Wilding Photographic Ltd, known to many simply as Wildings, went into voluntary liquidation on Thursday, July 7th, after almost 63 years of trading.
The family owned company was established in 1948 and had retail stores in Wigan, Bolton, Warrington, Chorley, Northwich, Macclesfield, Manchester and on Alderley Road in Wilmslow.
A statement from the directors of the business suggests that a combination of factors left them with no real alternative. These factors included the impact of internet trading, the general state of the high street economy and the escalating costs of operating from the high street. In particular the directors considered rent levels and the lack of flexibility from their landlords to be a major problem.
As reported last week, the Wilmslow shop closed on Friday 1st July and all their stores are now closed. All employees have been made redundant, including some employees who worked for the company for more than 30 years.
Somewhat ironically, several years ago the family started a second business buyacamera.co.uk that ran in parallel to the Wildings stores but traded purely on the internet. The success of this business has allowed some of Wildings former employees to find immediate employment.
Plans are now in place to re-open the Chorley shop and discussions continue with certain other landlords in an effort to reach agreements that could allow other stores to re-open but unfortunately Chris Lea, one of the directors, didn't provide a comment regarding the situation with the Wilmslow store.
Paul Mcnulty, the manager of the Wilmslow store had worked for Wildings since 1989. He told me "The high street is struggling in that some customers were after internet prices but with the shop service. The camera market is not high profit and with the fact that the landlords of certain branches of Wildings did not want to listen I think it is a big loss to the high street in many towns. I also think that this is only the start of the demise of the high street as we know it."
Customers who have image processing work or repair work which was uncollected at the time of the store closure are advised to call 01257 422955 between 10am and 5pm weekdays to arrange collection or delivery.
