The expansion will include over 30 new stores with relocations already underway. Four of the new stores will be amongst the largest in the Poundland group. The first of the large stores will open in Nottingham Riverside Retail Park in February. It will have over 18,000 square feet of retail space, making it three times larger than a typical Poundland store. Meanwhile, the discount retailer also plans to extend its chilled and frozen food lines to around 100 more stores between now and September. 

“The coming year will see us step up our transformation programme – including some of our largest stores and widest ranges – as we become the Poundland we know our customers want us to be,” said Poundland managing director Barry Williams. 

“From groceries to clothing, homewares to frozen food, day by day we’ll continue to bring much more to customers in new and exciting stores tailor-made for where they live and how they want to shop.”

Poundland’s expansion comes as over 35,000 UK retailers find themselves in significant financial distress amid the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus.