Poundland to open in old Wilko shop this weekend

Midlands-based Poundland will open in the old Wilko unit on Victoria Road in Ferndown for the first time on Saturday, October 7. 

The retailer has said it will be offering jobs to more than 200 former Wilko staff nationwide as part of a deal struck last month to buy up to 71 stores. 

Ferndown residents feared the town would become a “ghost town” following the closure of Wilko, the Nightjar and, last weekend, KFC in Ringwood Road. 

Poundland

Austin Cooke, managing director of Poundland, said: “Our people make Poundland special and last week they did an amazing job to turn ex-Wilko stores into brand new Poundlands in just six days – the size and scale of what they’ve achieved has been nothing short of phenomenal. 

“But they worked hard because we meant what we said about moving quickly to create jobs for Wilko colleagues.

“And that’s why we’ll pull out all the stops to repeat that feat and open another 10 stores this weekend. 

“I know from meeting our new colleagues from Wilko, how delighted they were to welcome customers old and new back to their store last weekend – and that’s inspiring us to keep the pace up and bring the amazing value we promise to more high streets this Saturday.”  

Nightjar next door is empty (Image: Daily Echo)

It came as the Pepco-owned business revealed the next 10 former Wilko stores will reopen under its brand.  

Ferndown Poundland joins shops in Melton Mowbray, Matlock, Chepstow, Nottingham, Worcester, Ellesmere Port, Brigg, Redruth and Pontypool which all open on Saturday as Poundlands.

No workers were directly transferred to Poundland as part of the rescue deal, but the discount chain encouraged former Wilko staff to apply for roles and said it would “prioritise” them for positions. 

Wilko entered administration in August leaving all 400 stores and 12,500 employees at risk.  

Administrators at PwC were forced to sell off Wilko’s assets after failing to secure a rescue deal for the whole business.