ONE MORE THING:Former Miss World and recent German Playboy pin up Rosanna Davison will be in Stillorgan this morning to help British discount retailer Poundland celebrate its first year of trading in the Republic.
Davison will do the honours at Poundland’s store in the Stillorgan Shopping Centre, which trades under the brand Dealz.
Stillorgan is one of the more recent additions to the Dealz network, which stands at 20 currently but is set to increase significantly over the next 18 months.
Poundland boss Jim McCarthy, who flies into Dublin today for the anniversary celebration, told me that he hopes to add five more stores to its chain here by the end of March next, which is the close of the company’s financial year.
“In the next financial year we hope to add another 10 stores, which will create an additional 300 jobs.”
According to McCarthy, this will bring the company’s investment here to €6 million and its employment levels to close to the 600 mark.
McCarthy was coy about revenues and profits but he said about 4 million customers have passed through the shops to date and the average spend of its consumers here is around the €8 mark.
“The Irish consumer tends to spend a bit more with us,” McCarthy mused, adding that it reflected a focus on value among consumers here in the current climate of austerity.
“We’re pleased with how the stores in Ireland have performed. It’s as per our plan, which has encouraged us to continue with our investment programme.”
Dealz is not your typical bargain retailer. It operates convenience stores with a large range of top branded goods available to shoppers at low prices.
Nothing in the Irish shops costs more than €1.49.
It claims to be Europes biggest single price discount retailer. Its slogan in the UK is everything for a pound, hence the name there.
Ireland is also providing a useful testing ground for Poundland as it ponders a move into mainland Europe, although McCarthy is not prepared to say which markets it might be keen on.
“We’ve only ever operated in the UK so it’s been interesting to come to Ireland and test our offering and our systems.
“Ireland is a test bed for us and has been very helpful to us in learning about trading in another market. We’re really pleased with the performance of the company to date.”
