Poundstretcher reveal location of new Derry store with plans to open in time for Christmas

By Alan Healy

The discount chain store Poundstretcher is to open its new store in Derry at the site of a former DIY store in the Buncrana Road, the Derry News can reveal today.

The news comes after The Derry News exclusively revealed in May that Poundstretcher is set to open two new stores in the city.

One of the stores will be located at the building in Bishop Street which previously housed a Poundstretcher store, but which was destroyed by a fire in July 2015.

At the time, Poundstretcher could not confirm where the new store would be due to ‘reasons of confidentiality’.

However, on Friday, Poundstretcher confirmed that it would be opening its new Derry outlet at the unit which is located at Faustina Retail Park on the Buncrana Road.

B&Q closed its store at the site in January 2016, with the loss of 60 jobs.

In June of this year, The Range opened its first outlet in the city at part of the building which was formerly occupied by B&Q, creating 80 new jobs.

Poundstretcher will now take up residence in the remaining section of the building.

Speaking to the Derry News on Friday, a spokesperson for Poundstretcher said that while work will continue on re-building the Bishop Store, the ‘priority’ for the company was having a new store opened in Derry time for Christmas.

“We are opening up a lot of new stores, and we have nothing in the city at present, so it makes sense for us to open a new store at the unit in Faustina Retail Park as the space is already there for us,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that recruitment would not begin for positions at the new store on the Buncrana Road until an opening date had been agreed.

“We haven’t started recruiting yet, but we will do so as soon as the opening date has been agreed, which we believe will happen ahead of Christmas,” the spokesperson continued.

The spokesperson added that a range of new jobs would be created by the Buncrana Road store, including a number of management positions, but could not reveal the exact number of new jobs which will come to the city as a result.

It took 50 firefighters to tackle the blaze which completely destroyed the premises in 2015.

Fifteen staff had worked at the building, all of whom were re-deployed to other locations.

In August 2015, Poundstretcher said that it was remained committed to Derry in the long-term, and would take re-occupy the Bishop Street building once the site was rebuilt.

The spokesperson also re-affirmed Poundstretcher’s commitment to re-opening the store at Bishop Street.

“It remains our intention to rebuild the store in the city centre, but that is something of a protracted process and the priority for us is to get the new store open in time for Christmas,” the spokesperson continued.