WH Smith name to disappear from High Street after sale
Business / Fri 28th Mar 2025 at 01:43pm
THE name WH Smith, a staple of UK town centres since the Victorian era, is set to disappear from the High Street after the firm agreed to sell its shops to Hobbycraft-owner Modella Capital reports the BBC.
The new owner has said it will keep the Post Office outlets that operate in many branches, but will rebrand the High Street chain as TGJones.
The WH Smith name is not being sold and will still be used at the airport, railway station and hospital outlets that are also not for sale.
Modella Capital will take over 480 stores in retail parks, shopping centres and on High Streets including 5,000 staff.
Click below for full details.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj3n3en7gppo
Wil
2025-03-28 14:18:28
I probably have as much nostalgic affection for golden age WHS ('70s-'80s) as I do for Woolworths and I'd, invariably, go into both on every trip to the town centre. From comics to magazines to books to toys (drawers full of Matchbox cars) to records at the music centre bit at the back and home micro computers in the '80s. It was always much more than just somewhere you got your stationery for school, from. Of course, now it's a shadow of its former self for a number of reasons; some its own and others a result of just the way shopping is now, in 2025. I'll miss not seeing the name but, hopefully, the current staff will move over to 'TGJones' (a name, probably picked to seem nostalgic and reliable). Let's hope they drop the obsession over massive discounted chocolate bars.
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