The Wilko brand, website and intellectual property will continue, after they were snapped up by The Range.

The discount retailer, which has stores in Gloucester and Cheltenham, has paid £5m for its rival chain's assets, as reported by Retail Gazette.

The deal will see Wilko's online operations start again early next month, after the administration store trading programme concludes.

But thousands of Wilko jobs will still be lost. The Range will transfer just 36 staff from Wilko's digital team.

Some 124 stores will close before next Thursday (September 21). Stores in Gloucestershire have escaped the initial chop, but their future remains far from certain.

Currently, it looks like 123 of Wilko's 400 stores will remain open in some form.

Poundland confirmed yesterday (September 13) that it will buy 71 shops, while B&M has already singed a deal for 52 stores.

Stores in Cheltenham, Gloucester and Stroud won't reopen as Poundland. B&M hasn't yet announced which stores it is buying.

Poundland said it will convert the 71 stores to the Poundland brand and Wilko staff would have priority when applying for jobs there. The new Poundland branches are set to open before Christmas.

Over 9,100 staff were told this week that they would be losing their jobs when the stores close by early October.

An earlier deal with the owner of HMV, Doug Putman, to buy the majority of Wilko stores collapsed at the start of this week.