Shoppers pounce at Wolverhampton Comet store
Shoppers stripped the shelves of a Comet store bare as prices were slashed for its last day of trading.
The store at Wolverhampton's St John's Retail Park closed its doors for the final time last night, with the loss of 14 jobs. Yesterday hundreds of shoppers visited the store to see if they could pick up a last-minute bargain.
Even the fixtures and fittings were put up for sale, with poles in the store going for £10. Among the shoppers were Pat and Tony Smith from Willenhall who picked up a Soda Stream for £25 – half its usual price.
Mrs Smith said: "We were looking for a television or a coffee machine but there was not much left. It is very sad to see the store closing, and I thought the staff have been very helpful and pleasant, considering the situation."
Navin Patel, also from Willenhall, bought some cables and headphones, including a set reduced from £79.99 to £40. He said: "I went along as I knew it was closing down, and I just wanted to see what there was."
By yesterday lunchtime, there were mostly empty shelves inside the store, with dozens of shoppers perusing the few items that were left.
Among the goods up for sale was a Techlink TV stand which was reduced from £199.99 to £39.99. A Hotpoint oven was reduced from £399.99 to £199.99. A wall fire was reduced from £199.99 to £99.99 while an oil-filled radiator had its price cut from £149.99 to £74.99. There were also a few televisions still up for grabs, with a 22in LCD screen with a DVD player reduced from £169.99 to £118.99. Cables were also up for grabs for £1.
More than 100 Comet stores including several in the Black Country and Staffordshire have been closed after administrators were called in to the failed chain, while the Walsall branch will shut its doors on Wednesday.
The last of Comet's 236 stores will be closed by December 18.
