About this episode
The episode investigates the downfall of the Wilkinson retail chain during a cost-of-living crisis.
Wilkinson - or Wilko as it became known - was a privately-owned family business that had been successful for decades, offering low-priced household products from its chain of high street stores. So why did it falter during a cost-of-living crisis when people were looking for value? The BBC Business journalist, Sean Farrington, investigates how its stores ended up toast, in the company of resident business expert and entrepreneur, Sam White. To help explain what happened, Sean and Sam delve into the parliamentary archives and hear from expert guests including Gordon Brown who was Wilkinson's managing director for 15 years and Patrick O'Brien, Research Director at GlobalData who has followed the fortunes of high street names for over a decade. At the end, Sam has to come up with her own conclusions about the fate of Wilko based on what she has just heard. If you have a good idea for an interesting Toast topic then tell us about it - email toast@bbc.co.uk Produced by Jon Douglas, Toast is a BBC Audio North production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.
People in this episode
Host: Sean Farrington
Guest: Sam White
Topics covered
- business failure
- cost-of-living crisis
- retail analysis
- high street stores
- family business
- economic challenges
Keywords
- Wilkinson
- business failure
- cost-of-living crisis
- retail
- high street
- Gordon Brown
- Sam White
- Sean Farrington
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Wilkinson, GlobalData, BBC Radio 4, BBC Sounds
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