Wee W
It is a great shame to hear the news that Wee W is to close in the New Year.
It will leave a vacuum in Cromwell Street that may be very difficult to fill and will further reduce the choice for consumers in the islands.
The local individuals who put their money behind this venture deserve the praise for their investment in the community, and their attempts to restore the sense of how "Woolworths" was and could have been.
As I have said before, this is not going to be the last local casualty in the coming recession and it exemplifies the weakness of the local economy. A weakness that is not being addressed in any way by Government.
7 comments:
I think there is more at work than just the recession, Angus. WeeW tried to emulate Woolworths, a concept that had been shown to be a failure just a year previous. Whenever I was in the store, it was invariably empty, and of late, invariably empty of stock. It was a one-night wonder, poorly managed and without vision. It's a huge big shame - on the part of the management.
I think it goes to show just how hard it is to emulate what although was a faltering chain nationally was successful at a local level. It never quite seemed to be stocked well enough where as before you knew you'd 'get it' in woollies.
There's also a more fundamental problem in the town which does not help the local shops and that is a lack of parking, despite some pay & display slots. There have been numerous occasions where I went down town for something and couldn't find a parking space, even after driving around for ages before deciding, well I won't bother. How many other people do the same I wonder. The only growth seems to be in charity shops which is a sign of the times!
Its not home improvement or tut shops Stornoway needs, more proper shoe and clothes shops at affordable prices. Time to see a next or similar, stocking everyday clothing items that peolpe go to Inverness or shop on line for. I'm affraid Wee W's was a poor immitation of woolworths with nothing really that people wanted or could not find in any existing stores. Mind you if we did have a wonderful selection of stores, then there would be no need to risk using the ferries in the depths of winter to go Christmas shopping in Inverness and perhaps Calmac would loose even more revenue.... makes me think if perhaps there is not a political reason why we don't have the high street names on our high street!
Didn't the Comhairle buy the building for Wee W with town centre regeneration money?
4:11 sums it up quite well: it was at the time a seemingly good idea, badly executed. It was like the Marie Celeste most of the time.
As 9:17 suggests, a decent-sized shoe/clothes shop would be a good replacement.
9.52
Yes-I think you're right. Maybe they'll (*cough*) make a statement on the matter.
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