Poundland announces another wave of store closures over winter

Poundland has announced another wave of store closures over the winter as it continues to trim down the chain as part of turnaround efforts.

The budget retailer will have shut more than 100 shops in the UK by early next year after kicking off its restructuring programme.

A further 14 stores will be closed by early February, it said on Friday, on top of the 19 that are also still set to shut over coming months.

These shops have launched clearance sales with reductions of up to 40% on stock from homeware and groceries to clothing and beauty products.

Poundland has previously announced another 40 shops that were clearing out stock ahead of closure.

This was happening at locations where the landlord of the retail property had chosen to end the lease, resulting in it closing down.

This was in addition to the 57 that had already shut by the end of September as a result of Poundland targeting its least-profitable shops.

It expects the UK chain to have reduced from around 800 shops at the beginning of the restructuring programme, to between 650 and 700 once the process is complete.

Darren MacDonald, Poundland’s UK country manager, said: “We know how disappointing it is when we leave a store, but before we close our doors for a final time, we’re determined to say goodbye by offering even more amazing value to customers.

“The special reductions, on top of the value we provide in every store, will help us leave locations we’re leaving with pride.

“And when we close our doors, we look forward to welcoming customers to one of the hundreds of Poundland stores we’ll continue to operate right across the UK.”

Poundland was sold for £1 to investment firm Gordon Brothers in June.

It avoided entering administration after a restructuring plan was approved in the High Court in August, days before the company was due to run out of money.

Recovery efforts since have focused on simplifying the business, including by cutting stores but also by overhauling its pricing structure.

It is returning to a simple £1, £2 and £3 grocery pricing across all its UK shops – with around 60% of grocery items priced at £1.

Simple pricing is also being rolled out across general merchandise and clothing ranges.