Poundland plans biggest store opening spree yet

Poundland is planning 50 new stores, in what experts say is the latest sign of business rates cuts “breathing life back into the high street”.

Poundland today announced the “biggest transformation of its store estate in its 32-year history”, with 50 new or relocated shops to be opened by September, creating half a million sq ft of retail space and up to 800 jobs.

It comes a week after M&S revealed plans for 20 “bigger and better” stores by April next year, creating over 3,400 jobs.

Leading property consultancy Colliers said both were signs of a recent business rates revaluation already spurring on store openings.

The rateable value of shops in England and Wales, on which the tax is based, will fall by 10% on average from April, and as much as 30% or 40% for some shops, with department store-sized units and larger among the biggest winners, according to Colliers. It estimates M&S alone will see £70m (23%) shaved off its annual bill.

So-called ‘downwards transitioning’ is also ending, meaning retailers are in line to pay lower tax immediately from April instead of waiting for the new rates to be phased in over three years.

“It will breathe life back into the high street, and if you are a successful retailer like Poundland, you’re going to use the opportunity to do that,” said John Webber, Colliers head of business rates.

“Poundland, as a major player on the high street, will be aware of the savings they will be seeing, which will allow them to take decisions to invest in and expand their very successful business elsewhere.

“This is good news for Poundland and good news for the high street.” 

Read more: Why M&S’s new stores are working so much better for the retailer

Poundland’s plans include new high street and shopping centre stores, along with much larger ones up to about 18,000 sq ft in retail parks. A spokesman said Poundland was particularly pleased with the performance of its larger stores, having opened a number last year, and was on the lookout for more.

Among the larger stores in the pipeline is Britain’s biggest Poundland yet, in Scotland, an 18,380 sq ft branch set to open in March on Glasgow’s Crown Street. It will join recently-opened ‘supersized’ Poundland stores in Nottingham, Teesside, Denton and Peterborough.

The spokesman said the expansion drive was to support a “range revolution”, that had seen Poundland move into new categories including chilled & frozen food, in a bid to offer an alternative to supermarkets.

Poundland MD 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.”

Here are some of Poundland’s planned new or relocated stores: