Tears as Chippenham Woolworths closes

8:31pm Saturday 3rd January 2009

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Tearful staff at Woolworths in Chippenham shut up shop for the last time today and said their goodbyes to the colleagues they describe as 'one big family'.

Jenny Payne, who has worked at the store for 36 years is devastated by the closure.

She said: "I came here when I was 15, and I've loved it.

"I retired a couple of years ago, but I came back again. We are such a good team here, it is like leaving your own family."

Karen Wheeler added: "I've been here 11 years, but this is such a sad day. We are all gutted. One of my colleagues said to me the other day, the atmosphere that we have in this store, you just couldn't bottle it up, its just brilliant and we all get on so well.

"Even when someone is off sick or they go into hospital, they feel like we are all with them because we are so supportive of each other.

"But we have tried to inject a bit of humour into the day by making our own CD and playing it in the shop. The last song is 'Always look on the bright side of life'."

The store, which will leave a huge hole in Chippenham High Street was bustling with bargain hunters right up until staff locked the doors at 5pm.

The latest DVD's, computer games and CD's were being sold off at prices as low as 50p in a desperate bid to clear the shelves of all stock.

All the fixtures and fittings, including the brand new furniture installed as part of the revamped store in 2005, were plastered with 'sold' stickers.

Mrs Wheeler added: "Its mad, when it was all announced in the media, it became a free for all in here, it was completely manic. People have been buying all the 'store closing' signs for nearly £30 each and I hear all the name badges and Woolworths pens are being flogged on ebay for ridiculous prices."

Shop owners Marlene and Ken Cottle from Radstock were the last customers through the tills on Saturday afternoon after hiring a van to transport their purchases home.

Mr Cottle said: "We have two shops of our own in Midsomer Norton, so we have spent over £2,000 on fixtures and fittings from the store in Chippenham and Big W in Filton.

"We sell a lot of cards, so we have bought the card stands, but I don't quite know how we are going to fit them in our shop yet. This is such a shame for Woolworths and a very sad day."

Nicky Jones, who works in the entertainment department said she is worried for the future of Chippenham now the biggest, and often busiest store in the town has closed its doors.

She said: "Chippenham will just die out now. With Officers Club closing just opposite, we will have two empty shops in the middle of the town, its terrible.

"None of us have got jobs to go to because we were never given an official date that we would be closing, and there is just nothing around at the moment. We found everything out on the television like everyone else."

The chain called in the administrators in November amid mounting debts of £385 million and just three days into what should have been the store's centenary year, more than 27,000 of its loyal staff are facing the new year unemployed.