9:00am Tuesday 6th January 2009
By Julian Thorpe
WOOLWORTHS’ demise turned ordinary Bolton people into looters, scavengers and thieves as shoppers were gripped by a closing down frenzy.
Passers-by were caught rooting in skips on Monday as the last fixtures and piles of rubbish were cleaned out from the Deansgate store in the town centre.
Some desperate people even scooped the dregs of the pick ‘n’ mix sweets from a trolley outside the rear entrance, while others tried their luck by going into the shop and trying to walk out with goods.
Staff, who were yesterday helping to tidy up the building before it is handed back to the landlord, said one woman simply walked in the front door, picked up a suitcase in each hand and tried to walk out with them.
A teenager was caught trying to escape with a carrier bag stuffed with CDs, games and DVDs, while one man attempted to walk out with a shopping basket full of jewellery.
Woolworths worker Rachel Atkinson, aged 21, said: “They weren’t tramps or anything like that, they were just normal people.
“They were just rummaging through skips and seeing what they could find. I saw some people pick up some boxes and walk away. I don’t know what was in them.”
The Farnworth branch will trade for the final time today. It will be among the final batch of Woolworths stores closing its doors. The store was originally due to close yesterday, but administrators last week announced they would give stores an extra day to trade.
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