Poundland has been given a rebrand as ‘Motherland’ – in a style cheekily reminiscent of Mothercare branding – on hoardings advertising a soon-to-open flagship store.
Poundland is aiming to highlight its kidswear range ahead of the opening of the 10,000 sq ft ‘destination’ store in Biggleswade Retail Park on 24 February.
Mothercare stores closed after the retailer fell into administration in 2019, but the brand still operates as a global franchise business with partners in 32 markets including Boots in the UK, where it is sold in more than 400 stores.
Last year, Poundland moved to sourcing its clothing lines at group level through Pepco, resulting in a new range in stores and a claimed average 10% reduction in prices derived from economies of scale.
Despite the new range and lower prices, a trading update earlier this month said demand for fmcg had been offset by a weaker performance in clothing, with overall Poundland like-for-like sales up 0.9% in the first quarter to 31 December.
The move to the new source arrangement saw Poundland stores doubling the space devoted to baby clothing and increasing kidswear by 50%.
The kidswear range includes Harry Potter, Gremlins, Tom & Jerry and Star Wars branded lines, enabled by Pepco’s licensing partnerships. The latest clothing range also includes lifestyle and athleisure brands such as Cardio Bunny and Bekkin.
Popular lines include kids T-shirts from £2 and sweatshirts and legging sets at £6, according to Poundland.
The new Biggleswade Poundland is opening in a former Outfit store that closed over a year ago.
The store will also sell Poundland’s full general merchandise offer and chilled and frozen food, along with fmcg.
It will feature supermarket-style checkouts and trolleys as Poundland aims to grow average basket spend.
“As we’ve expanded our baby and kidswear, our customers have nicknamed us Motherland,” said Poundland commercial director Tim Bettley.
“That’s why we’ve used the sign at Biggleswade, but across the majority of our UK stores those same new ranges are available right now. We look forward to showing parents in Biggleswade what a modern Poundland offer now offers.”
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