Collapsed retailer Woolworths will soon have new life online after Shop Direct Group said Monday it purchased the brand name for an undisclosed sum.
In a statement, Shop Direct said it intends to launch Woolworths.co.uk this summer. Details of product ranges are to be announced later.
Shop Direct is Britain’s largest online and home shopping retailer with sales of about 1.6 billion pounds (US$2.3 billion). Other brands include Littlewoods, Littlewoods Direct, and Marshall Ward.
Bankrupt Woolworths closed all of its 800 stores in Britain in early January after being unable to find a buyer for the business. The company had employed about 30,000 people across the U.K.
The first British Woolworths store opened in 1909 under the FW Woolworths brand—a subsidiary of the U.S. company. The British retail company outlasted its original U.S. parent, which closed its final Woolworths stores in 1997.
Woolworths sold everything from candy and children’s toys to household appliances and DVDs and was a sentimental favourite with many Britons. But it struggled for years to remain relevant as supermarket chains expanded into its traditional business.
