Iceland moves to turn Woolworths into frozen food store

THE now-closed Woolworths store in Minehead is to be reopened as a branch of the Iceland frozen food chain.
The property, in The Avenue, is among 51 former Woolworths stores which are being bought nationwide by Iceland, and one of only two in Somerset, the other being in Frome.
Iceland said it planned to create 2,500 new jobs across the country – as against the 27,000 jobs which were lost when the last of 807 Woolworths stores was shut on Tuesday.
The Minehead Woolworths was in the final batch of stores which remained open until the very end.
Woolworths had traded in Minehead since 1937 and had nearly 30 staff at the premises, some of whom had worked there for more than 20 years.
The staff are understood to have been offered an opportunity to move across to Iceland as their new employer.
An Iceland spokesman said: “We are confident we can help to support the local community in these towns who have lost a major High Street retailer in Woolworths.”
Woolworths went into administration with debts of £385 million in November and administrators Deloite were unable to find a buyer to take over the chain.
Iceland, which already has 682 stores, previously offered to buy all of the Woolworths chain last summer but the bid was rejected as ‘unacceptable’.
The frozen food retail business was founded in 1970 and was taken over by a consortium led by Icelandic investment group Baugur in 2005.

The firm already has stores in Taunton, Bridgwater, and Barnstaple.

Woolworths employees in West Somerset fear for their jobs

DOZENS of shopworkers in Minehead were this week left to fear for their jobs as troubled retailer Woolworths fought to avoid going bust.
Woolworths, which has a branch in The Avenue, Minehead, is said to have been offered for sale for £1 to restructuring firm Hilco.
But it has debts of £385 million and has been holding emergency talks with its two main banks.
Analysts said Woolworths was likely to go into administration with the loss of 20,000 of its 30,000 jobs unless some kind of a rescue deal could be agreed.
Minehead is just one of 840 stores in the Woolworths UK portfolio, which also includes a distribution business and a DVD publishing business.
The company’s shares have fallen by 92 per cent in the past year as it suffered record first-half pre-tax losses of £90.8 million in September and scrapped its dividend to shareholders.
Only in August, Woolworths rejected a £50 million takeover bid for its stores from a group headed by the founder of the Iceland frozen food chain, Malcolm Walker.
Woolworths was due to celebrate its trading centenary in 2009.
A statement issued by Woolworths said: “The board can confirm it is in preliminary discussions regarding a possible offer for the retail business. There can be no assurance that any offer will be forthcoming.”