POUNDLAND has launched a huge 90% off closing down sale at one of its stores.
It’s branch in Killingworth Centre in Newcastle is slashing prices ahead of closing on Sunday, August 24.
Poundland is closing a branch in Newcastle tomorrow[/caption]
The chain was previously holding a 75% off sale, but has now bumped it up to 90% as it looks to shift stock before it shuts for good.
The news has come as a blow to locals who said they were “sad” to see the store closure.
And it is not the only Poundland store due to close down this weekend.
The bargain store confirmed it would be shuttering 48 locations this month.
A total of 12 sites will close this weekend, and a further 11 will shut the following week.
This comes after they closed 15 stores on August 17.
You can check out the full list of stores here:
Closed on August 17:
- Bedford
- Bidston Moss
- Broxburn
- Craigavon
- Dartmouth
- East Dulwich
- Falmouth
- Hull St Andrews
- Newtownabbey
- Perth
- Poole
- Sunderland
- Stafford
- Thornaby
- Worcester
Shutting on August 24:
- Brigg
- Canterbury
- Coventry
- Newcastle
- Kings Heath
- Peterborough
- Peterlee
- Rainham
- Salford
- Sheldon
- Wells
- Whitechapel
Shutting on August 31:
- Blackburn
- Cookstown
- Erdington
- Kimberley Kimberley Shopping Centre, Nottingham
- Horsham
- Hull Holderness
- Kettering
- Omagh
- Shepherds Bush
- Southport
- Taunton
Poundland operates 800 stores nationwide, but the company hopes to significantly reduce this number to between 650 and 700.
This includes the 68 stores closing by mid-October, as well as additional stores shutting when leases expire and are not renewed.
These restructuring plans were outlined in June by the investment firm Gordon Brothers.
The company was sold to the American firm over the summer as part of a deal that included major restructuring and an £80million cash injection.
MORE POUNDLAND NEWS
The bargain retail chain will make a number of changes following its sale.
Come September 16, shoppers will no longer be able to buy products off its website and its loyalty scheme, Poundland Perks will be axed.
Loyalty scheme customers signed up to the Poundland Perks app have until January 15, 2026, to use their rewards vouchers.
Poundland’s new owners have said they also want to:
- Close its frozen and digital distribution centre in Darton, South Yorkshire, later this year
- Ditch frozen products from stores
- Reduce the number of chilled food items sold
- Close its national distribution centre in Bilston, West Midlands, in early 2026
- Provide more womenswear and seasonal ranges
These changes are subject to High Court approval with a hearing set to take place this month.
Elsewhere, the chain has also revealed plans to increase the number of items sold for a pound.
As part of the shake-up, the discounter will roll out £1, £2, £3 grocery pricing across all stores.
The new pricing will roll out to all Poundland’s UK stores in phases
between now and September.
Eventually, the number of grocery items sold at £1 will increase to 60%.
Around 20% of goods will be sold at £2 and another 20% will be sold at £3.
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.
A survey of more than 4,800 firms found that 55% expect prices to increase in the next three months, up from 39% in a similar poll conducted in the latter half of 2024.
Three-quarters of companies cited the cost of employing people as their primary financial pressure.
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.”