Poundland planning to shut 68 stores in major shake-up – with 82 more at risk over coming years

Read on for worrying news that could hit easyJet passengers planning a getaway to Spain
UNSOUND AS POUND Poundland planning to shut 68 stores in major shake-up – with 82 more at risk over coming years
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Dozens of high streets face losing their Poundland stores after the discount retailer yesterday announced a major restructuring plan.
The firm is seeking court approval to shut 68 shops and secure rent reductions on others — with a further 82 possibly closing in the coming years.
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Poundland is seeking court approval to shut 68 stores – with 82 more at risk in brutal high street shake-up
Credit: Alamy
It also plans to close its frozen and digital distribution site at Darton, South Yorks, this year and another warehouse at Springvale in Bilston, West Mids, in early 2026.
Around 1,000 shop staff and 350 warehouse workers in the UK will be affected by the restructure, but none in Ireland.
Last week, Polish owner Pepco Group sold Poundland to US investment firm Gordon Brothers for £1 after a downturn in trading.
Bosses said they expect the court proceedings for the restructuring to conclude in late summer.
Poundland MD Barry Williams said: 'It's no secret that we have much work to do to get back on track.
'It's sincerely regrettable this plan includes the closure of stores and distribution centres, but it's necessary if we're to achieve our goal of securing the future of thousands of jobs and hundreds of stores.'
Poundland could end up with as few as 650 stores in the UK and Ireland.
It also plans to stop selling frozen food in its stores and scale back its chilled range.
And shoppers will no longer be able to order its products online.
Poundland to be sold for JUST £1 as frontrunner for shock takeover is revealed after wave of store closures
'Interest' in sale of TSB
3
TSB's Spanish owner is considering selling UK bank after a flurry of interest across the British banking sector
Credit: PA
The Spanish parent firm of TSB is considering selling the UK high street bank.
In a regulatory filing, Banco Sabadell said it received 'preliminary non-binding expressions of interest for the acquisition of the entire share capital of TSB'.
TSB has around 175 UK branches and serves five million customers. Sabadell bought it a decade ago for £1.7billion.
It comes amid a flurry of interest in our banking sector, with Metro Bank seeing a takeover approach from Pollen Street Capital, while Santander pushed back bids from NatWest and Barclays.
EasyJet strike
3
EasyJet cabin crew in Spain are planning to strike just as the summer holiday season begins
Credit: Splash
EasyJet cabin crew in Spain are planning a three-day strike over pay from June 25 — just as the summer holiday season begins.
More than 650 USO union members based in Alicante, Barcelona, Malaga, and Palma de Mallorca could be involved.
They claim cabin crew in Spain earn significantly less than counterparts in other European countries.
EasyJet insists it will operate flights normally during the strike.
Energy compo
Energy firm Utilita must pay £277,000 after failing to issue its Warm Home Discount payments on time, Ofgem said yesterday.
The scheme gives low-income consumers an automatic payment of £150 a year.
The regulator found Utilita failed to pass on the discount to more than 4,000 customers in 2023 and 2024 due to an 'internal error'.
It must now pay £247,000 in compensation on top of £30,000 it stumped up earlier.

