Retailer's HQ move means jobs for Yorkshire

The West Yorkshire-based company, with a turnover in excess of 100m, is relocating its distribution centre and offices from Birstall to Normanton Industrial Estate.

It will be based in the Axis 62 building on Foxbridge Way, which was speculatively built three years ago and has since remained empty.

The 215,000 sq ft building, which is located near junction 31 of the M62, will provide additional storage and administration space for Poundworld, which is currently based in two buildings of 110,000 sq ft and 40,000 sq ft.

The company has signed a 10-year lease with a five-year optional break clause at a rent of 4.25 a sq ft.

Offices at the warehouse will be extended from 4,500 sq ft to 15,000 sq ft before the company, which sells 3,000 different products at a 1 fixed price, moves in the autumn.

Poundworld, which is growing by 30-40 per cent every year, has 94 stores nationwide and plans to open a further six before Christmas. The distribution centre will serve all the stores in the UK.

The firm, which aims to open a minimum of 30 new stores a year for the next three years, was founded in 1974 as multi-price retailer, Bargain Centre, by brothers Laurie and Chris Edwards, and opened its first store in Wakefield.

The first single-price store opened in 1997 under the brand name Everything's 1 but the company re-branded to Poundworld in 2004 and opened its first shop in Salford, Greater Manchester.

Mark Ward, operations director, said: "Our policy of selling quality branded goods for a 1 fixed price is extremely popular.

"We aim to expand the business significantly during the next few years and this warehouse unit, which is ideally-suited for the national motorway network, will provide additional storage and administration space to support this growth."

The deal was brokered by the Leeds-based industrial agency teams at King Sturge and Carter Towler, acting for AXA Real Estate Investment Managers, which funded the speculative construction of the unit, and industrial agency AWS, Leeds, which acted for Poundworld.

Work to extend the offices starts on site this month and is being carried out by the King Sturge building consultancy team.

Richard Harris, a partner in King Sturge's industrial agency team, said: "This significant deal once again underlines the strength of the M62 logistics market, where there are now no new units available."

Carter Towler partner and head of industrial agency, Ian Greenwood, added: "Occupier demand in the industrial and logistics sector has steadily increased since the start of the year but the fundamentals in concluding deals remain good location, a good building and flexibility on all sides to bring a deal to fruition."

Poundworld shows its value

The pound shop has its roots in American dollar stores, such as Dollar Tree and Dollar General, which started in the 1950s.

Poundworld, however, was founded by in 1974 by brothers Chris Edwards Senior and Laurie Edwards, first trading under the name Bargain Centre, rebranded to Everything's 1 in 1997 and becoming Poundworld in 2004.

It features a number of categories including food and drink, toiletries, medical, pet-care, housewares, DIY, toys, electrical and entertainment.

It also has a large range of import lines due to an extensive overseas operation which includes a workforce based at its Hong Kong and Shanghai offices.

The retailer has stores in towns and cities including Leeds, Dewsbury, Bradford, Wakefield, Castleford, Huddersfield, York, Doncaster and Rotherham.