Poundland to shut two Northampton stores

Two Poundland stores are to close in Northampton by the end of the month.

In June, the budget chain was bought for £1 by investment company Gordon Brothers, which said it needed to shut about 100 shops to stop it going into administration.

It announced its Sixfields shop will shut on 31 December and its Weston Favell store will close on 19 December.

Two other Poundland stores in Northampton, two in Kettering, including a Pep and Co, one in Wellingborough and one in Corby, are not affected.

Fifty seven stores had already shut by the end of September as a result of Poundland targeting its least-profitable shops.

It expects the UK chain to have reduced from around 800 shops at the beginning of the restructuring programme, to between 650 and 700 once the process is complete.

The firm said it would try to negotiate cheaper rents and close branches where this could not be agreed.

Darren MacDonald, its UK country manager, said: "We know how disappointing it is when we leave a store."

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