Alworths rises from Woolworths' ashes

It was less than a year ago that the great British public mourned the loss of high-street institution Woolies.  Fast forward 12 months - and a big injection of private cash  - and its successor Alworths has come to town. Didcot in Oxfordshire to be exact.

Flying under the slogan 'Always great value', new chain Alworths promises to be everything Woolworths was, just minus the 'W'.

Exactly 100 years to the day of the opening of the first Woolworths store in Liverpool, Andy Latham, the brains behind the new chain of high street stores and ex Head of Store at Woolworths, said Alworths hailed the return of the family friendly mecca to the UK's high-street.

It was clear Latham wanted this launch to go with a bang and bang it certainly did when hoards of excitable children got their hands on the hundreds of deep purple balloons heralding its opening.

Standing at the site of the old Woolworths store and flanked by a loyal army of employees, with a backdrop of 'Let's celebrate' blasting from the speakers, Latham welcomed the hefty crowd with a promise to 'regenerate the high-street'.

As mothers, children and grandparents alike clamoured to get their first look of the new store, Latham said the grand opening is 'just the beginning of the Alworths journey.'

He received the keys to the old Woolworths store just 66 days ago and has since brought the spirit of Woolies back to life with the same eclectic range of household goods, music and DVDs and of course the popular pick n mix confectionary.

Didcot is the first in a blitz of five new store openings before Christmas, with a further 22 scheduled to open in the south of the country by next December - many in former Woolies stores.

Let's just hope they fare better than the role model. Woolworths went into administration last November after racking up debts of £385 million. Although administrator Deloitte attempted to sell the business, its efforts were thwarted by the recession.

Sweet-toothed children and thrifty shoppers up and down the country were forced to bid farewell when the last stores closed their doors back in January.

Since then around two thirds of its stores have been snapped up by discount chains such as Iceland and Poundland. The new Alworths has just turned the heat up on the competition.

Latham is up for the challenge. 'Of course there are competitors out there,' he says 'but they specialise in different areas. There was a big hole in the high street and parents were crying out for a family-focused store.'

Looking around, it's clear that Latham and his team of ex Woolies workers (half the store to be exact) have set out to capture a community feel. Every corner I turn a mother in the aisle is saying hello to another while Christmas has come early for the children torn between the colourful array of Disney costumes and abundant trays of pick n mix. Throw in the walking, talking Pudsey Bear and Snow White and the party atmosphere was in full flow. 

'We have built it for children,' Latham continues, 'but we also wanted to offer treats for the mums too.' I follow his eyes to the shelves stacked full of cookie jars and bright kitchen aprons. Do correct me if I'm wrong, but it's not exactly what I imagine every mum hopes to find under the Christmas tree.

Latham's family friendly stance also extends to his staff. 'How can you be a family retailer if you demand that your employees work a 39-hour week? We make sure we offer flexible working hours as the majority of our staff are mums and dads too,' he says.

Staff member Samantha Crook (who used to work at Woolies) adds the happy family theme extends to the staff as much as the customers. 'We are like one big family here. Alworths tried as hard as it could to recruit ex-Woolies employees to capture that.'

The majority of eager shoppers, oohing over the 99p Christmas cards and ahhing over the £2.99 towels, said they were delighted to have their favourite one-stop shop back. One was ever so keen as to point out that the boys' toys were cheaper now than they were in the original Woolies.

'It takes me back to my school days when I used to fill my pockets full of sweets,' one smiley mum reminisced.

Under the bright shop lights, the fizzy cola bottles and Quality Street's finest shone among the rows of brightly coloured watering cans and Christmas crackers.

It's official: the ghost of Woolies past is back - and just in time for Christmas.