Kentish Express Ashford & District
Poundland closure, but new discount chain store on way
Shoppers grabbed last-minute bargains at the weekend as Ashford’s newest Poundland shop staged a closing-down sale – just eight months after it opened.
The shop on the Warren Retail Park, off Simone Weil Avenue, was due to shut yesterday (Wednesday).
It will be replaced by popular discount store Home Bargains, which said it is on track to open there on Saturday, May 20.
A spokesman for the chain said they were excited about the new store and will advertise new positions in the local Jobcentre in the coming weeks.
In the run-up to Poundland’s closure, the shop held a closingdown sale, with signs in the window saying “all stock must go” and offering customers 25% off all remaining stock.
A Poundland spokesman said: “The store is closing, however customers can continue to shop at the Poundland store on High Street or County Square.
“Poundland will ensure jobs [for staff] are available in other stores.”
The Warren Retail Park store only opened in May last year, replacing Family Bargains, a home discount store much like Home Bargains, after that chain was bought by Poundland. The closure will, however, mean that Poundland will still retain its two other shops in Ashford town centre – one in the County Square shopping centre and the other in the former Woolworths store in the High Street.
Both became Poundlands after the company’s acquisition of the 99p Stores group in September 2015.
When the Warren Retail Park store opened, residents questioned whether the town could sustain three Poundlands. The company said it was looking at each town on a “case by case” basis.
Poundland also confirmed last week that its store in Sandgate Road, Folkestone, is to close on Saturday, March 11. The chain’s other store in the town’s Bouverie Place shopping centre will remain open.
Poundland’s closure is in contrast to the growing Home Bargains empire, which is headquartered in Liverpool but already has Kent outlets in Folkestone, Canterbury and Maidstone.
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