Poundland to open first new store in two years as recovery continues at pace

Poundland has confirmed it will open its first new store in two years, as it begins the roll out of its new general merchandise ranges.

On 29th August it will return to Lakeside (Unit 124, West Thurrock, RM20 2ZG) opening its first new location since August 2024.

The move comes as Poundland completes its top-to-bottom range re-invention with the launch of an all-new general merchandise offer that’s now rolling out to its stores across the UK and Republic of Ireland.

The new ranges, from faux plants to food storage, cutlery to containers bring a fresh new look and lower prices to Poundland’s general merchandise aisles in UK & Ireland stores.

The roll-out also includes investment in much deeper seasonal ranges with Autumn and Halloween items already rolling out to stores.  The move enables Poundland to return to becoming a high street destination for big seasonal moments.

The major overhaul also includes a brand-new celebration range for all customers’ party needs with a ‘three for £3’ pick-and-mix-style offer on items such as gift bags, wrapping paper and party favours.

The general merchandise revamp completes a nine-month overhaul of Poundland’s entire customer offer.

At the end of 2025 Poundland simplified its ranges across its core grocery aisles, reducing prices and restoring its iconic £1 price point to around half its offer.

It has also brought back customer favourites such as its exclusive £1 Twin Peaks chocolate bar made by an independent chocolatier in Birmingham with a special Honeycomb edition planned for the autumn.

Poundland has continued to invest in new grocery ranges, recently revamping its health and beauty aisles with new travel-size toiletries and other favourite items such as facemasks at significantly better value than other beauty retailers.

There’s also been an overhaul of its pet aisles with new in-house brand Vitagen, as well as its household ranges, bringing in new items such as 5-in1 Glowell laundry pods^[1] which at £3 for 22 washes, offers cleaning for less than 14p per wash.

At the beginning of 2026, Poundland turned its attention to its clothing ranges transitioning back to its PEP&CO brand now designed and bought by its in-house team based in Watford^[2].

Nearly all new adult clothing has now reverted to its former PEP&CO branding with 90 percent of the new PEP&CO clothing ranges below £10 and almost half (45 per cent) below £5, reflecting the same simple pricing philosophy Poundland successfully re-introduced into its grocery aisles.

Almost all former Pepco clothing stock has now been cleared and PEP&CO’s new Autum/Winter ranges including stylish coats at £15 and £22 are already landing in stores.

These fundamental changes at Poundland continue to help Poundland make significant progress as its recovery plan takes hold.

Over the first nine months of its current FY26 financial year to 30th June 2026 Poundland has delivered positive EBITDA, broadly in line with expectations and, importantly, over £70m ahead of the same period in FY25.

Overall, like-for-like unit volume sales grew by 8 percent across its revamped FMCG ranges with 5 percent per cent like-for-like unit growth for the total business, adjusted to exclude the impact of categories removed such as extended chilled and frozen foods and transactional online sales.

Increased unit volume sales in FMCG, combined with the significant lowering of prices saw overall like-for-like sales of (1.5) percent per cent in the nine months to June 2026, an improvement on the previously announced (2.9) percent on the same adjusted basis.

Poundland managing director Barry Williams, said: “Day-by-day and week-by-week we’re getting the Poundland business back-on-track as we turn around the business at pace.

And the re-launch of our general merchandise offer is a significant moment, completing the wholesale revamp of our entire offer across FMCG, clothing and now homewares.

Re-building trust with customers takes time, but we’re making very significant progress as we deliver the ranges and price simplicity they demand of us.

Thanks to the hard work of my colleagues in every store, distribution centre and customer service centre, we’re making the kind of progress many thought was just a pipedream.

We know how important a thriving Poundland is for high street footfall right across the communities we serve.”

[1] The Glowell laundry pod offers 5-in-1 cleaning containing detergent, conditioner, stain remover, colour protection and scent beads and comes in three scents – citrus, lavender and spring forest.

[2] In 2017 Poundland began selling clothing in its stores under the PEP&CO brand, with ranges designed and sourced by a dedicated UK fashion team based in Watford.   Between 2017 and 2023, PEP&CO helped Poundland grow to become a top 20 UK clothing retailer by volume. In 2023, Poundland began replacing its clothing ranges with products sourced through its then-owner Pepco which already operated over 4,000 clothing and homeware stores across Europe.   Under new ownership, Poundland has now re-established its own clothing team to source and design PEP&CO apparel for its UK & Irish stores.