{{Short description|Welsh department store group}} thumb|190px|Wildings, Commercial Street, Newport '''Wildings''' was a retail company with its main department store based in Newport, Wales, which closed in 2019 after 144 years of trading.
==Background== The first Wildings shop was opened in 1874 by Alfred Wilding, a 21-year-old hatter from Newport, Shropshire.<ref name="Argus closes for good">{{cite news|author=Tomos Povey |url=https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/17370476.newports-oldest-department-store-wildings-closes-doors-for-good/ |title=Newport's oldest department store Wildings closes doors for good |work=South Wales Argus |date=19 January 2019 |access-date=22 September 2019 }}</ref> By the mid 1970s there were 14 branches of Wildings<ref name="Argus closes for good" /> across South Wales. By the 1990s only the Newport store remained, though in 1997 Wildings acquired an existing department store business in Commerce House, Thornbury, Gloucestershire. Wildings substantially reduced the size of its Thornbury shop in 2017.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thornburyroots.co.uk/high-street/14-high-street/ |title=14 High Street - Commerce House |website=Thornbury Roots |access-date=25 September 2019 }}</ref>
The flagship Newport store had been trading from its site on Commercial Street, Newport since 1931.<ref name="WO massive downsize">{{cite news|author=Joshua Knapman |url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/shopping/theres-massive-downsizing-sale-iconic-12006678 |title=There's a massive downsizing sale at iconic Newport department store Wildings |work=Wales Online |date=11 October 2016 |access-date=22 September 2019 }}</ref> It underwent a major £140,000 refurbishment in 2014.<ref name="WO massive downsize" /> Wildings Group also ran the Rossiters shops in Bath and Cardiff.<ref name="WO massive downsize" /> Wildings Ltd is now a small property company with interests in Bath, Newport and Thornbury.
==Closure== In October 2016 the Newport store closed two floors of its shop, discontinuing its menswear clothing and women's lingerie sections. 14 staff lost their jobs.<ref name="WO massive downsize" /> In August 2018 the store announced it would close completely, laying off the 23 staff. A closing-down sale began in October 2018.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-45125457 |title=Newport department store Wildings to close after 144 years |work=BBC News |date=9 August 2018 |access-date=22 September 2019 }}</ref> The Newport store was finally closed on 19 January 2019.<ref name="Argus closes for good" />
In October 2023, a police raid at the premises identified a large-scale cannabis factory which had been established across three floors of the building. As at April 2026 the property remains vacant.<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/ng-interactive/2026/apr/16/wilding-newport-wales-grand-department-store-became-illicit-cannabis-farm |first=Sam|last=Wollaston|title=Wildings in Newport, Wales: the grand department store which became an illicit cannabis factory|work=The Guardian|date=16 April 2026|access-date=17 April 2026}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Shopping in Newport, Wales Category:Retail companies established in 1874 Category:Defunct department stores of the United Kingdom