Woolworths Group had been opened, although in April the company also entered administration and closed. The Woolworths store in Dorchester, Dorset was reopened as an independent business named "Wellworths" by the store manager Claire Robertson. The store was officially opened by BBC Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans on 11 March 2009. It was later renamed "Wellchester". Wellchester ceased trading in August 2012, after store manager Claire Robertson left to set up her own retail consultancy business. The Woolworths brand and domain was bought by Shop Direct Group, owned by Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay, on 2 February 2009. The company announced
Woolworths (Ireland) In 1981, CTT had forecast that the IR£2.5m worth of Irish-made goods sold from Woolworths counters per annum would rise to IR£7m in 1982 and had expected further growth to rise to IR£15m over the next five years, but such optimistic hopes were dashed. All of the 18 remaining stores in the Republic closed on the 6 October 1984 and resulted in 277 jobs being lost. In August 1996, market research was undertaken by Woolworths investigating opportunities to re-enter the Republic of Ireland market. About 32 potential locations were identified that could support a Woolworths store. However, the project did