Poundland confirms an additional seven former Wilko stores will open before Christmas
Poundland has confirmed another seven former Wilko stores would re-open before Christmas bringing the total of former Wilko stores that are beginning their Poundland journeys to 63.
And with four new relocations now scheduled in addition to the 19 it had already announced, that would mean in a single three month period, Poundland would open around 1m square feet of new space and 86 stores.
Last month Poundland confirmed it intended to open or relocate 75 stores over the three months to the end of December – the largest three month growth programme in its history.
That programme has now been boosted by the addition of more Wilko stores to the programme and the addition of three additional relocations to the schedule.
This quarter, Poundland has already opened new stores in Telford (Forge Retail Park), Stafford (Queens Retail Park), Gloucester (Southgate Street, Lancaster (Cornmarket), Sunderland (Pallion Retail Park), and a Pepco in Dublin (Artane). It will also open new stores in Portishead (High Street) and Crewkerne (Market Street) on 25 November.
It now plans 15 openings and relocations in December, including a move into a former John Lewis in Watford. Another seven former Wilko stores will also begin their Poundland journey in December, bringing the total number of rapid Wilko-to-Poundland conversions to 64.
All new Poundland stores – both Wilko and non-Wilko units – will feature the very latest Pepco family clothing that has rolled out to 560 of Poundland’s existing UK and Ireland stores.
The clothing ranges feature new ranges from lifestyle and athleisure brands such as Cardio Bunny and Bekkin and a significant increase in the space dedicated to baby and kidswear.
Austin Cooke, Poundland’s managing director said: “We excitedly continue to open and relocate stores at pace so we can bring our best offer, including all-new clothing, chilled and frozen food to customers, existing and new.
“The monumental effort from our teams continues to amaze me, and it supports jobs and high streets right across Britain. That’s 86 stores in 70 days that we’ll have opened successfully, and no one should underestimate the effort and energy that our teams have put into delivering that achievement – I certainly don’t. It’s phenomenal!”
Poundland continues to prioritise former Wilko colleagues for roles in Poundland and encourage them to follow Poundland’s posts on LinkedIn or visit www.poundlandcareers.co.uk to find details of open roles and how to apply for them.
To date, Poundland has now made offers of employment to over 800 former Wilko colleagues.
