Wilko was founded in Leicester in 1930 by James Kemsey Wilkinson. By the 1990s it was one of Britain's fastest-growing retailers, and a decade before its collapse its sales were larger than B&M's. It operated 408 stores, most of them in high-street locations in traditional town centres, and employed around 12,500 people.
The decline was slow and visible. Rivals — B&M, Poundland, Home Bargains, The Range — offered similar goods at lower prices in larger, better-located stores. Wilko's high-street estate, an asset when Woolworths collapsed in 2008, became a liability as shoppers shifted to retail parks after the pandemic. The chain struggled to join up its online and in-store operations. At least one credit insurer withdrew trade cover, suppliers paused deliveries, and gaps appeared on shelves.
In January 2023 Wilko borrowed £40 million from restructuring firm Hilco Capital. In February it announced up to 400 job cuts. On 10 August 2023 it entered administration with PwC appointed as administrator. The company collapsed with £625 million in debt and a £50 million pension deficit. Reports noted the owning family had taken £77 million out of the business over the preceding decade.
No buyer emerged for the whole chain. B&M purchased 51 stores for £13 million. Poundland took leases on 71. A bid by Doug Putman for up to 300 stores collapsed. CDS Superstores, owner of The Range, bought the Wilko brand and website for £5 million. The last stores under the original ownership closed on 8 October 2023.
The owners took £77 million in dividends over a decade instead of modernizing, leaving £625 million debt and no buyer for the whole chain.
The owners treated a growing business as a dividend source — £77 million extracted over a decade while stores, pricing and logistics went unmodernised
The high-street estate was never rationalised; analysts said a cut to 250 stores would have been sensible, but the decision was never taken
Competitors invested in larger retail-park formats and lower prices while Wilko's sales fell below Poundland, Home Bargains and The Range
Online and in-store operations were never integrated, leaving the chain unable to serve post-pandemic shopping habits
A retailer that stops investing while competitors modernise is not declining — it is deferring a bill. The longer the owners wait, the less of the estate a buyer will want.
The Range relaunched Wilko.com in October 2023 and began stocking Wilko-brand products. A handful of Wilko stores reopened under CDS Superstores in 2024. In March 2026, CDS reached an agreement with Morrisons to place Wilko concessions inside Morrisons supermarkets. The Wilkinson family's 93-year stewardship ended with the brand surviving only as a label on another company's shelves.
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