Say goodbye to WH Smith on our high streets – but it still has a future

If the centuries-old retailer is to survive being taken over and rebranded as TG Jones, it will need a lot more love than its previous owner was prepared to give, says James Moore

WH Smith has a new owner – the high street part, that is – and a new name.

The dowdy and unloved chain, derided on X for its grotty stores and unlovely mix of product, has been snapped up by Hobbycraft’s owner Modella for £76m in cash. The deal brings the curtain down on 233 years of history. Smiths will in future trade as “TG Jones”.

Who might TG Jones be? I have no idea. There was a Welsh footballer of that name who played for Everton. But it otherwise sounds like something a branding consultant dreamed up because it feels vaguely trad and ye-olde high street.

WH Smith was founded in 1792 and given everything that’s happened in retail since then, especially in recent times, it is some achievement for it to have held out for as long as it has. The fact that the seller didn’t want its fast-growing travel business, which will retain the WH Smith brand, associated with the thing is, however, telling.

The stock exchange announcement gushes about the division’s “high-performing management” and its profits and what have you. But WH Smith doesn’t want to put its 1,200-plus travel stores – the majority of which are based overseas – at risk of any taint.

The sale price shows how lightly regarded the high street business was. Analysts put the potential range at between £100m and £130m when news of the sale process broke. The actual price treats the division like the tat in those bins you see at the entrance of WH Smith shops.

Really, it is hard to see Modella making a worse fist of these stores than WH Smith itself did. The latter had let the high street operation wither on the vine. It had become the ultimate poor relation. No amount of press release guff can cover that up.

There may be still be a residual sadness at the departure of the name among those of a certain age. Gen-Xers such as myself still remember when a WH Smith gift voucher was an exciting thing to find lurking in an envelope from an aunt or a grandparent.

But I suspect most people will shrug. WH Smith doesn’t even have the pick ’n’ mix sweeties that people suddenly realised they missed when Woolworths bit the dust.

The next few weeks will inevitably be filled with worry for those earning a crust at the place and you have to feel for them. None of this is their fault. The hard truth is that the underperforming outlets will likely be culled as part of a ruthless cost-cutting exercise. This is standard practice when a new owner arrives.

Outside of closures, it’s hard to see where any further savings might be for Modella. WH Smith harvested the low-hanging fruit long ago. The place has for years been run on a shoestring, with its purpose to generate as much cash as possible to help pay shareholder dividends and contribute funds to fuel the travel arm’s expansion.

TG Jones might look a bit contrived as a name, but here’s the thing: a lick of paint and a good clean would make a world of difference.

It is really no wonder customers have been voting with their feet. They’ve long known the truth of this. If an owner doesn’t love its business , why should they?

A recognition of that fact might give this business a future. On the day of the disposal’s announcement, the Office for National Statistics said retail sales beat forecasts in February, with a 1 per cent rise. Not much to write home about it’s true. But better than nothing.

It is still desperately tough to make a living on the high street. But there is still business to be had. Shoppers will soon know if Modella’s intent is to squeeze the last few drops from a rotting fruit or if they plan to give it a real future.

The new brand needs some love from its owners or it won’t last another 233 weeks, let alone WH Smith’s 233 years.