Bargain UK retail chain with 700 stores is shutting doors to ‘super' branch for good in just HOURS

The Sun

6 days ago

ONE OF Britain's favourite budget chains is shuttering a popular branch for good in just a few hours.
The bargain retailer has more than 700 stores across the country, and shoppers are gutted to see more branches close.
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Poundland is closing even more stores across the UK, with some closing in a matter of hours.
One of these is the Stratford store on Bridge Street, which is set to shut tomorrow.
Shoppers in Stratford were devastated to see the shop close, and some even took to social media to express their dismay.
One gutted shopper said: "Nooo...not another one!
"Won't be much left on Bridge Street at this rate."
Another customer raised concerns about the 'super' shopping assistants: "The staff are super in that store, I hope they find jobs quickly."
A third responded: "Another empty unit! Sad!"
One angry resident slammed the area as a "ghost town" following the closure: "Stratford for shopping went down the pan years ago, this just adds to the ghost town it's becoming."
Other shoppers simply put 'shocked' emojis.
The store was taken on by the Gordon Brothers in 2025 and announced that a few sites would be closed during a major reshuffle.
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However, the Bridge Street branch closure was not initially part of the wave of closures.
The store is being forced to close after the company failed to reach a deal to stay at the location.
A spokesperson for Poundland said: 'Poundland expects to have a store network of around 650-700 stores in the UK & Ireland compared to around 800 today which includes combining two locations into one, where we're able.
'While that remains a very sizable number of stores, we know how disappointing it is for customers when a location like Stratford stops trading, and we look forward to welcoming customers to our close-by Retail Park store.
They explained that the Stratford store was not one of those and neither was the shop at the Maybird Shopping Centre, but its closure was related to not being able to agree terms that would allow them to keep trading there.
The spokesperson added: 'We're obviously disappointed we haven't been able to agree terms that would allow us to keep the store open.
"It goes without saying that we are formally consulting with colleagues at the store and that work is underway.'
Unfortunately for Poundland fans, the Stratford branch isn't the only store in the firing line.
Port Glasgow follows suit on August 10, and Whitby will shut for good on September 3.
A closing-down sale is now underway at the Newark store, while signs announcing the closure have appeared at the Pontypool branch, which will shut on September 7.
The Merry Hill store in Dudley already shut its doors on July 18, followed by the Telford branch yesterday.
Poundland is set to close its Cowes branch on the Isle of Wight on July 30, with its Newquay shop set to close on August 1.
The closures are part of a major overhaul after the retailer was bought by Gordon Brothers for just £1 earlier this year.
The bargain chain has said up to 68 stores will close, with another 150 at risk as it cuts down from nearly 800 sites.
Plans include scrapping frozen food sections, removing online shopping, and increasing womenswear and seasonal ranges.
Seventeen shops have already shut since March 2024, including locations in Maidenhead, Surrey Quays and Clapham Junction.
Once the closures are complete, the company expects to operate between 650 and 700 stores.
The Polish-owned Pepco Group had previously run Poundland since 2016, but auctioned it off in March.
Shoppers have flocked to stores offering big closing-down discounts, picking up bargains before the shutters come down.
Customers are being urged to check whether their local branch is affected as closures continue into September.
A total of 24 stores will shut once the remaining closures have taken place:
Connswater Shopping Centre, Belfast – closed March 2024
Macclesfield – closed August, 2024
Maidenhead – closed October, 2024
Sutton Coldfield – closed October, 2024
Clapham Junction Station, London – closed May 2
Belle Vale Shopping Centre, Liverpool – closed May 6
St George's Centre, Gravesend – closed May 8
Southwark Park Road – closed May 14
Copdock Mill Interchange, Ipswich – closed May 20
Newport, Wales – closed May 24
Chiswick High Road – closed May 28
Filton Abbeywood – closed May 31
Surrey Quays – closed June 11
Barrow Dalton Road - closed June 12
Union Gate, Bristol - closed June 20
Flint - closed June 21
Colchester - closed
St Marks Place Newark - unknown
Telford - closed July 1
Stratford-upon-Avon - July 21
Newquay - closing July 30
Cowes, Isle of Wight – closing July 30
Newquay - August 1
Whitby - September 3
Pontypool - September 7
Inverclyde - unknown
Barry Williams, managing director of Poundland said: 'It's no secret that we have much work to do to get Poundland back on track.
"While Poundland remains a strong brand, serving 20m-plus shoppers each year, our performance for a significant period has fallen short of our high standards and action is needed to enable the business to return to growth.
'It's sincerely regrettable that this plan includes the closure of stores and distribution centres, but it's necessary if we're to achieve our goal of securing the future of thousands of jobs and hundreds of stores.
"It goes without saying that if our plans are approved, we will do all we can to support colleagues who will be directly affected by the changes.'
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."