its 134 shops and concessions earlier in the year.
Fans of the brand were devastated when the retailer disappeared from the high street in April after falling into administration.
However, supermarket giant Tesco stepped in and bought the rights to the brand and then went on to launch it in some of its stores.
A total of 261 Tesco stores now stock Paperchase products – we have the full list here.
M&Co, previously called Mackay’s, fell into administration for the second time in two years in December 2022.
Fellow retailer Yours Clothing bought the M&Co brand and intellectual property.
The retailer launched a new M&Co website in June 2023 and The Sun exclusively revealed its plans to open up physical stores starting in May 2024.
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HEALTH Secretary Wes Streeting has threatened to take an axe to “overly complex” health quangos in a patient safety overhaul.
A review published today will confirm “significant failings” at the NHS and social care regulator, the Care Quality Commission.
Ministers say they are reforming the organisation and a new chief executive was appointed last week.
Another two reviews have been commissioned into patient safety organisations more widely.
Investigators will scrutinise the CQC again, the National Guardian’s Office, Healthwatch England, the Health Services Safety Investigation Body, the Patient Safety Commissioner and NHS Resolution.
They will consider “whether patient safety could be bolstered through a different approach”.
Mr Streeting said: “An overly complex system of healthcare regulation and oversight is no good for patients or providers.
“We will overhaul the system to make it effective and efficient, to protect patient safety.”
It comes after Lord Ara Darzi’s landmark report on the state of the NHS found that super-complicated regulation is a burden on medics.
He found there are thousands more Whitehall penpushers than in 2008 and the ratio of regulatory office staff per hospital trust doubled from 53 in 2013 to 109 in 2022.
Lord Darzi said: “Too many people holding people to account, and not doing the job, can be counterproductive.”
Today’s report into the Care Quality Commission finds that it has significant internal failings.
Its performance in inspections is poor and it has not had the capacity to improve, it said.
Vic Rayner, chair of the Care Provider Alliance, said: “It is evident that a step change is required in regulation.”
A LEGENDARY antiques shop loved by celebrities and designers is closing after 60 years on a busy high street.
Guinevere, on London’s King’s Road, has seen the like of Ralph Lauren, Mick Jagger, and Elton John through its doors.
But the shop is set to close on this Christmas Eve after Genevieve Weaver founded it back in 1963, the FT reports.
Weaver’s sons Marc and Kevin took over the business in the early 1980s but the pair have been forced to close the store by rising shipping costs.
They’ll now shift to selling their wares online and Guinevere will continue “in some form”.
The store has sold everything from Persian rugs, to a maharaja’s side table, to Han dynasty jars.
Genevieve died in the 2000s after buying items from around the globe.
Remembering his mother, Marc said: “She only bought what she liked. She’d say if something was ugly in the 19th century it would still be ugly in the 21st.
“Provenance and history mattered. But it had to look good. That was her number one criterion.”
Guinevere is arranged across four shops and two storeys that have never been properly connected together.
Each room has its own atmosphere but without a cohesive theme, finding mosque lamps next to mid-century furniture.
In fact, Guinevere was one of the first dealers to start selling mid-century pieces and also the currently popular Japanese Imari porcelain.
The closure comes after another antique store in Pulborough shut its doors for good at the end of February.
Like Guinevere, its owners pinned the cause for their closure also on a rise in costs.
Meanwhile Casa Fina, an independent home accessories store on High Street in Salisbury has shut its doors after 40 years.
Although Susi conceded the closure marked the end of an era, she revealed the space would be used by a new independent business.
RETAILERS have been feeling the squeeze since the pandemic, while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to the soaring cost of living crisis.
High energy costs and a move to shopping online after the pandemic are also taking a toll, and many high street shops have struggled to keep going.
The high street has seen a whole raft of closures over the past year, and more are coming.
The number of jobs lost in British retail dropped last year, but 120,000 people still lost their employment, figures have suggested.
Figures from the Centre for Retail Research revealed that 10,494 shops closed for the last time during 2023, and 119,405 jobs were lost in the sector.
It was fewer shops than had been lost for several years, and a reduction from 151,641 jobs lost in 2022.
The centre’s director, Professor Joshua Bamfield, said the improvement is “less bad” than good.
Although there were some big-name losses from the high street, including Wilko, many large companies had already gone bust before 2022, the centre said, such as Topshop owner Arcadia, Jessops and Debenhams.
“The cost-of-living crisis, inflation and increases in interest rates have led many consumers to tighten their belts, reducing retail spend,” Prof Bamfield said.
“Retailers themselves have suffered increasing energy and occupancy costs, staff shortages and falling demand that have made rebuilding profits after extensive store closures during the pandemic exceptionally difficult.”
Alongside Wilko, which employed around 12,000 people when it collapsed, 2023’s biggest failures included Paperchase, Cath Kidston, Planet Organic and Tile Giant.
The Centre for Retail Research said most stores were closed because companies were trying to reorganise and cut costs rather than the business failing.
However, experts have warned there will likely be more failures this year as consumers keep their belts tight and borrowing costs soar for businesses.
The Body Shop and Ted Baker are the biggest names to have already collapsed into administration this year.
A BRIT dad of four was found dead at the bottom of 600ft cliffs after a holiday night out, an inquest heard yesterday.
Nathan Osman, 30, was on his first trip away with friends when the tragedy struck.
His family think he was on his way back to his hotel but got lost and fell in Benidorm.
His body was found by police the following day.
An inquest opening was told he suffered traumatic brain injuries after falling 600ft from a cliff.
Nathan’s family have started a fundraiser to bring his body home from Spain after the tragedy last month.
They also said Nathan, from Pontypridd, South Wales, was “a doting partner to Katie, mother of his four children”.
They added: “He was an incredible father and made so many memories his children will cherish.”
Coroner Graeme Hughes said an inquest was needed due to the “violent” nature of his death and adjourned the hearing for a date to be set.