WH Smith disappears from Woolwich and Eltham
Long standing stalwart of the High Street has disappeared from both Woolwich and Eltham.
To my surprise the Eltham branch has already been rebranded as TJ Jones after a takeover of the High Street business.
In Woolwich the shop has shut for good and wasn’t part of the agreed takeover. It now sits empty with the on-site Post Office also closed.
That results in Woolwich having no Post Office in the town centre according to the Post Office website, with the closest being Kingsman Parade in Woolwich Dockyard.
The former Post Office on General Gordon Square in now a worksite for a future block in front of Tesco.
Sold
Modella Capital purchased the High Street business for £40 million with the deal wrapped up recently. They also own Hobbycraft.
The company’s travel shops are still in operation, but it’s no longer possible to head in a browse a magazine or buy an enormously overpriced piece of stationary or a four year old annual at full price.
It’ll be intriguing to see what eventually opens in Woolwich. The former Jobcentre nearby is still empty.
It’s a big store on two levels. That was once a Littlewoods and then a New Look.
I would have asked what the people who use Woolwich town centre are going to do now that there is no post office but in my experience, the in-house operation is DIRE. I no longer even bother trying to use that in WHSmith’s, Lewisham.