Poundland offers jobs to more than 200 ex-Wilko staff as stores reopen

Poundland has offered jobs to more than 200 former Wilko workers as it continues to open stores bought by administrators for the collapsed retailer.

Last month, Poundland bought up to 71 Wilko stores from administrator PwC following the collapse of the high street chain.

All of the stores will be relaunched under the Poundland brand, with the first 10 shops reopening their doors last weekend.

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 at the stores.

On Tuesday, Poundland said it had made job offers to more than 200 former Wilko staff, with that “number increasing day-by-day”.

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

Rescued stores in Melton Mowbray, Matlock, Chepstow, Nottingham, Worcester, Ellesmere Port, Brigg, Redruth, Ferndown and Pontypool are to open on Saturday October 7.

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.”