West Ealing Wilko to Become a Poundland Store

Lease of property acquired by rival during liquidation

West Ealing Wilko. Picture: Google Streetview

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September 13, 2023

The site currently occupied by Wilko at 90-94 Broadway is to be converted into a Poundland Store.

It is among 71 locations across the country where PepCo, the holding company of Poundland, has acquired the leases as part of the liquidation process.

It was announced earlier this week that no buyers had been found for the Wilko business and that all remaining stores are likely to be shut by the end of next month.

Pepco is planning to reopen at these new locations as quickly as possible. This would mark the return of Poundland to the area which closed a store here after the financial crisis in 2009 at the site which is now a Lidl and another store owned by the group by Iceland in 2017.

The store in the Oaks Shop Centre in Acton is not part of the PepCo deal and closed this Tuesday (12 September). B&M Bargains, a discount hardware retailer similar to Wilko, has acquired the leases of over fifty Wilko stores. We have asked them if the Acton store is among these but have yet to receive a response. If B&M has acquired the lease, the deal is expected to be completed next month.

Poundland’s managing director Barry Williams said, “In the coming weeks we will work quickly with landlords so we can open these stores as Poundlands with the new ranges that have been pivotal to our recent development.

“And once that process is complete, we will ensure a significant number of the Wilko colleagues will join our Poundland team. We know how valued Wilko colleagues have been in scores of communities across the UK and we look forward to offering them opportunities to join our family.”

Wilko was founded in 1930 and by the 1990s became one of Britain's fastest-growing retailers with many shoppers seeing as filling the gap left by the closure but fell into administration in August as it struggled with rising costs and a cash shortage. The discount chain has faced strong competition from competitors including B&M, Poundland and Home Bargains, as the high cost of living has pushed shoppers to seek out the lowest prices.

Before Wilko went into liquidation it employed 12,500 people in 400 stores across the country.

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