What Is Wilkinson Wilkinson? The Real Story Behind Wilko and Wilkinson Explained
Reviewed and last updated on August 1, 2026 by admin
Many people search for wilkinson wilkinson because they’re unsure whether Wilkinson and Wilko are two different brands, one company, or even a person. In short, this is about the well-known UK retailer Wilko, which began life under the name Wilkinson, and which more recently went through a dramatic collapse and relaunch under new owners.
Wilko and Wilkinson are not two separate celebrity names. They’re linked to the same retail lineage. Wilkinson was the founding name. Wilko became the shorter, modern brand name the company used for its final decade of trading, and it’s also the name the relaunched business trades under today.
The confusion grew after Wilko made national news in 2023, when the company collapsed into administration, closed all of its stores, and was later bought out of insolvency by a different owner. People who remembered shopping at Wilkinson, or who hadn’t followed the 2023 news closely, started searching to understand what actually happened.
What Is Wilkinson Wilkinson?
Wilkinson wilkinson isn’t an official company name or a person. It’s best understood as a search phrase people type when they’re trying to work out the relationship between Wilko and Wilkinson.
Wilkinson was the original name of the British retail chain that later became known as Wilko. It began as a hardware and household goods business and grew into a UK high street fixture, known for affordable home products, DIY items, garden supplies, cleaning goods, stationery, pet products, and everyday essentials.
So when people search wilkinson wilkinson, they’re usually after one of two answers: whether Wilko and Wilkinson are the same brand (yes, historically), and what happened to the company more recently (it collapsed in 2023 and was relaunched by a new owner).
Why This Topic Matters
Brand names change over time, and long time customers often remember the older name more strongly than the newer one. Many UK shoppers grew up calling the shop Wilkinson, while younger customers only ever knew it as Wilko.
That alone would explain some confusion. But the topic became far more significant in August 2023, when Wilko, then still owned by the Wilkinson family, collapsed into administration after years of declining profitability, owing tens of millions of pounds and facing a cash crisis. All roughly 400 stores closed and around 12,500 employees were made redundant, making it one of the UK’s largest retail failures of the decade.
The Wilko brand and its intellectual property were then bought out of administration by CDS Superstores, the company behind The Range. Under this new ownership, wilko.com relaunched with home delivery in October 2023, and physical Wilko stores began reopening from December 2023 onward. Separately, some former Wilko store leases were taken over by other retailers. Poundland and B&M each acquired dozens of former Wilko sites, but those stores now trade under the Poundland or B&M name, not as Wilko.
In other words, the Wilko you can shop at today is a relaunched brand under different ownership, not a seamless continuation of the original Wilkinson family business.
Background: From Wilkinson to Wilko
The story starts in 1930 in Leicester, England. James Kemsey Wilkinson, then 23, and his fiancee Mary Cooper opened their first shop, Wilkinson Cash Stores, at 151 Charnwood Street, focused on practical household and hardware goods at affordable prices. A second store followed in Wigston in 1932, and by 1939 the chain had nine branches.
The company later became known simply as Wilkinson, and formally as Wilkinson Hardware Stores. James’s son, Tony Wilkinson, joined as a branch manager in 1960 and succeeded his father as chairman in 1972, leading the chain through major expansion, from 78 stores by the end of the 1980s to over 150 by the end of the 1990s. Tony retired in 2005, handing leadership to his daughter Lisa Wilkinson and niece Karin Swann, who shifted the stores from a hardware focus toward general variety retail.
Wilko wasn’t a brand new invention dreamed up in the 2010s. It had existed for years as the name used on the company’s own label products. Starting in 2012, the company began rebranding its physical stores from Wilkinson to Wilko, and by 2014 the transition across most stores was complete. By then the chain had grown to around 400 stores and over 20,000 employees.
How the Name Change Actually Worked
- The business started as Wilkinson. The name came directly from founder James Kemsey Wilkinson’s surname, in the tradition of family run British retailers.
- Wilkinson became a household name. For decades, Wilkinson was synonymous with affordable hardware, household goods, and DIY supplies on UK high streets.
- Wilko began as an own brand label. Long before the shopfronts changed, Wilko was already used to market the company’s private label products.
- Store rebranding happened between 2012 and 2014. The shorter, punchier Wilko name replaced Wilkinson on shopfronts, signage, and marketing.
