Up to 17 jobs at risk at Rushmere as Poundworld goes into administration

Administrators for Poundworld in Craigavon have revealed 17 jobs at their Rushmere store are at risk after the firm was put into administration on Monday.
PoundworldPoundworld
Poundworld

It is one of 12 stores in NI at risk of closure.

Other stores at risk include four in Belfast and others in Newtownabbey, Newtownards, Londonderry, Armagh, Omagh, Bangor, and Cookstown. It is understood 188 employees in total in Northern Ireland are affected with branch numbers ranging from 10 to 20.

Deloittte confirmed that it has been appointed after talks with potential buyer R Capital broke down over the weekend.

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The administrators said the chain will continue to trade while a buyer for all or part of the business is sought. There are no redundancies or store closures at this time.

Deloitte said Poundworld had suffered from high product cost inflation, decreasing footfall, weaker consumer confidence and an increasingly competitive discount retail market.

“The retail trading environment in the UK remains extremely challenging and Poundworld has been seeking to address this through a restructure of its business,” said joint administrator, Clare Boardman.

“Unfortunately, this has not been possible. We still believe a buyer can be found.”

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Retail NI Chief Executive Glyn Roberts said: “Our immediate thoughts are with the Poundworld staff and their families across the stores in Northern Ireland”

“The discount retail market has become increasingly crowded and competitive in recent years which is clearly a central reason as to why Poundworld has struggled. It is wrong to say we are facing the death of the high street -it is going through huge change and restructuring.”