Too late for a facelift (Woolworths)

Member Name: Tracy_1127

Product:	Woolworths
Date:	01/12/08 (96 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: wide range of items available, worth it range good value

Disadvantages: many items overpriced, shabby stores sometimes,

I see many dooyooers are reviewing Woolworths now we are on the brink of saying goodbye to this well-known store. I have to admit to being surprised Woolworths will be one of the casualties of the credit crunch, especially as it's such a huge company, but time ticks on and with the arrival of a variety of online stores selling CDs and DVDs for usually smaller amounts and various discount stores and websites selling toys, clothes, electrical goods etc for less I suppose I shouldn't really be too surprised.

Our local Woolies is a medium sized one, the range of goods available is not as extensive as many other Woolworths due to the size. Ours sells sweets and chocolates, newspapers and magazines, CDs, DVDs, a few mobile phones and CD players etc, toys, children's clothes, household items such as kitchen goods and Xmas decorations at this time of year. Many of the larger stores have alot more on offer than ours but essentially all stock similar ranges.

I have to admit I do not use Woolworths very often, ours is looking a bit shabby and has been that way for the last few years, if I want a CD or DVD I tend to look online and often end up buying from either Amazon or HMV as they are usually so much cheaper. An example this year is a DVD I bought for someone, advertised on Woolworths site at £16.99 and purchased through HMV's site for £4.99. Such a big difference it's really not surprising people buy elsewhere.

I do buy bits from the "worth it" range though, last year I bought some Xmas decorations and got 10 baubles, some fairy lights and a bit of tinsel for under a fiver, that's good value! The other day I bought a pack of 10 blank DVDs for £3.49, again good value.

Usually at Xmas when we're shopping for my partner's many nieces and nephews we browse through the toy section in Woolies, even our small branch has a substantial amount of toys, and usually we'd end up buying something from there.

But it's a far cry from 20 years ago when I was a teenager, Woolies would be fit to bursting every lunchtime and weekend with teenagers buying records (yes, I am that old!) and videos. We would all visit Woolies if we had a craving for sweets or needed pens and pencils etc for school. Many independent record stores started and stopped in our small town unable to compete with the High Street giant that was Woolworths but that was before internet shopping.

I think it will be missed but sadly Woolworths just didn't keep up. Tradition is great but as times get harder people are searching for more of a bargain than ever before and Woolworths may have some items that are great value but there are many that simply aren't. Unfortunately it became time for either a complete overhaul or closure and it looks like the latter won the day.

Summary: It just didn't keep up with the internet