New Poundland house owners plan 68 retailer closures

Budget chain Poundland has stated it is going to be final 68 retail outlets as a part of a turnaround plan to restore its fortunes.

A distribution centre at Darton, South Yorkshire and its nationwide distribution centre at Bilston within the West Midlands have additionally been earmarked for closure.

In addition, Poundland is looking for hire discounts from landlords which, along with hire expiries, may lead to an extra 70 or so retailer closures at some point.

Poundland was once offered for a pound final week to america funding company, Gordon Brothers, after suffering with “challenging trading conditions”.

Poundland lately has 792 retail outlets and employs round 16,000 folks.

The restructuring plan nonetheless calls for approval via a courtroom.

“It’s no secret that we have much work to do to get Poundland back on track,” stated Barry Williams, Poundland managing director.

While it was once “regrettable” the turnaround plan incorporated closures, he stated this was once “necessary if we’re to achieve our goal of securing the future of thousands of jobs and hundreds of stores”.

“While Poundland remains a strong brand, serving 20m-plus shoppers each year, our performance for a significant period has fallen short of our high standards and action is needed to enable the business to return to growth.”

Poundland additionally stated it could prevent promoting frozen meals, and as a substitute focal point on its £3 meal deal and crucial groceries equivalent to milk.

It stated its site poundland.co.united kingdom would prevent taking on-line orders and as a substitute transfer to surfing and branding, or promoting promotions, as a substitute.

The chain additionally stated it could upload a “greater depth of womenswear in its clothing offer, the return of key seasonal general merchandise ranges and the restoration of product categories customers have missed”.

Poundland’s former proprietor, Polish company Pepco, showed final week that it had offered the logo for a “nominal” sum to Gordon Brothers, a world funding company which previously owned type label Laura Ashley.

Pepco had owned Poundland since 2016, however gross sales on the chain were suffering. Pepco had additionally warned that the higher employer National Insurance contributions which started in April would upload to power at the chain.