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The Guardian

an hour ago

• The Guardian

‘Not an attractive place to shop': how Poundland lost its appeal to shoppers

'It's not actually that cheap any more. It's kind of lost its appeal because everything is not a pound.' Samantha, a shopper outside Poundland's Luton retail park outlet who is heading off to B&M to find some better deals, sums up the feelings of many of her fellow bargain hunters and a central problem facing the new owner of the budget retailer. Gordon Brothers, which snapped up Poundland for a pound earlier this month – appears to have got a cheaper deal than is now available on many of the shelves at the chain, where there is a dizzying array of prices – from £14 jackets to £3 boxes of lightbulbs and £1.50 lipgloss. The group, which dived to a pre-tax loss of more than £51m last year despite sales at its outlets in the UK, Republic of Ireland and Isle of Man rising slightly to £1.82bn, according to accounts filed at Companies House, is aiming to close up to 150 of its 800 UK stores and asking landlords to cut rents on many more as it battles for survival. On a busy lunchtime in Luton, shoppers are queueing up for Poundland's largely self-service tills but many are convinced they can find better bargains elsewhere. This area highlights how the competition is breathing down Poundland's neck. The retail park store is just a couple of doors down from B&M, a major competitor, while its nearby outlet in the centre of Luton is squeezed between one of the UK's few remaining Wilkos and The Works – both cut-price rivals. Floretta Pope, 68, who is passing by with her daughter Tia, 32, says she no longer shops very frequently in Poundland. 'Everything in there is not a pound and, even if it is, it can be smaller than normal. It is not really an attractive place to shop.' 'I always find it a bit hectic in Poundland,' adds Katie Duffy, 26. 'I don't tend to go in. B&M has more choice.' Bargain chains are having a particularly tough time due to rising competition from supermarkets, including Tesco, Aldi and Lidl. The expansion of groups such as Savers, The Range, B&M, The Works and Home Bargains as well as online rivals such as Temu and Shein mean the budget market is now very crowded even since the demise of major player Wilko in 2023, which was left with only a few stores after The Range snapped up the brand. There has already been some consolidation. Poundland's rival Poundstretcher was bought last year by Majestic Wine's owner, Fortress, in its latest rescue deal, while another rival, Poundworld, closed its 350 stores in 2018 and Poundland bought its rival 99p Stores in 2015. Despite that, Poundland has been losing ground. Industry research group GlobalData estimates that its market share has fallen 2.3 percentage points (ppts) between 2019 and 2024 while Home Bargains, B&M and The Range's shares increased by 7.2ppts, 6.2ppts and 1.3ppts respectively. It is a dramatic turnaround in the past decade when Poundland grew rapidly amid demand for cheap stores. It rode a wave on which the UK's pound shop estate doubled between 2010 and 2016, according to the retail analyst Local Data Company now known as Green Street. The number continued to climb between 2015 and 2024 when more than 480 were added. Growth has now stalled according to Green Street and 21 shops in the pound-store category have closed this year. Poundland's parent group, Pepco, said it put the group up for sale after the government's increase in national insurance and business rates in April, which it said would 'add further pressure to Poundland's cost base'. But it also admitted it had made mistakes, including putting its Pepco clothing ranges into stores – which had not gone down well with UK shoppers. The budget retailers are under particular pressure from a raft of increases in basic business costs – such as wages, energy and property tax – as their slim profit margins give them little room to absorb additional costs. Meanwhile, the low-wage shoppers that make up the core of their fanbase now have little spare cash for non-essentials and those with more to spare can get what they need with their supermarket shop, where they are increasingly locked in by loyalty-card-linked discounts. The general slowdown in visits to physical stores on high streets and shopping malls has also hit bargain chains whose rock-bottom prices are designed to tempt passersby into impulse purchases. One former Poundland director, said the brand had 'lost its way' by becoming 'far too complicated and confusing for customers' with such an array of different price points. He said its decision in 2019 to drop the focus on £1 items also meant business operations, including running stores and dealing with suppliers had become more costly and complex. Poundland itself said in January it wanted to increase the number of items on sale for a £1 or less from 1,500, less than a third of its core range of 5,000 items, to almost half – 2,400. However, a banner outside the Luton store still only boasted of having the lower number of products at or below the headline price point. Emily Scott, a retail analyst at GlobalData agrees: 'The introduction of multiple price points has confused customers, while still not enabling shoppers to trade up within its ranges as it lacks the additional choice of mid to premium products.' She adds: 'Poundland's weak variety of branded goods at low prices has meant it has struggled to keep pace, damaging its brand perception amongst brand- and budget-conscious shoppers.' Poundland said: 'Despite continuing to serve 20 million shoppers a year, we know we've not met customers' expectations in a number of areas over the last couple of years. 'We've heard them and we're looking forward to having the opportunity to put those missteps right as we put our recovery plan in place.' The former director believes Poundland could still have a place on high streets but might need to shift to something more akin to the US chain Five Below, which sells items for five dollars or less to give more flexibility as costs rise. But, he warns, 'they have to keep it simple'.

Scottish Sun

an hour ago

• Scottish Sun

Bargain supermarket chain with 300 stores to shut bustling branch in just HOURS as huge closing down sale launched

The retailer will open a new store soon - check if it's near you NOT SO SUPER Bargain supermarket chain with 300 stores to shut bustling branch in just HOURS as huge closing down sale launched Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A BARGAIN supermarket chain is shutting down one of its 300 stores in just hours. The budget frozen food and grocery store has launched a closing down sale with all remaining stock at discounted prices. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 1 Farmfoods is closing its store in Ilkeston, Derbyshire tomorrow Credit: Alamy Farmfoods, in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, is closing its doors for the final time tomorrow after 20 years of serving the community. Locals flocked to the social media to express their sadness over the latest news. One person wrote: "A blow for savvy Ilkeston shoppers - Farmfoods in the precinct is closing. "It will be missed by many people, and the pleasant, helpful staff will be out of a job. "Shops like this are a lifeline to many folk." Another person said: "Soon the precinct will be empty...." A third person said: "It will be a sad day to see another shop closing. "It always seems to be busy though so it makes no sense." Someone else added: "Oh what a shame, it will be sorely missed." However, it is not all bad news. Beloved high street chain with 24 Irish locations confirms Dublin city centre store closing down in 10 days in huge blow The Scottish retailer, founded in Aberdeen in 1954, plans to open a new store in Codnor which promises to be "one of the largest" in the UK. A spokesperson for Farmfoods previously said: "I can confirm we have commenced development with the intention of opening a new shop at Market Place, Codnor at the junction with Nottingham Road and Heanor Road. "The land was formerly occupied by the French Horn public house. "The new shop will be one of our largest in the country and offer our full range of branded and own-brand products, including frozen food, groceries, chilled foods, bread, milk, fresh fruit and vegetables, along with a range of household and other items." The exact opening date is yet to be confirmed but it is said to be in August. This follows the news that Poundland has confirmed plans to shut 68 stores, with up to 150 at risk of closure. The struggling discount chain was sold for just £1 last week and it was expected a major shake-up would be needed to rescue it. Poundland has now announced a huge series of changes aimed at keeping itself afloat - although these will need to be approved by the High Court in August. They include ditching its frozen food items, getting rid of its loyalty scheme app and no longer selling products online. The Original Factory Shop has also recently launched another closing-down sale as the brand pulls the shutters on another store. The discount department store has slashed the prices on everything, from clothing to gardening tools to toys. Clothing rails have been tagged with percentage-off signs as high as 30 per cent off.

NBC News

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Tech tycoon Lynch's doomed Bayesian yacht lifted to surface

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