Look at the Poundland scandal and see a crisis that goes beyond Britain’s high streets | Polly Toynbee
Labour may be too late to prevent it becoming yet another casualty of venture capital In the Poundland I visit, a treasure trove of bargains, the staff are dejected.
Key points
- Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
- It’s just one of 600 stores in peril, and these employees just a few of 12,000 at risk of losing their jobs – with 30,000 jobs at risk in supply chains.
- It profits more by closing Poundland down and breaking it up.
‘I look out for my team,’ a store manager tells me, but Poundland’s US owner doesn’t care.
Gordon Brothers, the US owner that bought Poundland for a symbolic £1 last year, specialises in buying and “restructuring” distressed companies.
Additional details
- Under pressure, it extended the deadline by 10 working days before putting this profitable business into administration.
- The shelves are emptying because the owners have withheld £50m needed for new stock and paying wages.
- On Tuesday £10m was released: not enough, but preventing instant collapse.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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