Poundland is set to treble the number of stores it owns over the next few years and could eventually have as many as 650 outlets in the UK.
The single-price retailer currently has 218 stores and plans to open at least 40 more this financial year, creating 1,500 jobs.
"The opportunity to develop stores has never been greater, because with the recession the cost of entry is less and the landlords are very keen to let out sites, which helps us to rent vacant stores," said CEO Jim McCarthy.
"Currently, when we take up empty sites we don't have to pay for goodwill. There's a long way to go and we are only a third of the way there.
"But our pipeline for new openings is very strong and we could open even more."
A few years ago, some landlords had turned their noses up at Poundland, he said. They had now changed their tune in light of its growing popularity.
There was also a surplus of empty retail units for Poundland to choose from and with landlords having to pay empty rates tax, they were offering great value leases, he said.
With Poundland's sales up 20% to £396m and pre-tax profits rising 103% to £8.6m in the year ending March 2009, McCarthy said he had the capital to invest in the store estate.
He had decided to postpone its mail-order website indefinitely to concentrate on opening new stores, he added. Poundland had previously planned to have the website up and trading by the end of 2009.
"We are so busily engaged in opening new stores that we have taken the decision that this year is not the time to launch it," he said. "It is on our shopping list and it will definitely happen, but I can't tell you when. We think it's an opportunity and we want to be absolutely prepared to exploit it to its maximum. When we do it I want it to be absolutely right. At the moment it's a distraction we could do without."
In April, Poundland bought 12 former Woolworths stores directly from landlords.
The single-price retailer currently has 218 stores and plans to open at least 40 more this financial year, creating 1,500 jobs.
"The opportunity to develop stores has never been greater, because with the recession the cost of entry is less and the landlords are very keen to let out sites, which helps us to rent vacant stores," said CEO Jim McCarthy.
"Currently, when we take up empty sites we don't have to pay for goodwill. There's a long way to go and we are only a third of the way there.
"But our pipeline for new openings is very strong and we could open even more."
A few years ago, some landlords had turned their noses up at Poundland, he said. They had now changed their tune in light of its growing popularity.
There was also a surplus of empty retail units for Poundland to choose from and with landlords having to pay empty rates tax, they were offering great value leases, he said.
With Poundland's sales up 20% to £396m and pre-tax profits rising 103% to £8.6m in the year ending March 2009, McCarthy said he had the capital to invest in the store estate.
He had decided to postpone its mail-order website indefinitely to concentrate on opening new stores, he added. Poundland had previously planned to have the website up and trading by the end of 2009.
"We are so busily engaged in opening new stores that we have taken the decision that this year is not the time to launch it," he said. "It is on our shopping list and it will definitely happen, but I can't tell you when. We think it's an opportunity and we want to be absolutely prepared to exploit it to its maximum. When we do it I want it to be absolutely right. At the moment it's a distraction we could do without."
In April, Poundland bought 12 former Woolworths stores directly from landlords.
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