00:00 The thing about being in the high street, of course, you're very public, but of course
00:05 the mere fact that you've got to have premises, you've got to have staff, and all the uncost
00:09 - you mentioned business rates - it's absolutely true.
00:11 And of course what we're living through or experiencing is the cost of living crisis,
00:15 where of course people's bills are going up because of general inflation, mortgage rates,
00:19 so people are going to switch their buying behaviour.
00:22 Woo Kogut will be a really big loss to the high street if it does go.
00:27 Our hope is of course it's gone into administration, which doesn't mean it automatically disappears.
00:31 We hope that some other high street retailer picks it up, but of course no guarantees.
00:38 Recent years have seen the collapse of many big name retailers.
00:41 Losses have been particularly felt on traditional high streets.
00:45 Shoppers tend to spend more in out of town locations, and added to that the lure and
00:49 convenience of online retail.
00:52 There are growing concerns regarding the survival of our town centres and high streets as major
00:56 retail locations.
00:58 Yeah I mean the high street was under assault anyway up until 2020, and I mention that because
01:03 of the pandemic we had all of that.
01:06 People sort of switched their buying behaviour to go onto the online purchases, so that gave
01:12 it a boost.
01:13 Do people buy in the same sort of way?
01:15 Well yeah I mean we're standing in a high street, and of course there's many shops here
01:18 that people like to visit, but hey I think we're going to have to get used to the fact
01:23 that the high street is never going to return to what it used to be when you or I were growing
01:27 up.
01:28 And indeed you go to every sort of street in the land, and the chances are you're going
01:32 to find vacant units.
01:34 I fear that this is just the beginning of more high street closures, because that's
01:41 the nature of when people get squeezed, they buy less.
01:44 After unsuccessful rescue attempts, Wilco was forced into administration, creating uncertainty
01:50 for around 12,500 jobs.
01:53 Administrators confirm the budget-conscious retailer continues trading across all stores
01:59 without any immediate redundancy plans.
02:02 Probably sort of better for it to go bankrupt, I think it's dreadful, but that's the legislation,
02:08 and they can pick up the pieces and then rehire staff on new terms and conditions, because
02:12 of course it is that sort of whole liability of the pension that they have to sort of pick
02:16 up.
02:17 So for people who did have pensions through the Wilcos, then of course there is the pension
02:22 protection fund, which of course has had a lot of calls on it in recent years, so people
02:26 get 90%.
02:27 So there is, as I say, some protection introduced, I should say, after the collapses of the Mirror
02:32 Group and the scandal of people completely losing their pensions.
02:36 While there is a brighter note, as other discount retailers like Home Bargains and Dunelm have
02:41 been offered alternative roles to affected Wilco staff, they're anticipating potential
02:46 store closures.
02:47 However, for the high street as a whole, concern looms over consumer spending due to a cost
02:53 of living crisis, raising the spectre of other major retailers facing financial troubles.
03:00 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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