Uses python 3, may work with 2. Install xlrd, and tqdm using pip. Then pass xls(x) filename as first argument.

convert.py

import xlrd
import sys
from tqdm import tqdm

filename = sys.argv[1]
book = xlrd.open_workbook(filename)

sheet = book.sheet_by_index(0)

header = sheet.row(0)

with open(filename + ".txt", "w") as outfile:
    for rx in tqdm(range(sheet.nrows)):
        first = True
        for cell in sheet.row(rx):
            if first:
                first = False
            else:
                outfile.write("|")
            cell_value = str(cell.value).replace("\n", "")
            outfile.write(cell_value)
        outfile.write("\n")