Just days after opening ten former Wilko stores as Poundland, the discount retailer today confirmed that another ten stores would also begin their Poundland journey this coming weekend.
Keeping its promise to move quickly and prioritise roles for former Wilko colleagues, the following English and Welsh Wilko stores will open on the morning of Saturday 7 October:
33-35 Nottingham Street, Melton Mowbray, LE13 1NN
Units 2/4 Bank Road, Matlock, DE4 3AQ
24 Welsh Street, Chepstow, NP16 5LL
The Kimberley Shopping Centre, 25 Greens Lane, Nottingham, NG16 2PB
15-21 High Street, Worcester, WR1 2QE
Unit 6-18 Civic Way, Marina Walk, Ellesmere Port, CH65 0AP
Cary Lane, Brigg, DN20 8EY
13-15 Fore Street, Redruth, TR15 2BD
Units 1-2, 92-94 Victoria Road, Ferndown, BH22 9JA
Unit 2/3, Crane Street, Torfaen, Pontypool, South Wales, NP4 6LY
Just like the former Wilko stores that opened as Poundland last weekend, each of these 10 new stores will have the extensive grocery, household and general merchandise ranges Poundland is famous for.
What’s more each of the new Wilkos will also have the same Pepco family clothing that is now also rolling out to 500-plus of Poundland’s existing UK and Ireland stores.
The extended clothing range, which sees Poundland offer more kidswear than before, also feature new licensed products including Harry Potter, Gremlins, Tom& Jerry and the Moomins, alongside popular Disney, Warner & Star Wars ranges.
Poundland will also open a new store at Telford Forge Retail Park on Collier Way on Saturday in a former Outfit unit. The 12,000 square foot destination store will also carry Poundland’s full range of groceries, clothing and homewares.
Poundland’s managing director Austin Cooke said: “Our people make Poundland special and last week they did an amazing job to turn ex-Wilko stores into brand new Poundlands in just six days – the size and scale of what they’ve achieved has been nothing short of phenomenal.
“But they worked hard because we meant what we said about moving quickly to create jobs for Wilko colleagues.
“And that’s why we’ll pull out all the stops to repeat that feat and open another 10 stores this weekend.
“I know from meeting our new colleagues from Wilko, how delighted they were to welcome customers old and new back to their store last weekend – and that’s inspiring us to keep the pace up and bring the amazing value we promise to more high streets this Saturday.
“And while it will take a little time to get the converted Wilkos quite as we’d like, by opening swiftly we’re protecting jobs, adding amazing value to the high street, and putting more stores and products closer to our customers when they need it most.
“That makes our mission to open them as speedily as we can, so important.”
Over the course of the just the last three weeks, Poundland has been prioritising former Wilko colleagues for roles in Poundland.
As of today, over 200 job offers have been made to ex-Wilko people with that number increasing day-by-day.
Poundland continues to encourage former Wilko colleagues to follow Poundland’s posts on LinkedIn or visit www.poundlandcareers.com to find details of open roles and how to apply for them.
Poundland also has 1,200 temporary seasonal roles available right across the country to help with the busy Christmas period.
Poundland intends to carry out a fuller makeover of converted Wilko stores in 2024 so they can complete their journeys to become fully operational Poundlands.