POUNDLAND is set to close one of its shopping centre stores in hours as 200 branches face the risk of shutting for good.
The value supermarket is set to shut up shop in Southampton city centre as shoppers scramble to find the next nearest location.
Poundland in West Quay Retail Park will shut its store for good tomorrow but the store on Above Bar Street will operate as normal.
It comes as up to 200 other branches face closure, risking thousands of jobs.
A spokesperson for Poundland told the Daily Echo that the brand “constantly” reviews its stores as “leases expire or come up for renewal”.
They said: “In Southampton we’re consolidating our presence in the city at our Above Bar Street store that’s only half a mile away.
“We’d obviously like to thank customers for their support at West Quay and look forward to welcoming them to Above Bar Street.”
On Saturday afternoon, a customer reported seeing empty shelves on his visit to Poundland.
He also recounted how he had overhead an employee saying they would need to travel to another store.
Once the West Quay site closes, seven Poundland stores will remain across Southampton, Eastleigh and Totton.
In March, residents were asked if the bargain store would be missed with one saying the closure was “another good” brand “that’s gone down” in the city centre.
They feared there would only “be hairdressers left” if stores kept on shutting their doors in the area.
Another said Poundland would be sorely missed by a lot of locals if it were to also close its Above Bar Street store.
“I know for a fact that there’s a lot of elderly people who go in there for a deal, my parents included,” they said.
“I think it’s one of those shops you always think of as a good budget choice and I think the bargains you can get there would be missed by others and by me.”
The news comes as the bargain chain will also be closing branches in Bristol and Flint this month.
The shop in Union Gate, Bristol, will merge with two others nearby in Horsefair and the Broadmead Shopping Centre.
Eight stores have closed since the start of May including in Liverpool and Ipswich, while 12 in total have shut since March last year.
Five more are earmarked for closure from June 11.
It was also announced that three branches will close across Filton, London and Cowes last month.
And the Chiswick High road store closed for good on Wednesday, May 28.
Full list of Poundland store closures:
This is the full list of stores that have closed, or are set to close in the coming months:
- Connswater Shopping Centre, Belfast – closed March 2024
- Macclesfield – closed August, 2024
- Maidenhead – closed October, 2024
- Sutton Coldfield – closed October, 2024
- Clapham Junction Station, London – closed May 2
- Belle Vale Shopping Centre, Liverpool – closed May 6
- St George’s Centre, Gravesend – closed May 8
- Southwark Park Road – closed May 14
- Copdock Mill Interchange, Ipswich – closed May 20
- Brackla, Wales – closed May 24
- Chiswick High Road – closed May 28
- Filton Abbeywood – closed May 31
- Surrey Quays – closing June 11
- Union Gate, Bristol – closing June 20
- Flint – closing June 21
- Cowes, Isle of Wight – closing July (exact date tbc)
- Newquay, August 1
What is happening with Poundland?
The owner of Poundland, Pepco, is reportedly eyeing up a sale of its UK retail arm for £1, with up to 200 shops potentially closing as part of the process.
Bidding for the business started last month, with Gordon Brothers, the ex-owner of Laura Ashley, and Homebase owner Hilco reported to be in a two way race.
A decision on who the preferred bidder is could be announced in the coming days.
Pepco said it expects the sale of Poundland in the UK to complete by September.
In April, it was reported advisory firm Teneo was drafted in to oversee the sale of the UK business.
It comes after Pepco said it was looking at “all strategic options” to separate Poundland from its brand.
Pepco previously warned that upcoming hikes to employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and national minimum wage would significantly add to its costs.
Late last year, it was revealed that profits at Poundland also tumbled by £641million in the year to September, with bosses again blaming slow sales amid a poor outlook thanks to measures set out by Reeves.
A spokesperson also said the huge loss was “due to a non-cash impairment at Poundland that relates to the acquisition of the UK chain in 2016”.
RETAIL PAIN IN 2025
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
Research by the British Chambers of Commerce shows that more than half of companies plan to raise prices by early April.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: “The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025.”
Professor Bamfield has also warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
“By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer’s household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020.”
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