Major bargain chain with over 850 branches abruptly closes store as shoppers cry ‘I’ll be lost without it’
A MAJOR bargain chain with over 850 branches has abruptly closed one of its branches and shoppers are gutted.
Poundland has branches across the country including in major cities like London, Nottingham and Sheffield.
It sells everything from homeware essentials, clothing, snacks and party essentials.
But shoppers in Gateshead in Tyne and Wear will now need to find an alternative shop as the chain closed its store in The Interchange Centre, West Street on June 17.
Shoppers have shared their sadness over the decision to close the site on social media.
One Facebook user said: “I was lost going to Gateshead. The first place I go is Poundland Interchange.
“I’m absolutely lost without it. Going to miss the staff. So glad I saw few of them before they closed.”
Another wrote: “It’s absolutely heartbreaking for this store to be closing down – all the staff there are absolutely amazing.”
A third cried: “What the hell, it’s a brilliant shop.”
A spokesman for Poundland said shoppers will still be able to visit Poundland’s nearby branch in Trinity Square instead.
The decision to close the store comes just seven months after the retailer took over the site from Wilko after it collapsed into administration.
Poundland took on 71 new locations when its rival fell into administration last year.
It quickly turned around the ex-Wilko premises and opened the majority of them up under the Poundland name before Christmas.
However, since then a number of stores have closed down including locations in Alfreton, Bishop’s Stortford and Ellesmere Port.
However, it is far from being all doom and gloom, as the retailer did open up 80 stores in the last quarter of 2023.
New shops have opened in Perry Barr, Leith, Biggleswade, Bridgwater and Norwich.
Why are retailers closing shops?
EMPTY shops have become an eyesore on many British high streets and are often symbolic of a town centre’s decline.
The Sun’s business editor Ashley Armstrong explains why so many retailers are shutting their doors.
In many cases, retailers are shutting stores because they are no longer the money-makers they once were because of the rise of online shopping.
Falling store sales and rising staff costs have made it even more expensive for shops to stay open. In some cases, retailers are shutting a store and reopening a new shop at the other end of a high street to reflect how a town has changed.
The problem is that when a big shop closes, footfall falls across the local high street, which puts more shops at risk of closing.
Retail parks are increasingly popular with shoppers, who want to be able to get easy, free parking at a time when local councils have hiked parking charges in towns.
Many retailers including Next and Marks & Spencer have been shutting stores on the high street and taking bigger stores in better-performing retail parks instead.
Boss Stuart Machin recently said that when it relocated a tired store in Chesterfield to a new big store in a retail park half a mile away, its sales in the area rose by 103 per cent.
In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Wilko, Debenhams Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Paperchase to name a few.
What’s increasingly common is when a chain goes bust a rival retailer or private equity firm snaps up the intellectual property rights so they can own the brand and sell it online.
They may go on to open a handful of stores if there is customer demand, but there are rarely ever as many stores or in the same places.
In recent months, Poundland store have been undergoing a huge regeneration project with 150 getting a makeover this year.
It then plans to roll out the format to more stores in the future.
Shops will have new signs to give them an updated look – and highlight some of the best deals.
There’s a new meal deal, discounts on clothing and an unbeatable deal on crisps.
The store upgrade is part of a huge new makeover project that the chain is calling “Project Evo” and some renovations have already been completed.
The Sun visited one of the first locations to get a new look – and you can watch our exclusive tour around the store here.
Ex-Wilko/Poundland locations that have shut down
Since taking over 71 ex-Wilko stores some locations have had to closed down - here is the full list
- Alfreton
- Bishop’s Stortford
- Ealing
- Eccles
- Ellesmere Port
- Hillsborough
- Jarrow
- Nelson
- Stafford
HIGH STREET WOES
Several major shops and chains are closing dozens of branches in 2024.
Some stores will be replaced or relocated while others will disappear from the high street forever.
Clintons is also set to close a number of branches, including those in Bournemouth and Kettering.
In August 2023, restructuring experts FRP Advisory and law firm Jones Day presented plans to save the business in an insolvency court.
They came up with a deal to save thousands of jobs and over one hundred UK stores.
But it also involved waving goodbye to a selection of shops that were not earning enough money to keep.
Next, Jack Wills and Poundland have all all shut selected branches this year.
It comes as 6,000 retail outlets have brought down the shutters since 2018, according to the British Retail Consortium.
The trade association’s chief executive Helen Dickinson OBE blamed the closures on “crippling” business rates and the impact of coronavirus lockdowns.
Energy costs have risen and more shoppers than ever are choosing to order online rather than head into stores.
This has left some retailers grappling with budgets and having no choice but to close stores to cut costs.
Several big retailers have fallen into administration in the past year, including Wilko, Paperchase, and most recently, The Body Shop and Ted Baker.
For the most part, supermarkets have braved the storm as they provide essential items like food and drink but other retailers have been less fortunate.
Boots announced it would be closing 300 stores over the next year as part of plans to evolve its brand.
Wilko collapsed into administration last year after being hit hard by inflationary pressures, competition from rivals and supply chain challenges.
However, it’s not all bad news for the high street, as several other retailers and hospitality venues have plans to expand.
Beer giant Heineken announced plans to invest £39million to help reopen 62 previously shuttered British pubs.
Aldi has announced that it will open 35 new UK stores.
The openings form part of Aldi‘s long-term target of 1,500 stores in the UK.
The supermarket is set to invest £550million in expanding its UK footprint this year alone.
Aldi said each new store opening will create around 40 new jobs on average.
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