Poundland to shut popular store in DAYS ahead of possible shock £1 takeover
POUNDLAND will shut a popular store in a matter of days.
The budget retailer will soon close its branch in Copdock Mill Interchange, Ipswich.
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The store is set to close on May 20, giving shoppers just two days to say their goodbyes.
The move has come as a blow to locals who have described the store as "the best".
Others said they hope staff impacted by the move "are able to find work quickly".
While a second said: "Not surprised, every time I've popped in there, there were more staff than customers."
It draws a line under a 19 month stint in the unit, having first opened just over a year ago.
A spokesperson for the brand previoulsy told The Sun: "Our Copdock Mill store will close on 20 May as we've been unable to agree terms that would allow us to keep trading there.
"We'd like to thank customers for their continued support – we look forward to welcoming them to our store at the Sailmakers centre in Ipswich."
It's impending closure comes after it was revealed yesterday that Poundland is could be sold for just £1, and up to 200 stores could close as part of the process.
Gordon Brothers, the ex-owner of Laura Ashley, is reportedly in the lead to takeover the bargain chain.
Bidding for Poundland and its 825 UK stores is expected to begin on Tuesday sources told The Sunday Times.
Walkthrough Poundland's first £1million store
Turnaround Investors were linked with a bid for Poundland.
These firms specialise in buying up struggling businesses in the hopes of turning them around.
A US based investor, Gordon Brothers, have been said to be the frontrunners in the bidding war.
However, other possible other buyers could still swoop in.
The bargain chain will publish its half year results this coming Thursday, with an update on the process expected then.
But market sources told The Sun an update on the final sale could come at a later date.
Poundland is currently owned by the Warsaw-listed retailer Pepco, employs more than 16,000 people and has 825 shops in the UK.
The retailer has already announced plans to shut around 10 stores since the the start of year.
Just last week stores across Gravesend's St George's Centre, Clapham Junction station in London, and Liverpool's Belle Vale Shopping Centre all pulled down their shutters for the final time.
This comes on top of a closure in Brackla Wales which is due to take place on May 24.
A few months back, Poundland was forced to close a branch in Belfast after the Connswater Shopping Centre was put into receivership.
You can see the full list of closures below:
Chiswick High Road – closing May 28
Copdock Mill Interchange Ipswich, closing May 20.
St George's Centre, Gravesend – closed last week
Clapham Junction Station, London – closed May 2
Belle Vale Shopping Centre, Liverpool – closed May 6
Brackla, Wales – closing May 24
Connswater Shopping Centre, Belfast – closed end of March
Maidenhead – closed October 2024
Sutton Coldfield – closed early October 2024
Macclesfield – closed August 2024
WHAT IS GOING ON AT POUNDLAND
Last month, its parent company Pepco is said to have hired advisory firm Teneo to oversee the sale of the UK business.
It comes after Pepco said it was looking at"all strategic options" to separate Poundland from its brand.
The Polish group said it might turn its focus to its more profitable businesses in Europe.
Pepco previously warned that upcoming hikes to employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and national minimum wage would significantly add to its costs.
Late last year, it was revealed that profits at Poundland also tumbled by £641million in the year to September, with bosses again blaming slow sales amid a poor outlook thanks to measures set out by Reeves.
A spokesperson also said the huge loss was "due to a non-cash impairment at Poundland that relates to the acquisition of the UK chain in 2016".
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."
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