For Katie, a chief operations officer from Edinburgh, church is Wilko. “Cleaning is what I do to relax, and so Wilko is where I go to relax,” she explains. “If I’m stressed, I go to Wilko. My husband will ask me what I need, and I reply: ‘Wilko will tell me.’”
When it was announced last week that Wilko, the discount homeware and hardware shop found on most major high streets, planned to enter administration, my phone buzzed with messages from distraught friends like Katie. The potential demise of the brand, which places its more than 400 UK shops and more than 12,000 staff at risk, was met with similar devastation online. “Not Wilko?!” seemed to be a universal cry.
