You won't need your woolly pully in here (Woolworths)

Member Name: silverstreak2

Product:	Woolworths
Date:	26/05/05 (504 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Low prices on most goods, Good selection of toys, Childrens shopping under one roof

Disadvantages: No air conditioning, CDs and DVDs a bit expensive, Not so much choice of sweets

I imagine most people in Britain are familiar with Woolworths, or Woolies as they are affectionately known, and many of us will remember those seemingly endless TV ads proclaiming 'the wonder of good old Woolies'. And that's exactly how they have come to be thought of over the years - good old, reliable, cheap and cheerful Woolies.These days, however, with competition coming from the ever increasing number of discount and budget stores, together with the rising popularity of the Internet, Woolworths are not quite so cheap in comparison and they have to work a lot harder to keep up with the competition.

Woolworths are at present undergoing a major refurbishment programme and our local store was completely redesigned and refitted a few months ago. Despite being a relatively small store, the result is a distinct improvement in terms of layout and the whole place has a much brighter look to it.

Firstly, they've set out the aisles at an angle either side of a wide walkway, allowing you to see at a glance much more of what's on the shelves. A clever marketing ploy is to place the toys at the front of the store, which is the first thing children see when they are dragged in by their poor, stressed out mums, who are extremely likely to resort to a bribe in order to get the little dears to behave.

The toys themselves are very well set out and grouped by age and sex, and there is a separate section for board games and jigsaw puzzles. Whilst stocking most of the current favourites, including Lego, Bratz, K-nex etc., they still have their own Chad Valley brand of well made, good quality toys (mostly for younger children) and at reasonable prices.

Once Mum has caved in to the pressure and popped a toy into the basket, she can move on to the childrens clothes section. Woolworths has its own brand called Ladybird and caters for babies as well as children up to about the age of 12-13. The clothes are colourful and modern, with many favourite characters appearing on T shirts and pyjamas, underwear and socks. The quality is as good as Adams or BHS, with prices comparing favourably. There is also quite a good range of shoes, sandals and trainers for younger children, and a good selection of schoolwear, including plimsolls, swimming bags etc.

The rear of the store is devoted to gardening and DIY equipment, together with homeware, which I have to say has become much more up-market than we used to see at Woolies. There are some pretty decent dinner services with matching tableware, and they stock a number of small kitchen appliances, such as kettles and toasters, along with cutlery, crockery and many other items. There is also a very good range of childrens bedroom accessories. On the whole, there is much more emphasis on contemporary merchandise, and a lot less of the traditional items such as sewing equipment etc., although you can still buy reels of cotton and Velcro strips if you wish!

Most of the area on the opposite side of the main aisle is dedicated to home entertainment, that is, CDs, videos, DVDs and computer games etc., and whilst the range mainly covers the latest releases and chart items, they will generally order something for you, provided it's not too obscure. I suspect that this is an area where they lose out to internet retailers such as Amazon, however, very often they will have special offers of cheaply priced (older) videos and DVDs if you spend over £5 (on any goods).

Is it my imagination or have Woolworths become very health conscious in cutting down their famously huge range of chocolate and sweets? There is certainly much less since the store was revamped, but perhaps this is a local decision brought about by restricted space. Who can blame them commercially for concentrating on the higher priced goods rather than low margin smaller items?

One area where they have improved tremendously is greetings cards and party stationery. The selection is far greater than before, with practically all events catered for, and there is a particularly good childrens and family section. The prices too, are much cheaper than, say, Clintons. They have a good choice of party goods, such as paper plates, plastic cups and invitations and you can still buy most daily and local newspapers and a range of magazines.

It's impossible to detail every product on sale, but essentially Woolworths is an ideal place for family one-stop shopping, at fairly good prices - many's the time I've gone in just to buy a present for one of the children to take to a friend's party, only to come out with not only the present, wrapping paper and card, but socks, underpants, a school shirt and perhaps a video or DVD.

Now for the catch: Woolworths have never heard of AIR CONDITIONING! This isn't so bad in the cooler weather, but the minute the temperatures outside start to climb, the degrees inside soar off the scale. A wall of heat engulfs you as you walk through the door and you wonder if you haven't wandered into a butterfly house by mistake. The thought of buying what has become liquid chocolate is decidedly unappealing - who knows, perhaps poor sales are the reason for reducing their confectionery range.

I did write to Woolworths' Head Office prior to the refurbishment, to ask whether they would be installing air conditioning units in the new store, but all I got was a very unhelpful letter saying that it was 'difficult to maintain an ambient temperature for our customers'. Why, when nearly every other retailer manages to do so! I later heard from a member of staff that Woolworths told them it was too expensive to install it in every store, which I must say seems to be an extremely short sighted approach in such a competitive industry. After all, what harassed mother wants to spend time in a stuffy, humid atmosphere, with a hot, agitated child in tow when she can do her shopping in relaxed, cool comfort, probably spending twice as much as she'd intended?

The staff somehow manage to stay cheerful in such awful working conditions, to my constant amazement. In fact, they are a very friendly, helpful bunch of people at all times, and the heat has become something of a standing joke amongst themselves and the customers. Perhaps if Woolworths are taken over, as nearly happened recently, the new owners will make some changes - we live in hope.

On the whole, Woolworths remains, I would say, good value for money, whilst managing to keep up standards in the face of strong competition and in fact, this competition has probably been good for them in terms of keeping up to date with current trends.Just remember to stock up on your chocolate during the winter and keep it stashed at the back of the fridge for when the weather hots up!

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