In a major shakeup, the discount retailer Poundland has shut down 149 stores and cut 2,200 jobs as part of a rescue plan launched in response to challenging trading conditions and an unpopular clothing range that had sent the company into the red.
The company, which was bought for £1 from Pepco Group by the US restructuring specialist Gordon Brothers last June, said it has now refocused on £1 items, with 60% of its stock now priced at that level. It is also relaunching its Pep & Co clothing brand after a switch to ranges supplied by its former parent group hit sales.
Poundland’s managing director, Barry Williams, said the significant store closures are now complete, adding: “We have clear indications from the work we’ve already done, that we’re on the right track.” However, he acknowledged that the company still has “much to do” to turn the business around.
The retailer reported that underlying profits had more than doubled to £17.3m in the three months to 28 December, compared to the same period a year earlier. But sales at established stores fell 2.9%, even excluding categories it no longer sells.
The restructuring plan, first announced last June, included shutting at least 68 stores and up to 80 more, cutting rents, stopping online sales, ditching its Perks loyalty app, and no longer offering frozen and most chilled food. Poundland’s frozen and digital distribution centres have now closed, while two other distribution centres continue to operate.
Poundland has faced a tough trading period in recent years, with rising costs on business rates, energy, staff and heavy competition from the likes of The Range, B&M Home Bargains, Savers, as well as supermarkets and low-price online specialists such as Temu and Shein.
Gordon Brothers, a former owner of Laura Ashley, said it would invest up to £80m in Poundland to help turn the business around. Williams said the focus in 2026 will be on delivering the “kind of range and price simplicity our customers want right across the store – in clothing, homeware as well as our core grocery aisles.”
