Woolies boss will try again
WOOLWORTHS’ former boss Sir Geoff Mulcahy is working to raise the collapsed retailer from the ashes with a bid to open 200 similar stores.
Mulcahy is part of group, headed by former managing director Tony Page, hoping to make another “Woolworths type” high street brand.
The group aims to buy the majority of the stores from the old Woolworths estate.
Mulcahy was the chief executive of the Kingfisher group, which owned Woolworths from 1982 to 2001.
In December he tried to take over about 500 Woolworths stores after the chain went into administration. However, the bid failed and the last Woolies stores closed in January.
Page said Mulcahy was likely to become a non-executive chairman of the new business, which is inviting suggestions for names on Twitter.
Former UBS banker Gareth Thomas, set to be finance director in the new business, said it wanted to raise between £5m and £10m from private investors and already had access to about two-thirds of that.
Thomas said the group looked to the success of Claire Robertson, the manager of a Woolworths store in Dorset. She reopened the shop under the name “Wellworths” and has seen strong trading.