Final day for Woolworths in Bristol
Branches of Woolworths in Bedminster, Clifton, Filton and Hartcliffe will pull the shutters down for the last time at the end of trading on Saturday.
And on Tuesday, the closure of Nailsea's Woolies will signal the end of a once-great high street chain.
By then, the last of 807 Woolworths shops will have closed across the UK, leaving 27,000 staff out of work.
Seven stores in the Bristol area have closed in the last week, and by the end of Tuesday all 529 staff in our area will have lost their jobs.
The Filton store at Abbey Wood retail park employs 118 staff, more than any other Woolworths in the area.
But the former Big W is already a shadow of its former self.
Much of the vast shop has already been emptied and cordoned off, leaving little more than a corner of the store open for trading.
Where TVs were once displayed next to household wares and kitchen crockery, now metal cages stand half-filled with unwanted goods, ready to take away what cannot be sold. Other goods lie strewn across the floor, apparently discarded by bargain-hunters.
Banners hang from the ceilings to tell shoppers that all stock has been reduced and that even the fixtures and fittings are for sale.
But there was little joy among shoppers yesterday.
Rather than rushing around to bag the last of the bargains, customers wandered around what is left of the aisles, bemused expressions on their faces as they watched a once-great store fold before their eyes.
There were plenty of great deals to be had – children's paints for 50p, earphones for 25p, a girl's skirt for £2.50 and 50 per cent off CDs and DVDs – but the savings didn't inspire much enthusiasm. There were also reports of shoplifting and people swapping price stickers to get their purchases even cheaper.
The atmosphere among the staff was understandably flat.
Diligent to the last, they swept floors and priced goods like it was any other trading day.
But their hard work could not disguise their disappointment at the imminent closure.
John Coggins, the assistant manager, roamed the shop floor to help customers with their queries.
The 66-year-old, who lives in Clevedon, has been at the store since it opened nine years ago.
Now he faces redundancy, like the rest of his staff.
He said: "We have gone from being the brightest idea in retail, as a Big W superstore out of town, to being closed down.
"It is hard for staff to see it like this, especially as most of us set it up in the first place.
"When you have put something together and it is dismantled in front of you, it is tough. It is your life and it feels like it is being destroyed – like one of your limbs has gone."
Mr Coggins said that the hardest thing was to see the damage the closures would have on his long-serving colleagues at other stores.
He said: "Some of them have put a lifetime's work in, starting in their early 20s.
"But they will only get about 12 weeks' redundancy pay at a flat rate, and their pensions are gone. It's a sad day for us.
"Woolworths is a shopping icon of our time, and now it is gone."
Shop assistant Denise Jenkins, from Filton, started at the Filton branch on February 14, 2000.
Next week, after the last shelves have been dismantled and what is left of the stock packed away, she will go to her local job centre to look for work.
Mrs Jenkins, 53, said: "It feels very sad, especially as we are losing a big store in a local community.
"Many people here walk to work, and there aren't many places left where you can do that.
"One of the saddest things is that we are going to miss our friends as much as the job.
"Six of us here started on the same day and there are a number of married couples who work here, so they are going to be losing two jobs.
"Some of them have jobs to go to, but others will be looking. People's livelihoods are disappearing."
Her friend and co-worker Barbara Ford, said it was sad to see goods scattered around everywhere.
She said: "We have spent weeks, months and years trying to make it a nice store, and Woolworths always had a plan for everything to make things just right.
"Now it's a mess. Everything is cheap but people want it cheaper and it is not the way it used to be."
Nick Gray, a lorry driver from Yate, was picking up bargains with his family.
He said: "I have bought a load of pocket levels for 10p each and might sell them at a car boot sale. I could easily get 60p for them.
"But it is very sad to see Woolworths closing.
"If they were so many millions in the red they should have got rid of a few shops or staff earlier to save it. No company should be allowed to go so far into debt."
It was a similar story in the branch at the Imperial Retail Park, Hartcliffe, where 99 jobs will be lost.
The store will close tomorrow when every last bit of stock has been sold off. Yesterday, metal crates on wheels blocked off most of the store from customers, much of it already swept clean.
CDs were going for £4, mobile phone hands-free kits for 50p Transformer toys for £1.50, and children's plimsolls for 10p.
Plasterboard walls had gaping holes in them where shelves had been torn out and one elderly lady carried out a metal crate she had picked up for £5.
Back at the Filton branch customers waited patiently at the checkouts, ready to pay for their final shop at Woolworths.
Ahead of them, in big red lettering by the exit door, a sign read: "Bye for now. Thanks. See you again soon, take care."
Come Tuesday, it will be bye for good for Woolworths.
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