More than 200 former Wilko staff offered jobs with Poundland

Over 200 former Wilko employees have been offered employment with Poundland as the budget chain re-opens the collapsed retailer’s stores.

Poundland owner Pepco struck a deal with PwC, the administrators for Wilko, and confirmed last month it would be buying 71 of its stores to re-open under its own brand.

The discount retailer also announced it would ‘prioritise’ former Wilko staff who applied for roles.

Last weekend, the first 10 shops were set to re-open as Poundland stores, with three being in Greater Manchester.

On Tuesday, Poundland said it had already made job offers to more than 200 former Wilko employees, with that number ‘increasing day-by-day’.

The chain also announced the next lot of 10 former stores would be opening as Poundlands, with stores in Melton Mowbray, Matlock, Chepstow, Kimberley in Nottinghamshire, Worcester, Ellesmere Port, Brigg, Redruth, Ferndown and Pontypool will open on Saturday.

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.

He said the company would ‘pull out all the stops to repeat that feat” as it is set to open another 10 stores this weekend.

He added: “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.”