Poundland is putting the finishing touches to its new store in East Dulwich which will bring shoppers even more choice and value to help household budgets go further.
The store replaces a Foxtons estate agent on Lordship Lane and will open on 18 March 2023, creating 12 jobs.
Its arrival has caused an online stir on local Facebook groups with a small minority claiming Poundland’s new store is a sign of ‘reverse gentrification’.
Eager to calm the nerves of East Dulwich luvvies, Poundland has created bespoke window signage highlighting facts about the business that should help stop any local hand-wringing.
These include:
· Prices in our little shops (like this one) are the same as in our big shops!
· Retailers love the customers we bring to their high streets. Serving 7m shoppers a week, we may help a little more than the estate agent here before us.
· We only use 100% renewable electricity to power our UK mainland stores and all our fridges in every store have doors reducing energy consumption by 80%.
· We stopped air freighting any of our products back in 2021 and over 60% of what we sell comes from the UK and Europe.
· Try our meal deal – it’s better value than most!
· Just like here, we’re creating retail jobs – across the UK between 750 and 800 in 2023 alone
· We have our own Poundland Foundation – so far it’s raised £1 million to provide sports Kits for Kids and supports Make-A-Wish, Tommy’s & Whizz-Kidz.
· Here in East Dulwich you’ll find lots you didn’t expect – including chilled and frozen food as well as beers, wines and spirits.
East Dulwich joins a growing number of successful Poundland stores in sought-after London areas including Swiss Cottage, Fulham and Shepherds Bush that are proving more and more popular as everyone in Britain navigates the on-going cost of living crisis.
Although areas of the Borough are considered affluent, Southwark is ranked as having the 6th highest rate of child poverty across the whole of London.
Those figures from a Loughborough University report in 2021 will be supported with more data released this month from the Food Foundation that shows child poverty had doubled across the UK in the last year to four million.
The new 2,800sq ft store will follow the retailer’s Poundland Local format – specifically designed to bring convenience shopping to areas not currently served by the retailer.
The opening will bring Poundland’s amazing value to local residents and commuters who work in the area, offering customers a carefully selected range of products, whether they are buying lunch, doing a planned top-up shop or making an urgent last-minute buy.
It will also offer Poundland’s core range including groceries, snacks, household products, health and beauty and batteries. Customers will also find items they would expect in a convenience store including fresh fruit and vegetables, chilled and frozen food, bread and morning goods, hot pies and pastries, nappies and formula milk, beers, wines and spirits.
Poundland director of retail, Darren Kay, said: “While our impending arrival on Lordship Lane has caused a bit of a hoo-ha, we can’t wait to open our doors and show Lordship Lane what we’re offering.
“What’s more we think our promise to deliver amazing value is as important to the residents of East Dulwich as it is to customers in East Kilbride and East Grinstead.
“We look forward to helping all Southwark residents save money on the grocery items they need.”
For those residents who would like a sneak peek ahead of the hoi polloi, Poundland will organise a special preview the day before opening to help them acclimatise.
