british holding company . for the successor the british online retailer see woolworths.co.uk . for other retailers of similar name see woolworth disambiguation . woolworths group plc woolworths group logo 2001 09 trading name woolworths woolies woolworths plc fw woolworth woolco former type public limited company traded as lse wlw nyse wlw industry retail and distribution fate merged into very predecessor f. w. woolworth & co. ltd 1909 99 successor woolworths.co.uk 2009 15 founded 6 november 1909 in liverpool england 1 founder frank winfield woolworth defunct 6 january 2009 stores 13 october 2015 dissolution headquarters london england area served uk and ireland key people 2001 to 2007 ; gerald corbett chairman trevor bish jones ceo 2007 to 2008 9 ; richard north chairman steve johnson ceo products general merchandise revenue 2 969 600 000 2008 profit 7 500 000 2008 owner f. w. woolworth company woolworths holdings company number of employees 400 2009 parent public limited company lse wlw divisions woolworths plc entertainment uk ltd subsidiaries big w uk entertainment uk woolies woolworths general store ladybird owned by shop direct chad valley 2 entertain co owned with bbc woolworths music woolworths premier woolworth records website www.woolworthsgroupplc.com archive copy woolworths group plc was a listed british company that owned the high street retail chain woolworths . it also owned other companies such as the entertainment distributor entertainment uk and book and resource distributor bertram books . the woolworths store chain which had more than 800 stores in the uk prior to closure was the main enterprise of the group selling many goods and having its own ladybird children s clothing range chad valley toys and worthit value range . the chain was the uk s largest buyer of candyking pick n mix sweets . it was sometimes referred to as woolies by the uk media the general public and occasionally in its own television commercials . 2 3 the british company also owned and ran f. w. woolworth ireland until 1984 and woolworths cyprus until 2003 . on 26 november 2008 trading of shares in woolworths group plc was suspended and its woolworths and entertainment uk subsidiaries entered administration . 4 deloitte closed all 807 woolworths stores between 27 december 2008 and 6 january 2009 resulting in 27 000 job losses . 5 woolworths group plc entered administration on 27 january 2009 6 and it was officially dissolved on 13 october 2015 . 7 in february 2009 shop direct group purchased the woolworths trademark and internet address which continued as a retail website until its closure in june 2015 . 8 contents 1 history 1.1 inauguration 1.2 internal concerns with british stores 1.3 inauguration of british stores 1.4 1918 1982 1.5 split from parent company and after 1.6 later years 1.7 administration and closure 2 aftermath of insolvency in the uk 2.1 former stores 2.2 alworths 2.3 wellworths 2.4 woolworths.co.uk 3 disasters 3.1 new cross london 3.2 central manchester 3.3 bangor county down 4 music 5 cafes 6 subsidiaries 6.1 entertainment uk 6.2 streets online 6.3 2 entertain 7 brands 7.1 winfield 7.2 chad valley 7.3 ladybird 8 references 9 external links history edit inauguration edit a woolworths store fa ade in 2004 the british branch of the f. w. woolworth company which had been founded in pennsylvania f w woolworth & co ltd was founded by frank woolworth in liverpool england on 6 november 1909 . frank woolworth had ancestry in woolley cambridgeshire frank claimed he had traced his ancestry through the founding fathers of the district to a small farm in middle england . 9 when frank eventually travelled to england in 1890 10 he docked in liverpool and travelled by train to stoke on trent for the purchase of china and glassware for woolworth s ranges but also noted his love of england in his diary and his aspirations for bringing the woolworth name to england i believe that a good penny and sixpence store run by a live yankee would be a sensation here . frank woolworth during the buying trip woolworth met a young clerk william lawrence stephenson who was recommended to him by john wanamaker . wanamaker had established a large chain of department stores across the united states and was one of woolworth s heroes . stephenson was invited to london to meet woolworth again and was offered the job as director of the new company which he accepted . 11 internal concerns with british stores edit after the idea for the creation of british stores frank woolworth had offered invitations to store managers in the united states to open up stores in the uk and had only received offers to take positions at the time of his illness in march 1909 from fred woolworth of the sixth avenue and samuel balfour of the 14th street stores in new york city . 12 after these initial offers byron miller a superintendent in a boston store also offered his assistance and set sail with the other volunteers on the steam boat kaiserin auguste victoria on 29 may 1909 for england from hoboken . 13 frank woolworth expected other members of staff to admire the volunteers in establishing fw woolworth & co in britain . however carson c. peck vice president and general manager of the company had reservations with enlisting staff members to travel to britain questioning whether woolworth had indeed created the new business adventure following a dream or due to his dissatisfaction with the current condition of the american branch . 