Poundland buys up to 71 Wilko stores – see the full list of locations
POUNDLAND has snapped up dozens of Wilko stores in a fresh deal.
The discounter has agreed to buy up to 71 shops, administrators have announced.
An agreement was reached today with Poundland owner Pepco with a view to opening the sites as Poundland stores.
The new shops will open their doors before the end of the year, with the lease agreements set to be completed in the autumn.
The 71 sites will add to Poundland’s 800 UK shops, which includes a mixture of high street and retail park stores.
Workers at the Wilko stores won't be transferred directly as part of the move, but Poundland has said it will "prioritise" existing Wilko workers for roles when the shops are opened.
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Poundland’s managing director Barry Williams said: "In the coming weeks we will work quickly with landlords so we can open these stores as Poundlands with the new ranges that have been pivotal to our recent development.
“And once that process is complete, we will ensure a significant number of the Wilko colleagues will join our Poundland team."
He added that the retailer recognises the last few weeks have been difficult for staff and it "will move quickly" to secure the leases from landlords.
The news today comes after a £13million deal with B&M was announced last week, with the chain agreeing to buy up to 51 stores.
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Edward Williams, joint administrator, said: “Alongside the previously announced agreement with B&M, we’re confident this sale will create a platform for future employment opportunities for people including current wilko team members at up to 122 locations.
"We will continue to engage with other retailers around any interest in other wilko sites and are confident of completing a sale of the brand and intellectual property within the coming days.”
All Wilko stores will close for good, administrators at PwC announced yesterday, after a major deal that would have saved stores and jobs collapsed in a huge blow to the high street.
Wilko shops will disappear from the high street by early October.
Poundland and B&M will be reopening the stores they have bought under their own names.
The first 52 closures began today, with 24 shops shutting for good by the end of the day.
A further 28 sites will close on Thursday this week, resulting in over 1,000 redundancies.
Another 124 stores are set to shut next week in three rounds of closures on Sunday 17, Tuesday 19 and September 21.
Administrators reported yesterday that timings for the remaining 222 closures will be announced in due course.
It is expected that all stores will close in the coming weeks, leading to a further 9,100 employees losing their jobs in those stores.
Wilko’s warehouses in Worksop and Newport are also due to close on September 15, with the majority of their remaining 886 employees being made redundant on that date.
It comes after HMV owner Doug Putman failed to strike a deal to buy around 200 stores.
The Sun exclusively revealed that talks PwC and Mr Putman had fallen through.
The Canadian entrepreneur was Wilko’s last chance of survival but rising running costs dashed any hopes of a rescue.
The Wilko name could still live on though as rival discounter The Range is in talks to take on the brand.
A deal would not include any shop locations, it's understood, but could see the Wilko name used online or for certain products, though details are still being finalised.
Which Wilko stores has Poundland bought?
Here is the full list of Wilko stores which have been bought by Poundland:
- Aberdare
- Alfreton
- Alnwick
- Altrincham
- Ammanford
- Ashby
- Barking
- Bedminster
- Beeston
- Bicester
- Bishop Stortford
- Bletchley
- Bolton
- Brentwood
- Brigg
- Cambridge
- Chepstow
- Coalville
- Cramlington
- Droitwich
- Eccles
- Edmonton Green
- Ellesmere Port
- Ferndown
- Gateshead
- Grays
- Greenock
- Grimsby
- Havant
- Hayes
- Headingley
- Hessle Road, Hull
- Hillsborough
- Hitchin
- Jarrow
- Killingworth
- Kimberley
- Lee Circle
- Leek
- Leigh
- Lichfield
- Maidenhead
- Matlock
- Melton Mowbray
- Nelson
- Northallerton
- Orton
- Pembroke Dock
- Peterlee
- Pontefract
- Pontypool
- Redhill
- Redruth
- Ripley
- Rugeley
- Sale
- Seaham
- Selly Oak
- Shrewsbury Darwin Centre
- South Shields
- Southport
- Stafford
- Stamford
- Stockport
- Thornaby
- Wellington
- Wembley
- West Ealing
- Wombwell
- Worcester
- Worksop
The B&M buyout of up to 51 stores does not include staff who work at Wilko and they will be rebranded as B&Ms.
Locations of the stores will be issued alongside B&Ms half-year financial results on November 9.
The first wave of job cuts took place early last week, with a total of 269 support centre team member roles being axed in its Worksop site.
Another 14 jobs at Kin Limited, a subsidiary of Wilko, have also been cut after it too fell into administration.
Wilko first collapsed on August 10 after the struggling retailer failed to find new backing for the business.
The company borrowed £40million in 2022 from Hilco as well as cutting jobs and restructuring the leadership of the business.
Wilko's collapse is a "massive blow" to the retail sector and staff, but some experts say "the clock has been ticking"; for a while.
In an emotional open letter to all staff and heartbroken shoppers chief executive officer, Mark Jackson, thanked them for their support over the 90-year stint on the British high street.
Mr Jackson, said that the company had "left no stone unturned" in a bid to save the chain.
Meanwhile, retail experts have revealed what went wrong with Wilko ahead of the store closures this week.
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Plus, here is the full list of 124 stores due to shut next week and the 52 closing their doors in the coming days.
To keep up to date with the latest on Wilko follow our live blog.
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