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Friday 9 October 2020

Not a surprise



Edinburgh Woollen Mill, owner of the Peacocks and Jaeger clothing brands, says it plans to appoint administrators in an attempt to save the business.

The move puts 21,000 jobs at risk amid what the company described as "brutal" trading conditions.

"Like every retailer, we have found the past seven months extremely difficult," said Edinburgh Woollen Mill chief executive Steve Simpson.

The stores will continue to trade as a review of the firm is carried out...

The businesses attract older shoppers who are likely to be keeping away from the High Street to protect against coronavirus, says Catherine Shuttleworth, an independent retail expert.


There are a number of EWM outlets round here and our impression has always been decidedly negative. Dull places attracting older shoppers. Where is the future in that? Maybe there are other reasons for failure and we are certainly not retail experts, but for years we've wondered how they managed to keep going. Now we know - they haven't.

6 comments:

Mark Wadsworth said...

"Dull places attracting older shoppers"

One day we'll be old and shop there :-)

Sam Vega said...

They need to start a rumour that wool keeps the virus at bay. Or maybe started making Jaeger face-masks at the start of the lockdown.

Scrobs. said...

We've often used the one near here, but the Jaeger brand is far too over-priced!

I suppose it's going to be just Cotton Traders soon, they often put their outlets in garden centres and the like.

wiggiatlarge said...

One day we'll be old and shop there :-)

I am old and still don't shop there or Dunelm who are successful or Next and their mainly tat products who are successful or Matalan who are also successful, they all appeal or not to different market sectors and some are better than others at capturing that sector or even more importantly having the management to see that they have to alter course, something that M&S have repeatably failed to do with any obvious showing.
But all those who say online is the future forget one thing, you cannot judge the quality online you cannot try for size online and the advantages of price will disappear when they have a monopoly and the government as they already have start to tax deliveries etc as part of their eco loon drive.

The Jannie said...

wiggiatlarge touched on something which crossed my mind recently: deliveries. I'm surprised that the hot planet loons haven't stuck their prodnoses into the amount of fuel being burned to make Amazon and co work. Mind you, they also don't seem to have bitten the ankle of the haulage companies who burn tons of diesel dragging tons of inefficient wood fuel from one end of the country to the other to be burned in inefficient furnaces to produce "energy-efficient" elctricity. Maybe size IS everything . . .

A K Haart said...

Mark - maybe as we get older we acquire a taste for the acrylic and polyester versions of "wool".

Sam - Jaeger face-masks would have been a good wheeze. Barbour could have done stiff waxed cotton versions.

Scrobs - I recently bought a Cotton Traders shirt for £15 which is better than anything I ever saw in EWM.

Wiggia - I agree, you cannot judge the quality or size online although apparently many people routinely order two sizes and send back the one which doesn't fit. Even doing that you can't judge quality though.

Jannie - they may take the view that Amazon deliveries are better than lots of people driving all over the place. In our case we still go out but not to the shops.