Wilko’s

About a month ago Wilkinsons , or “Wilko’s”, closed the last of its shops. It should go without saying that it is sad when workers become unemployed, though positively, many of the shops have been bought by Poundland and other companies, so the premises will find use again.

The issue which has been brought up, on local radio at least, is that we the public “did not use Wilkos”, therefore it is ‘our fault’ that the business failed.

I’m not having it.

Wilko’s was not a shop that people used every day. I went there twice to get a mop bucket and a shovel. I still have the shovel. Shops like Wilko’s close because of bad management and larger businesses outmanoeuvring them.

B&Q’s hasn’t closed down, but no-one goes there every day.

Sports Direct hasn’t closed down, again it is not used by everyone, every day either.

Where I live, there used to be seven butchers within my range – a 40 minute walk or a 20 min bus ride there and back – but now there are only two. Those two were and are both bigger than the five that shut down. They are also both further away than the Aldi or the Lidl.

I used three of the other butchers fairly regularly. I would do a meat shop, a bit of cooking and then freeze the rest. It took around half a day and I had quality meat for two weeks or so.

The irony of this, of the closure of Wilkos, of the closure of well-frequented butchers is that WE are blamed, whether we shopped there or not.

We are told that the nature of capitalism is competition. Wilko’s lost at that. We are told that one of the benefits of capitalism is the freedom to choose, yet WE are told it was OUR fault that WE chose not to buy mop buckets from Wilko’s every day, therefore it is OUR fault the business failed.

It is utter hypocrisy to bemoan the loss of Wilko’s, or any other shop, without advocating for a planned economy. Business owners sometimes win in the competition of capitalism, but customers and workers (invariably the same people) will always lose at this game.

The Class Consciousness Project wrote on the collapse of Wilko on 27th August. The article can be found here.