Wikipedia
Poundland is a British variety store chain, listed on the London Stock Exchange, that sells most items in its stores for £1. Established in April 1990 by Dave Dodd and Stephen Smith, Poundland stock about 3,000 home and kitchenware, gift, healthcare and other products, across 16 categories many of which are brand name and clearance products. Like many of its rivals, Poundland operates a constantly rotating product line with all products priced £1. Although price-point retailing was invented in the United States during the 1870s, the chain claims to have introduced this concept to Europe and is the largest single-price discount retailer in Europe. The retailer claims that their Croydon store is the busiest single-priced discount outlet in the world, generating more than £9 million in revenue per year with 30,000 customers a week, which as of December 2008, was more than any of its yen and dollar counterparts in Japan and the US respectively. The company estimated in 2010 that it served 2.75 million customers in an average week.
Poundland were reported in 2008 to have had strong sales growth and have maintained steady profit growth against increasing inflation. This, among other factors, was aided by a strong customer base of predominantly female shoppers every week in the C1, C2, D and E categories (the working classes in a system of demographic classification used in the United Kingdom). The chain employs 10,020 staff and their company union is the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW).
In 2015 Poundland acquired rival 99p Stores, leaving Poundworld as their closest competitor. In 2016 the company was described as "struggling" after its acquisition of 99p Stores. Before the purchase its share price had been 350p; it dropped to 150p, and the company was purchased in July 2016 by Steinhoff for £597m, 220p per share.