Wilko has officially left our high streets.

The county’s very last hardware and furnishings retailer closed its doors for good yesterday – however, despite it being a sad occasion for many, customers made sure staff went out with a bang.

Over the last month, stores have slowly been closing their doors one by one after the retailer fell into administration in August.

When one of the Thanet branches shut at the end of September customers bought staff drinks at Wetherspoons to bid farewell.

In Rainham, employees were inundated with sweet treats and goodbyes.

On their last day of trading, September 26, they even asked for shoppers to bring along their four-legged friends so staff could say goodbye to their customers’ pets as well.

And, on Tuesday, October 3, Wilko staff at The Pentagon shopping centre in Chatham were filmed having a boogie and dancing to the Hokey Cokey.

Rick Pataky filmed the moment.

The 55-year-old from Chatham said: “I loved Wilko, I shopped there all the time.

“When I went in on the store’s last day there were just some reams of paper, various boxes of glasses and stuff to do with plant pots. They were mostly reduced to silly prices.

“It’s very sad that these mainstay shops are disappearing from our high streets and shopping centres.

“But personally I think the staff had the right attitude treating their last day as a celebration rather than a sad ending, just shows me they were more than colleagues and cared for their shop, each other and their customers.”

Yesterday (Thursday, October 5) Wilko in Sittingbourne High Street said its farewell, the last to do so in Kent.

Reporter Megan Carr went to see what the staff were up to and what was left on the shelves.

I have fond memories of Wilko. Every year when it was time to go back to school my parents would take my brother and I along to get our stationery goodies – I’ve had many fluffy pens and glittery pencil cases from the store.

However, I must admit, since it was announced that Wilko had fallen into administration I hadn’t been to any of its Kent branches in search of a cheap bargain.

So I decided to pop down to my nearest Wilko, and the last remaining trading Wilko in Kent, to see what I could get my hands on.

The windows of the Sittingbourne High Street store were covered in “closing now” and discount posters.

I was expecting to see nothing but apocalyptic scenes inside and empty shelves.

However, I was quite surprised to see a handful of people still queuing at the till.

Although Wilko did look like it had been evacuated there were still decent things up for grabs at ridiculous prices.

As you walked in only the front quarter of the shop was open to customers and the first aisle was the fullest.

I say “fullest” loosely as it wasn’t filled to the brim but you could have got yourself some hose accessories for as little as 10p.

The next aisle was for makeup, hygiene products and stationery.

Although the makeup was long gone you could still grab yourself some cheap fake tan and hair dye.

However, the funniest thing to me was that the fullest shelf was filled with anti-smoking products such as nicotine gum and patches – clearly no one needed that bargain!

Apart from a random clothes basket here and a mop head there, the only other things left at Wilko was glass wear that had been reduced from around £30 down to £11.

It mostly remained untouched so I guess this price was still a little steep for some.

As I wandered around the empty aisles listening to upbeat music playing from the overhead speakers, I heard other customers singing to themselves as they rummaged for any missed sale items.

Staff could be seen chatting with shoppers they’d obviously gotten to know over the years and were still working hard to make sure the shop, well what was left of it, was running in an orderly manner.

As I headed for the exit I stumbled across some greetings cards being sold for 5p.

The low price was something I couldn’t turn my nose up to so I grabbed a few and waited inline to be served – spare birthday cards are always good to have in an emergency, especially if they cost you less than a £1.

As I waited for my turn to be served, it was clear the bargain hunting had got to some people.

One lady rudely tried queue jumping, ignoring everyone who was trying to explain to her which line was leading to which server.

Letting her go in front and not wanting a fight I just stood back until it was my turn.

As I reached the till I was met by a lovely big smile.

I’d read on a whiteboard as I entered the store that the staff wouldn’t say “no” to goodies from Greggs and some alcoholic gifts from customers so I asked her what treats they’d received so far.

She said: “We had a big box of Greggs doughnuts brought to us the other day and we’ve had loads of people bring wine and prosecco along for us too.”

Although staff bid farewell to customers yesterday many are still in the store today (Friday, October 6) cleaning the unit.

The woman on the till explained it’s tonight that the Sittingbourne Wilko team would be going out to celebrate their years of working on the town’s High Street.

Let’s hope they have the best time.