It really is a sad day when there will be no more Woolies. Stornoway will really feel it when it does shut its doors for goods. I just hope other local retailers don't bump up their prices just because there is no competition from Woolies any more.

The MP doesn't half talk a pile of Dingo's Doo at times! Woolies went down the pan because of the level of debt they had, a lack of leadership at the top level and an idea of where they were going. It has nothing to do with the Labour party. It is all to do with £380M debt and bad management.
Woolies have been on the edge for many years, that is why they were hived off from Kingfisher years ago.

However it does mean that he can get a cheap sound bite out.

I do think it's awful that a politician like Mr MacNeil should use the tragedy about Woolworths to make an agressive political point.

The reason why Woolworths has gone out of business is that as a company seen in the round, it had sustained massive debts because it wasn't able to make a profit. In the majority of towns and cities in which it traded, there was so much choice that customers went to competitors whose offers were better. The credit crunch meant that bankers were unwilling to keep on the debt.

The Stornoway store is certainly profitable, and of course it has a central place in the life of the town. Perhaps another chain, like Wilkinson's, can take over and supply it with the eclectic range of goods that made it famous.

But to blame the government because the company wasn't able to win enough customers and make a profit is not worthy of a member of parliament, some of whose constituents are losing their employment.