Poundland to open half a million sq ft of retail space this year

There are 50 new openings and relocations planned to create a net 750 to 800 jobs before the end of its 2022-2023 financial year.

It said its is the biggest transformation of the Walsall-based chain's store estate in its 32-year history.

The retail expansion programme will support the range 'revolution' that has taken place at Poundland over the last three years, as it adds whole new categories such as clothing, homewares, and chilled and frozen food to offer customers an alternative to big supermarkets.

Its planned openings and relocations will continue to bring Poundland to a wider range of locations in UK high streets, shopping centres and retail parks.

The plans also includes Britain’s biggest Poundland in Scotland -– a 18,380 sq ft store at Glasgow Crown Street which is set to open in March, joining recently-opened supersized stores in Nottingham, Teesside, Denton and Peterborough.

Over the course of the next nine months, Poundland will continue to take opportunities to relocate from smaller and outdated locations as leases expire. In February and March it will relocate stores in Newport, South Wales; Llantrisant and Rotherham.

Other openings planned for March 2023 include full size Poundlands in Aldershot and Castle Bromwich, Birmingham and a new Poundland Local convenience store for East Dulwich.

In total, there are eight confirmed openings planned for January to March, with another six in the final stage of lease negotiations.

Another 26 stores are planned for April to June and 13 more are pencilled in for the second half of the year, with additional locations added once agreements with landlords have been secured.

Poundland managing director Barry Williams said “We know how customers appreciate the effort we’ve made in the last few years to transform our offer, offering them more of what they want to buy, week-in, week-out.

“That transformation means we have to step up our search for the best locations to bring the best of Poundland to customers across the UK and that’s precisely what we’ll do in 2023.

“We will continue to work hard to find the right locations that suit the range of Poundland formats we now offer – from small neighbourhood convenience stores to our large destination stores.”

Poundland opened 18 stores in its first financial quarter from October to December, including eight on 'Super Saturday' – December 10 – alone.

Since opening its first store in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, in 1990, Poundland has built a network of more than 850 stores in the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

It now has around 18,000 staff who serve up to seven million customers every week.