The staff at Andover’s Edinburgh Woollen Mill have left a personal ‘goodbye message’.
As another national brand leaves the high street, the staff at Edinburgh Woollen Mill wrote their final words in the window of their store.
Staff at the store who knew many of their customers by name signed a notice which is prominent on their former employer’s store’s window. It reads “Goodbye from EWF Staff, thank you from Carol, Iiva, Julie, Sarah”.
The Edinburgh Woollen Mill is owned by EWM Group and staff heard from company owners EWM Group in October last year that the company had been affected by the March 2020 lockdown.
EWM Group quietly went into administration in November. 56 UK stores were closed, while a buyer was sought for over 300 others.
According to administrators FRP Advisory, the Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group owes creditors around £192,000,000.
On their website, EWM Group, say, “We explored all possible options to save Edinburgh Woollen Mill… from going into administration, but unfortunately the ongoing trading conditions caused by the pandemic and lockdowns proved too much.”
EWM Group is owned by billionaire Philip Day who is based in Dubai. The Group also owns Peacocks, Jaeger, Jane Norman, Austin Reed, and a few other high-street retailers.
The news comes as Philip Day’s retail company reportedly accepted a rescue deal, although The Sunday Times says that the deal was likely to save only a small number of EWM’s remaining 360 stores.
