The recession has caused disappointment for all of us and personally I was very disheartened when Woolworths closed down. The one shop that had been sat happily in town all my life was showing off red and yellow ‘clearance’ signs in its windows.
The place where I’d measured my height as a child, purchased more than my fair share of sweets and nagged my mother for the latest cassette tape I’d wanted was going. Woolworths was a community landmark and we shall all miss it. It’s the end of an era.
So if this wasn’t bad enough I was horrified when I saw the familiar logo of Whittard of Chelsea plastered across the news.
I immediately assumed that it too, was history, but was relieved to discover it was being saved by EPIC private equity partners just before Christmas, on December 23rd.
Whittard of Chelsea is a speciality tea and coffee firm which also sell crockery and was founded by Walter Whittard in 1886. It currently relies hugely on the tourism industry. With tea and coffee being a key theme of English heritage their products sit well as souvenirs.
But as people limit their spending and exclude luxuries such as holidays, the business has taken a huge battering, and though able to stay afloat through being bought out, it has been forced to cut back and close several stores that are no longer profitable.
An ex Whittards employee told me that they were given just a week’s notice that their store was closing down and said she was saddened because she had enjoyed working there. Due to such short notice at the time, she had not been able to look for another job, which meant she was staring unemployment in the face.
The store inside the outlet shopping centre ‘Serpentine Green’ in Hampton, near Peterborough, closed shortly after the ownership changeover.
Since this change of hands took place late in 2008, Whittards have been experiencing difficulties in particular product lines, but they hope to have these resolved by the middle of this month. Fortunately for me this didn’t affect me getting hold of a sugar bowl and milk jug to complete the beautifully designed tea set I got for Christmas.
Fingers crossed Whittards will be back on their feet soon. It would be too heartbreaking to see another of our signature businesses surrender to the weight of the credit crunch.
By Kimberly Fisher
