Comment: It's just a wonder that it's taken so long

It's the same with MFI, also nearing the precipice. They're both groups that have been in the departure lounge for ages, throwbacks from a bygone age. To say they're victims of this recession or the credit crunch isn't correct - the economic gloom may signal the death knell but they've had this coming to them for a long time.

They belong to a bygone age. Woolies to when people shopped in-town, before Tesco and the rest swamped the nation's roundabouts and retail parks with giant stores that sold precisely everything they did. Attempts by Woolworths to provide some distinction only served to make the chain look ever more bizarre and increasingly past its by date. So the branches were supposed to cater to someone who wanted an impulse bag of Pick '*' Mix with a box of lawn fertiliser, a fountain pen set and a CD of a bloke you've never heard, of "singing as" Bing Crosby. Such people, not surprisingly, were hard to find.

The arrival of the new discounters like Aldi and Lidl was also a blow. It meant that Woolworths could no longer even do cheapest with conviction.

Hard to imagine now but MFI was actually in the vanguard of out-of-town. It then fell victim to snazzier, trendier, better value operators like Ikea. In a previous crisis, they needed the cash and sold-off Howden, their profitable joinery business that supplied the building trade. A recent push upmarket failed to deliver and this current property slump (the first aim of new homeowners is often to install a new kitchen) is proving to be the last straw.

The passing of both chains at this moment, in the midst of a deepening recession in the run up to Christmas is the last thing the industry needs. The sight of posters marking "closing down" sales, with the accompanying job losses, is bound to send the High Street into even deeper depression.

The City coined a phrase for companies like Woolies and MFI, one that was not a term of endearment but a reference to living on past glories. They're known as "legacy" retailers. In the past, that bracket would also include Boots and WH Smith. Tellingly for the managements of Woolies and MFI, they have been turned round and now appear to be doing well.

A slice of British life is disappearing - and that is always sad. But the truth is that Woolies and MFI have been heading that way for years and we long since stopped caring.