14 peck also asked those who were willing to volunteer to reconsider their decision claiming that those who had volunteered were unaware of the uncertainty and risks involved and that some were only tentatively willing to engage in woolworth s new endeavour 15 his concerns mainly entered on the fact that the majority of the managers who followed the decision did so out of loyalty to woolworth 16 and that moving such a valuable resource already established in the united states to what was a financially unproven little infant in the uk would have a detrimental effect upon the bread and butter of the company . to me it seems that these return sheets are in danger of being misunderstood and that it is a good deal like asking a boy to volunteer to go into a bear s den when he does not know whether he is to eat a nicely cooked luscious bear s steak or be eaten by a great big black bear . carson c. peck inauguration of british stores edit woolworths group plc headquarters on marylebone road london despite reservations such as peck s the decision to launch stores in the united kingdom went ahead as previously planned by woolworth . he considered several locations for the first stores together with future possible sites . 17 the chosen location for the first store was 25 25a church street and 8 williamson street liverpool 18 the street addresses of the different entrances . it opened on 5 november 1909 with a performance by a full orchestra circus acts and fireworks . 1 as a means of adherence to american trading tradition only viewing of items was allowed on the first day of the shop s opening . this included guests being given complimentary tea while being entertained by a traditional brass band in the refreshment room . the event was reported positively by the local newspaper the liverpool courier which praised the decor of the stores along with the value and range of items on sale . 19 despite local press praise the british national newspaper the daily mail likened frank woolworth to phineas taylor barnum and claimed that the store location had been decided as part of a contingency plan in the event of failure so as to facilitate escape from any financial liability . 20 despite these reservations the store proved to be a success ; large queues outside and low priced 3d . and 6d . threepenny and sixpenny items leading to it being almost stripped bare of goods before the end of the first day of trading and being attributed to mass purchased mass produced foreign and local goods . 21 at the onset of the first world war f.w. woolworth & co. had 40 stores in great britain and ireland located in most major cities from which a total of 57 staff including store managers had enlisted ; the majority of whom did not return after the end of the war in 1918 . 22 despite american staff again offering their services to the woolworths branches in britain remaining staff increased their efforts to cope with the lack of staff members throughout the war with several staff members being promoted to managerial positions . 23 stores in the united states which were then stocking ranges also present in british stores were dependent upon european manufacturers which had adopted newer production methods than their american counterparts . 24 1918 1982 edit interior of a woolworths store in reading in 1945 after the first world war the company continued to expand with the opening of further branches . by 1923 there were 130 branches and william lawrence stephenson 1880 1963 became managing director . he implemented a strategy of major expansion with the company buying or building freehold properties . many of the stores had distinctive faience tiled art deco frontages . the expansion was funded entirely out of earnings and without any borrowing or further capitalisation . the 400th branch at southport lancashire opened on 12 july 1930 and the company was floated on the london stock exchange in 1931 . the us parent company reduced its holding in the company to 51.7 % at that time . 25 in 1934 the 600th store was opened in wallington in surrey . 26 expansion was effectively suspended between 1940 and 1950 due to the second world war and post war restrictions but then resumed . the 800th branch at wilton road victoria london opened in september 1953 . on 22 may 1958 the 1000th branch known as portslade to distinguish it from the existing hove branch opened in boundary road hove . the peak of 1 141 branches was reached in the late 1960s . from then until the us parent sold out in 1982 a number of branches were closed and sold and at the time that ownership shifted to the uk there were about 1 000 branches . 27 woolworths tried the large out of town store or hypermarket format in the 1960s with the woolco stores . 28 while some of these stores were closed the majority were sold to the dee corporation in the early 1980s and re opened as gateway hypermarkets later being taken over by asda . 29 in 1969 one of woolworths flagship stores on briggate in leeds suffered a major fire . the store which opened in 1913 was spread over four floors and sustained extensive damage requiring a total refit . the store was not open to the public at the time and all staff were evacuated avoiding fatalities although some staff suffered minor injuries . it took several hours for the fire to be fully extinguished . 30 split from parent company and after edit the woolworth logo used from the 1970s until around 1985 in 1982 the british woolworths was acquired by paternoster stores ltd the forerunner of kingfisher plc. woolworths group plc was formed by the demerger of kingfisher s general merchandise business 31 and began trading as a listed company on the london stock exchange on 28 august 2001 using the symbol wlw . in 1984 woolworths stores in ireland trading as f. w. woolworth ireland closed . in august 1996 market research was undertaken by woolworths belfast district office which investigated opportunities to re enter the republic of ireland market . in a project commissioned by the then northern ireland district manager bruce strang a total of 32 potential locations were