FORMER WILKO STORE IN ECCLES TO REOPEN AS A POUNDLAND FOLLOWING LAST MINUTE DEAL

Pepco, owner of the popular Poundland brand, has snapped up 71 Wilko stores following the demise of the high street chain.

PwC, administrators for Wilko, revealed that Pepco has sealed a last minute deal which will see the stores saved and reopened under the Poundland brand.

The good news is that talks are underway to ensure that the Eccles store is among those to be given a new lease of life and although staff will not be automatically transferred over to Poundland, it is said that they will be given priority.

It is hoped that the contracts will all be in place and the store reopened in time for Christmas.

Poundland intends to open the former Wilko stores under its own name bringing its fast-growing clothing, homewares, chilled and frozen food ranges to aisles, with its promise of amazing value –  positive news for customers and those high streets that faced the loss of an important retailer.Poundland managing director Barry Williams said:

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“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.

“We know how valued Wilko colleagues have been in scores of communities across the UK and we look forward to offering them opportunities to join our family.

“We recognise the last few weeks have been difficult for them and we will move quickly to secure new consents from landlords so we can offer them the certainty they deserve.

“The Wilko stores will accelerate our existing transformation programme, offering amazing value for consumers, providing growth opportunities for suppliers and supporting employment in the high streets, shopping centres and retail parks customers love.”