Retailer has more stores in pipeline
POUNDLAND KEEN ON EXPANDING IN COUNTY
POUNDLAND’S retail director has said Nottinghamshire “plays a big part in our plan” for future expansion ahead of the opening of its latest store in the county.
The budget retailer opens a new store in Arnold today, bringing shoppers more choice and creating jobs in the area.
The new store at 2 Front Street will employ 24 staff and, at more than 7,000 square feet, the former Argos unit will offer shoppers a wide range of items.
It features Poundland’s PEP&CO clothing for the whole family, with a wide range of womenswear, menswear and kidswear, as well as PEP&CO Home ranges including ornaments and throws.
The new store will mean there are 15 Poundlands across Nottinghamshire, and the company sees it as a key area for the business with more on the way.
Poundland retail director Austin Cooke told the Post: “It’s very exciting and part of our ongoing expansion plan to keep putting Poundlands in the heart of our communities where people really want them and where they really matter.
“I think especially in the light of the pandemic and the risk that’s created for a lot of people from an employment and a financial point of view, putting even greater value on the high street is a role we think is really important to play.
“Of course adding 24 new jobs at the store and it’s one of our bigger footprint stores too.
“Arnold particularly have the maximum we’ve got.
“We’ve got more in our pipeline in terms of future potential openings in Nottinghamshire.
“It’s definitely a county where we see real buy in to our proposition and to our brand.”
He added: “We started as a company is going to proposition in the Midlands and expanded out from there. Derby and Notts particularly are where some of our earliest stores were.
“Chilwell was one of the first stores where we tried our PEP&CO brand five or six years ago.
“Nottinghamshire plays a big part in our plan.”
Speaking about popular stores in the area, he said: “It all depends on what the customer wants to buy. We call them shopper missions.
“If you think about our city centre stores, Parliament Street is a good example. It has really high footfall and quite a low average spend per customer but they want to be in and out quickly and get access to whatever they want to grab and go.
“When you talk about stores like Bulwell, Beeston, Worksop, they’re different approaches where people want to spend a bit more time.”
With the impact of Covid, the business says it has accelerated plans to provide more “one stop shop” locations for customers who want to limit the number of locations where they shop.
Austin added: “Our colleagues have done a brilliant job of being there on our high streets in our communities across Nottinghamshire when our customers have really needed it.
“When a lot of other retailers have closed down they’ve been on the front line every day for those customers and have played a really valuable role.
“We are trying to build these one stop locations not just because of Covid but because our customers want one destination to get as much of their shopping as possible.”