Wilko employee said their final goodbyes with a dance performed to the tune of "So Long, Farewell". <br /><br />Hayley Burrows, 37, took part in the video along with seven colleagues after their very last customer left the shop. <br /><br />The video shows the Wilko workers - some in uniform - take their final bows as they bid farewell to the store that had become their "second family". <br /><br />Hayley's manager proposed the idea the same day after he had seen other stores do the same thing. <br /><br />Hayley's shop in Minstergate, Thetford, Norfolk had been open since 2008 and home to some of her colleagues for a decade. <br /><br />Hayley herself was about the celebrate her eighth anniversary when the shop shut its doors.<br /><br />Hayley said: "It's an important part of the community. Some people have been in the company for decades. <br /><br />"I know it sounds silly but my colleagues really are like family. <br /><br />"One ex-colleague came back and put her uniform on again just to say goodbye with us."<br /><br />Hayley and her colleagues may have lost the store but plan to remain friends now that they are no longer co-workers. <br /><br />The staff have now set up a WhatsApp group so they can stay in touch. <br /><br />Hayley explained: "We've seen each other through life's ugliest moments. <br /><br />"In 2019 I received a call that said my mother had passed away and my colleagues saw me through that. <br /><br />"I really do think they're friends for life."<br /><br />Hayley said the dance was not just a goodbye to the store but a celebration of six tough weeks since Wilko's administration began. <br /><br />She said: "It was false hope, then no hope, false hope, then no hope. <br /><br />"My manager tried his best to keep us informed but we found everything out from the press like everyone else."<br /><br />The shop's closure comes after the company hired administrators last month, announcing the closure of 400 remaining locations.
