Poundworld brand could be resurrected
- Published
The Poundworld brand could be resurrected on some High Streets.
A deal has been agreed in principle for Irish retail family the Hendersons to buy the Poundworld brand and the leases on some of the stores of the collapsed discount retailer.
However, the proposed deal will not save the jobs of any current Poundworld staff.
The remaining stores were closing on Thursday afternoon, a source close to administrator Deloitte said.
The proposed deal would be likely to include about 10% of the 355 Poundworld shops.
There will be no stock associated with the proposed deal, so if the stores re-open under the Poundworld brand, they would have to be re-stocked, and to hire staff.
The would be no obligation for the new Poundworld shops to rehire existing staff members.
If the deal goes ahead, for an as yet undisclosed sum, there will be no debt obligations or pensions obligations to existing staff, another source said.
Who are the Hendersons?
Dublin retailing family, the Hendersons, opened a store called Poundworld in Ireland in 1984.
This business had nothing to do with Poundworld in the UK, which was founded in 1974 by Christopher Edwards.
Ray Henderson sold the Irish Poundworld, which had become Euroworld, in 2007.
His son, David Henderson, is involved in the negotiations with Deloitte over the Poundworld UK brand.
Death of a discounter
Poundworld went into administration in June, with all stores closing by Friday 10 August.
In total the collapse of the chain resulted in the loss of 5,100 jobs.
The discount chain went into administration after struggling with tough competition on the High Street from rivals including Poundland and Poundstretcher.
It was also hit by the fall in the value of the pound after the 2016 Brexit referendum, which has pushed up the price of imported goods.
A string of British store groups have either gone out of business or announced plans to close shops this year as they struggle with subdued consumer spending, rising labour costs, higher business property taxes and growing online competition.
House of Fraser is struggling, and Maplin and Toys R Us both went into administration.
Other High Street names, including Marks & Spencer, Carphone Warehouse, New Look and Carpetright, have announced significant store closures.