- The original company collapsed in 2023. After years of falling profitability, competition from B&M and Home Bargains, and mounting debt, Wilko entered administration and closed every store.
- A new owner relaunched the brand. CDS Superstores, owner of The Range, bought the Wilko name and assets, relaunching the website in late 2023 and reopening physical stores from December 2023.
Key Facts About Wilkinson Wilkinson
- It reflects genuine brand name confusion. The phrase exists because people search for clarity on how Wilko and Wilkinson relate, not because wilkinson wilkinson is a real title, product, or person.
- Wilkinson was the founding name. It traces directly to founder James Kemsey Wilkinson and ran from 1930 until the store rebrand of 2012 to 2014.
- Wilko became the modern retail identity. Shorter, easier to brand, and already familiar to shoppers through own label products, Wilko replaced Wilkinson on stores by 2014.
- The original business no longer exists in its old form. The Wilkinson family owned company that ran Wilko for over 90 years went into administration in 2023 and ceased trading entirely.
- Wilko exists today as a relaunched brand. Current stores and the current website operate under CDS Superstores, not the original Wilkinson family ownership.
Understanding the Full Picture: Benefits
Knowing this history clears up two separate points of confusion at once, the older Wilkinson to Wilko name change, and the more recent collapse and relaunch under new ownership. It helps readers:
- Understand that Wilkinson and Wilko are historically the same lineage, not competing or unrelated brands
- Recognize that today’s Wilko is not the same company, in ownership terms, as the pre 2023 business
- Read news about Wilko accurately, whether it’s older coverage from before 2023 involving the Wilkinson family, or newer coverage involving CDS Superstores
- Avoid confusing the brand name with an unrelated person named Wilkinson
A Note on Older Information
Because of the 2023 collapse, readers should treat older articles about Wilko carefully. Content published before August 2023 will describe a Wilkinson family owned company with roughly 400 stores. Content published after that date may describe either the closure itself or the CDS Superstores led relaunch. Both eras are part of the same brand story, but they refer to different corporate entities.
Examples in Everyday Use
A shopper might say something like, I used to go to Wilkinson, then it became Wilko, then it disappeared for a while, and now I see Wilko stores again, what happened? The answer: Wilkinson became Wilko in the early 2010s, the original company collapsed in 2023, and the brand has since been relaunched by a new owner.
Someone searching wilkinson wilkinson after reading a Wilko news story might wonder if it refers to a person. It doesn’t. The phrase points back to the same UK retail brand.
FAQs About Wilkinson Wilkinson
What does wilkinson wilkinson mean?
It’s a search phrase people use when confused about the connection between Wilko and Wilkinson, which share the same origin as a UK retail brand.
Is Wilkinson the same as Wilko?
Historically, yes. Wilkinson was the founding name, used from 1930 until around 2012, and Wilko was the rebranded name used from 2014 onward. However, the current Wilko brand is owned by a different company than the original Wilkinson family business, following the 2023 collapse.
Did Wilko go out of business?
The original Wilko/Wilkinson company, run by the Wilkinson family, collapsed into administration in August 2023 and closed all of its roughly 400 stores. The brand was subsequently bought and relaunched by CDS Superstores, owner of The Range.
Who owns Wilko now?
CDS Superstores, which also owns The Range, has owned and operated the Wilko brand since late 2023.
Is wilkinson wilkinson about a celebrity?
No. It’s not connected to any celebrity. The context is UK retail brand history.
Where did Wilko/Wilkinson first start?
Leicester, England, in 1930, as a hardware and household goods store called Wilkinson Cash Stores.
Why did Wilkinson become Wilko?
Wilko had already been used for years as an own brand product label. Starting in 2012, the company adopted it as the main store name because it was shorter, more modern, and easier to use across signage and marketing, a rebrand largely completed by 2014.
Conclusion
Wilkinson wilkinson isn’t a separate company or a celebrity. It’s a search phrase rooted in real confusion about a UK retail brand’s history. Wilkinson was the founding name of a family business started in Leicester in 1930, and Wilko became its modern rebrand by 2014. But the story doesn’t end there. The original company collapsed in 2023, and the Wilko name lives on today under new ownership. Understanding both the name change and the 2023 collapse gives the full, accurate picture of how a 90 year old family retailer became the Wilko people shop at now.
