Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
£1 clothes shop aims to put some pep in fashion
Super-cheap ‘must-stop destination’ will be opened in city
Discount retailer Poundland has confirmed Canterbury will be among the first of its stores to stock a new range of super-cheap clothing.
The budget shopping group will open more than 150 Pep&co concessions in its stores over the next year, including five across Kent.
It expects the move to make it a top 15 clothing retailer by volume alongside the likes of River Island, Topman, Asos and Peacocks.
Its first series of stores to launch Pep&co ‘shop-in-shop’ outlets before Easter will include Canterbury, Ramsgate, Strood, Westwood Cross near Broadstairs and its new store in Dover.
Pep&co is owned by South African group Steinhoff International, which bought Poundland for £610 million in 2016.
Its prices at start at £1, with 95% of its range costing less than £10.
Its managing director Adrian Mountford said: “This Christmas we sold over a million more items than we did in our whole first year of trading from standalone stores.
“Thanks to our partnership with Poundland we’re set to double in size over the coming year, helping us to drive economies of scale to keep prices low, helping make Poundland an increasingly popular new fashion destination.”
Poundland’s UK and Ireland managing director, Barry Williams, added: “Who would have thought 12 months ago that we would make Poundland a muststop fashion destination?
“Well, we’re turning that ambi- tion into reality and by the end of this year, with over 300 ‘shop-inshop’ fashion stores, we’re set to become a major fashion player.”
Poundland is in the former Woolworths building on St George’s Street.