Thousands of Wilko staff lost their “family” after the popular retailer went bust, leaving many of them without a job right before Christmas and a community they’ve held onto for so long.

The staff consistently spoke about feeling like a “family” to their union, prior to the chain going bust, GMB has said.

Nadine Houghton, national officer for trade union GMB, said: “I would be hard-pressed to find a group of members that so consistently spoke about the fact that Wilko felt like a family to them.

“At the period under the previous family ownership, before Lisa (Wilkinson) became a majority owner, members describe a period of good pay and conditions, feeling respected … they were trusted.”

She told MPs: “The reality is that 12,000 hard-working people lost their jobs as a result of these catalogues of failures.

“That multi-generational family that was part of Wilko really is something that I hadn’t heard at any other employer that I deal with.”

Ms Wilkinson stated the collapse of Wilko was partly due to Liz Truss’s mini-budget.

Speaking to MPs on the Business and Trade Committee, she said the company was in the middle of negotiating a new loan arrangement when the mini-budget caused interest rates to soar.

She said: “We were about to enter into secured lending arrangements with Macquarie when the 2022 mini-budget happened.

“Literally we were in the midst of that, and at that point the interest terms on that loan were hiked massively and that became infeasible. So, that was a contributor.”

The former chair has since apologised to her staff for the collapse of the 93-year-old chain, which lead to 12,000 people losing their jobs.

She told MPs: “I am devastated that we have let each and every one of those people down with the insolvency of Wilko.

“I don’t know how to put into words how sad I am that we have let down all our team members, all our customers, our suppliers, and our advisers.”

Pushed by the chair of the Business and Trade Committee, MP Liam Byrne, to apologise directly, Ms Wilkinson said: “You can have the word sorry, of course, I am sorry … I am sorry that we are not there supporting these people any more.”

The Wilko brand, website and intellectual property have been bought by former rival The Range for £5 million.

The Range had not been expected to set up standalone Wilko shops, but its new stores will offer Wilko products such as cleaning and household, decorating and DIY, garden and outdoor, homeware, pets and wildlife, storage and Christmas.

Three new stores will be opening in Plymouth, Exeter and Luton, with two more stores set to be announced in unconfirmed locations in the South East and North of England opening before Christmas.