THE Scottish discount retailing scene appears to be on the verge of
welcoming back into the fold Gerald Weisfeld, founder with his wife
Vera, of the Glasgow-based What Everyone Wants (WEW) retail chain in
1971.
He is believed to be in discussions with Pepkor, owner of the
loss-making Poundstretcher discount chain, with a view to acquiring its
original Scottish discount chain Your More Store, consisting of 45
outlets.
The new business is expected to operate from a head office in the
Goldberg building in Glasgow's Candleriggs. The building has been empty
since the collapse of the Goldberg chain four years ago.
Your More has been a financial headache for a while and, as such,
there was some surprise when Pepkor, South Africa's biggest retail
group, entered the race for Poundstretcher.
It acquired Poundstretcher from Brown & Jackson in May with the
promise of a #56.2m capital injection. Mr Weisfeld was also interested
in buying Poundstretcher and was offering up to #28.4m of capital cash
and his retail knowledge.
Given the financial problems at Your More, little more than a nominal
price is expected to be paid to acquire the business.
Mr Weisfeld has been seeking a vehicle to re-enter the discount
retailing market following his and his wife's departure in February 1991
from non-executive positions on the WEW board after a disagreement about
the future direction of the company.
In his latest venture Mr Weisfeld is joining forces with Ian Grabiner,
a former director of WEW.
Following the prolonged recession consumers are more price conscious
and so well-managed discount chains can expect to grab a larger slice of
the retail market and put competitive pressure on the margins of the
larger traditional retailers.
Mr Weisfeld has been more in evidence on the sports pages than in the
business section recently, making an unsuccessful bid to take over
Celtic Football Club before it was bought by Fergus McCann.
Mr Weisfeld's stepson, Michael McDonald, is now on the board of the
Parkhead club.
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