Discount retailer Poundland is to create an additional 220 jobs for the retail sector after acquiring eight former Peacocks stores, it was announced today.
Value fashion retailer Peacocks was bought out of administration by Edinburgh Woollen Mill last month, but 244 of its 632 stores were left out of the deal and were subsequently shut.
The closures resulted in over 3,000 redundancies at the group, and so the news that Poundland will reuse some of the sites is good news for the sector.
Included in the deal with Poundland are the former Peacocks stores in Seacroft, Haringey, Newmarket, Yate, Brighton, Dartford, Falkirk & Hoxton, and Poundland says that it hopes to purchase more of the abandoned units in due course.
Jim McCarthy, CEO of Poundland, commented: “Poundland has grown significantly over the past 12 months and we will continue to open new stores creating local employment opportunities.
“We are delighted to bring our unique and well proven single price discount proposition and provide amazing value every day to thousands of new customers in these towns.”
Poundland already operates 389 stores nationwide and these additional properties will give it approximately 44,000 sq ft more selling space.
The stores in Seacroft, Haringey and Newmarket will all reopen on Thursday April 5th 2012, while the other units acquired in this deal will start trading at a later date.
