Wilko closures: Final day of trading for Irvine store

Sixteen staff will be made redundant when the store in the Rivergate Shopping Centre closes for good.

The North Ayrshire store is one of a number of Wilko branches that are set to shut up shop in the coming days.

It is one of two which are to close in Scotland this week alone, with the other - in Clydebank - to have its own final day on Thursday, September 14.

Administrators for the stricken company have revealed the locations of 52 stores across the UK which will close after failing to secure a rescue deal for the whole business.

More than 1,000 jobs will be lost across the UK as a result of store closures.

Family-owned Wilko employed 12,500 staff and ran 400 shops before it hired administrators early last month after it came under pressure from weak consumer spending and debts to suppliers.

Rival retailer B&M bought up to 51 Wilko stores in a deal worth up to £13 million last week - though it appears that the remaining branches will have to shut up shop.

Uncertainty remains over the fate of Wilko's other Ayrshire store, on Ayr's High Street, which was not included in the closure list announced by PwC earlier this month.

It is understood that a further 124 shops will shut for good next week as the closure process continues, with the final 222 stores all due to close by early October.