Is Woolworths reopening? The Twitter rumour debunked

Once a staple on UK high streets, could Woolworths be making a surprise comeback? If you’re a pick ‘n’ mix lover, don’t get your hopes up, as the latest rumour is most probably a hoax. An announcement this morning (27 Oct) on a newly made and unverified ‘Woolworths UK’ Twitter account read, “Here to save 2020! Woolworhts is coming back to your high street, as a physical store! “A couple of legal things to get sorted, but we’re full steam ahead at Woolworths HQ. “We want to get this right, so we need your help. What do you want at your UK #YourWoolworths?” Here to save 2020! Woolworths is coming back to your high street, as a physical store!A couple of legal things to get sorted, but we’re full steam ahead at Woolworths HQ.We want to get this right, so we need your help. What do you want at your UK #YourWoolworths? pic.twitter.com/k5BtcYdcAI — Woolworths UK (@UKWoolworths) October 27, 2020 ‘We’re popular (that’s for sure!)’ Some have called out the legitimacy of the claims by the account. The website link leading to yourwoolworths.com is not active, and the Twitter account itself is unverified. The Very Group, which owns the Woolworths trademark, informed the Daily Mail that it doesn’t know anything about the alleged comeback. After the announcement tweet went viral online, the Woolworths account responded by saying, “So… we’re popular (that’s for sure!)” The unverified account went on to claim that trial stores would be open in 2021, but that it is unable to use the website because Very owns the Woolworths trademark. So... we’re popular (that’s for sure!)Our trial stores will open in 2021. Very own the online Woolsworths, so we will be retail only. Before we launch we have a few legal contracts to sign, but we’re super excited!This will be your Woolsworths ❤️ pic.twitter.com/SwEXD1Gs3w — Woolworths UK (@UKWoolworths) October 27, 2020 The history of ‘Woolies’ Affectionately known as ‘Woolies’ by shoppers around the country, the high street store opened its first shop in Liverpool in 1909. The brand was famous for its pick ‘n’ mix sweets and homeware range, and became the UK’s largest pop music retailer in the 1980s Woolworths UK collapsed between 27 December and 6 January 2009 after falling into up to £400 million in debt. A total of 27,000 jobs were lost after 807 stores around the country had to shut their doors. The company’s trademark name was bought over by Shop Direct, but the name was dropped in 2015, with Woolworths.com becoming Very.com.