Former Woolworths Dorchester store manager Claire Robertson showed us how it should be done when she set up Wellworths in the wake of the collapse of Woolworths [providing much needed employment and hope for former Woolworths employees, a positive spin to the story and, I believe, support for the Woolworths brand as it showed the chutzpah of those that worked for it].
However, lawyers advising Shop Direct, which bought the rights to the Woolworths brand name, were not so impressed by her attitude and have reportedly written to her threatening legal action if she opens another shop, because the name is too similar to Woolworths.
Shop Direct is owned by the billionaire Barclay brothers.
Photo by Mat aka Suburbanslice via Flickr.
It was good to see that some individual stores had been taken over by former staff, and they seemed to be doing better with a single store than their previous employer had done with a chain of over 800. However, it seems slightly churlish of Shop Direct to step in, particularly as they bought the rights to the Woolworths brand at a knock-down price - it's not like a single store is really serious competition for them, is it?