UK Woolies collapses with $1b debt
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British consumers say they are shocked by the news. (AFP: Andrew Yates, file photo)
UK retailer Woolworths has collapsed after failing to sell for one pound, after nearly 100 years of trading.
An administrator has been appointed to the company, which has 800 stores in England and is carrying nearly a $1 billion of debt.
The British Government has guaranteed the wages of its 30,000 employees for the next month.
British consumers say they are shocked by the news.
"I think it's sad, I mean Woolworths have been around for so long, I mean it was my first job that I had as a teenager working on the jewellery counter at Woolworths," one consumer said.
"It'll be very sad to see them go."
Both the Australian and British Woolworths have their origins in the same US company but are completely independent.
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