The wonder of Woolworths' skips
BARGAIN hunters jumped at the chance to liberate unsaleable stock thrown into skips by Woolworths staff in Totnes yesterday.
A crowd of up to 40 people gathered and some climbed inside the two skips in the High Street.
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Crowds outside Woolworths in Totnes
Clock radios, shoe racks, staff uniforms, cardboard and other unwanted items were grabbed by the crowd.
At one point, two men were aboard the skips distributing any objects that people called for.
Scott Thomas, from Paignton, was on his lunchbreak when he saw the free-for-all.
He said: "They were helping themselves. There were a flock of people, about 30 or 40, with a couple of them literally standing in the skip.
"It was comical, but it shows the extent people will go to for a bargain.
"I didn't get anything, but I saw one chap walking up the road with a pink clock radio.
"It was still in its bubble-wrap but there wasn't a box. He seemed quite pleased with himself.
"I don't know how full one of the skips was, but within a couple of hours, it was virtually empty."
With Woolworths having gone into administration, the Totnes store had been due to close its doors yesterday.
However, bosses gave it an extra day's grace, along with other outlets including Dawlish and Dartmouth. A spokesman for administrators Deloitte said: "There are two main reasons for delaying the closures. One, stock levels – there's still some stock remaining. Two, workload – it's a big logistical exercise."
The 99-year-old chain store went into administration in November after a deal to buy the 807 shops fell through. Everything, including fixtures and fittings, is being sold at discount prices in the company's remaining stores.
7 Comments
by Andy, UK
Monday, January 05 2009, 3:24AM
“Yes, those pink clock radios were removed from sale due to possible fire risk I do believe.
Good luck to the guy.”
by Farringdon Loon, Men
Sunday, January 04 2009, 10:20PM
“I think, Henry, that you will find the receivers will not give a monkey's. They are, after all, merely bean counters.”
by henry blince, Torquay
Sunday, January 04 2009, 8:56PM
“If they're that dangerous wasn't it a bit daft leaving them in an open skip on the high street?”
by Margaret Arnold, Northampton, U.K
Saturday, January 03 2009, 9:32PM
“I worked at Northampton branch and remember these clock radios being removed because of safety reasons. Even customers complained because they thought they would get them for 50p! Never mind it blowing up- they just wanted it because it was cheap.”
by Tony Cue, Carmarthen
Saturday, January 03 2009, 8:22PM
“All the products thrown into the skip were unsaleable due to health and safety reasons. The pink/silver alarm clock radios were taken off sale 7 weeks ago because of faulty internal wiring. Serves them right if anything happens. We told someone going through our skips that the Polly Pocket toys he was stealing had ten times the safe recommended level of lead in the orange paint, he simply replied "It doesn't bother me".”
by d clark, bodmin
Saturday, January 03 2009, 2:47PM
“i think you will find anybody taking an item out of a skip, not belonging to them is classified as stealing”
by Alison, Dartmouth
Saturday, January 03 2009, 11:10AM
“Having worked for Woolies in the past, I'm afraid to say there downfall was around 11 yrs ago. when the big wigs decided to split the shops into 3 different categories. City, Town & local. Having done this they then took a lot of stock off of there shelves that people knew that once they could purchase there. This then caused a down fall in there footfall of customers. Plus the fact they also started to stock cheap & nasty items. I feel sorry for the staff especially if there is no redundancy package for them but I bet there will be enough money for the bosses to get there big fat pay offs for cocking up this establishment. Good Luck Girls for the future”