sr. headquarters normanton west yorkshire england number of locations 336 products grocery general merchandise owner tpg number of employees 6000 website poundworld.co.uk poundworld is a british single price variety store that sells most of its items for 1 . 1 the chain was founded in 1974 by yorkshire based father and son team chris edwards sr. and chris edwards jr. 2 in contrast to many high street retailers 3 poundworld maintained strong sales and growth during the global recession that started in 2007 . 4 as of 2014 poundworld s product range consisted of over 5 000 items including groceries health and beauty toiletries cleaning products and pet care 5 some of them known brands ; 6 it had over 6 000 employees citation needed and about 240 stores in england wales scotland and northern ireland ; and it was planning to open 150 new stores within three years . 7 its larger rival in the market is poundland . bbc two series entitled pound shop wars broadcast between 2012 and 2015 focused on poundworld and its rivals . contents 1 history 2 online 3 notable products 4 pound shop wars 5 references 6 external links history edit poundworld store in bradford poundworld north end road fulham london the chain originated in 1974 when chris edwards sr. set up a market stall in his home town of wakefield . 8 edwards initially set up a multi price store called bargain centre before switching to a single price format in 1997 trading as everything s 1 . 9 since the recession that started in 2007 poundworld has expanded rapidly . 10 its sales grew by 42 % in 2010 2011 11 and increased by 55 % with revenues of 200m in 2012 . 10 its expansion meant that the company required larger premises and it relocated its head offices to the largest unit in yorkshire s main warehousing and distribution base . 12 it also opened an overseas office in shanghai during this period . 13 in october 2013 poundworld partnered with the marie curie cancer care charity which it had already supported during 2013 s great daffodil appeal . 14 in november 2013 poundworld opened its first multi price retail store under the bargain buys name in walsall . 15 bargain buys was originally and briefly traded as discount uk with the name change allowing the chain to compete more closely with its rivals in the market . 15 the company planned to open a further 100 stores in the next 3 years . 16 in mid 2014 the store secured a 26m loan from santander to finance its stated aim of increasing its approximately 240 stores by 40 or 50 a year for the next three years and to strengthen its overseas supply chain from where about 30 % of its supplies are sourced . 7 former poundworld logo with the everything 1 slogan in 2014 the advertising standards authority asa ruled that poundworld s everything 1 slogan was misleading as some items were priced at up to 8.99 . poundworld stated that the products in question were manager specials and were only run at christmas and occasionally throughout the year . 17 18 the edwards father and son were placed at number 12 in management today s annual list of britain s top 100 entrepreneurs in october 2014 . 19 in the same month poundworld retail was named one of the uk s fastest growing retailers in the sunday times grant thornton top track 250 . 20 on 15 may 2015 the company announced that it had sold a majority stake in the business to us private equity firm tpg for 150 million 21 with christopher edwards his son and other senior executives retaining a substantial minority holding allowing the family to maintain the day to day running of the business . 22 poundworld announced that the investment from tpg would allow the business to grow with further plans for store expansion . 23 shortly after the deal the company announced that it had begun construction of a new distribution centre in normanton as part of a plan to create 4 000 jobs and open a further 200 new stores in the next 3 years . 24 25 online edit in may 2012 the company launched a wholesale website targeted at market traders ebay sellers and independent retailers . 26 the website offers over 2 000 products including cleaning diy stationery and pet care . 27 since launching online the operation has seen a sales increase of 400 % . 28 the company followed this in february 2014 by launching a retail online pound store named poundshop.com . 29 poundworld supplied stock and product images for the single price website the first of its kind . however poundworld decided to leave the project after 6 months citing a failure to reach a shared vision with smith . 30 it launched another online shop in april 2015 poundworld plus 31 offering over 4 000 products all at 1 . 32 it later changed the website name to poundworld.co.uk . notable products edit in 2013 poundworld launched a comfort bra priced at 1 . 33 100 000 were bought in a few hours . 33 in 2014 the company started selling a range of merchandise relating to the 2013 disney film frozen . 34 at poundworld s new store opening in merthyr tydfil in october people waited for over an hour before it opened with fights breaking out as stocks ran low . 35 there were similar crowds at the new nottingham store in november . 36 pound shop wars edit in 2012 the company was the subject of a bbc documentary series pound shop wars that focused on the competition between poundworld and its rivals . 37 after the initial hour long pilot the four episode series was broadcast in early 2014 . 38 a second series of 8 episodes was screened in autumn 2015 . 39 references edit poundworld leads the charge as single price discounters lift off . thegrocer . 2012 . poundworld father and son entrepreneurs head yorkshire contingency in mt top 100 list . bdaily.co.uk . 2014 . comet s collapse and other post recession retail failures . telegraph media group . 2012 . pounding way out of recession . johnston press . 2011 . categories poundworld . poundworld.co.uk . 2014 . no wonder the middle classes are invading pound stores from balsamic vinegar and bird tables to spectacles and a range of pillows they rival even john lewis . associated newspapers . 2014 . a b poundworld to fund expansion with 26m loan package . the grocer . 2014 . king of the bargains eyes bonanza . times newspapers . 2012 . bargain chain poundworld opens new store . newsquest . 2014 . a b sales pass 200m at expanding poundworld . newsco insider limited . 2012 . could it be magic no just hard work says thriving poundworld . the grocer . 2011 . poundworld looks for space to grow . johnston press . 2010 . interview chris edwards poundworld . how did they do it . 2013 . poundworld launches campaign for marie curie . newsquest . 2013 . a b bargain buys is new face of discount uk . the grocer . 2013 . new bargain buys fascia creates 80 jobs . m.e.n. media . 2013 . asa ruling on poundworld retail ltd . advertising standards agency . 8 october 2014 . retrieved 13 march 2016 . poundworld s everything 1 claim banned by watchdog . telegraph media group . 2014 . britain s top 100 entrepreneurs 2014 no. 12 chris and chris edwards poundworld . haymarket media group ltd. 2014 . latest news . poundworld retail ltd. 2015 . poundworld sold to us firm for 150m bbc.co.uk p. 15 may 2015 . retrieved 16 may 2015 . http www.express.co.uk finance city 577393 150m buyout inflate poundworld http www.theguardian.com business 2015 may 14 high street chain poundworld sells majority stake to us investors http www.bbc.co.uk news uk england leeds 33463515 http www.thegrocer.co.uk channels discounters poundworld to add 200 new stores nationwide 521347 . article poundworld hails launch of its discount wholesale website . the grocer . 2012 . discount wholesale poundshop supplier and wholesaler uk itp imports . 2014 . sales up 400 % for poundworld s discount wholesale website . the grocer . 2013 . poundworld launches online store poundshop.com this week . the grocer . 2014 . poundland founder s online venture suffers blow as partner quits . guardian news ltd. 2014 . http www.mirror.co.uk money poundworld launches online shop bargains 5555765 http www.theretailbulletin.com news poundworld unveils ecommerce website 20 04 15 a b would you wear a 1 bra poundworld launch world s cheapest bra ... and say millions of cash strapped women will snap it up . associated newspapers . 2014 . disney s frozen merchandise coming to nottingham poundworld . local world . 2014 . let it go ... or maybe not . women seen fighting over disney s frozen merchandise at opening of new poundworld store . media wales . 2014 . poundworld swamped by crowds of desperate parents as frozen merchandise goes on sale for xmas and sells out ten minutes . associated newspapers . 2014 . bbc one pound shop wars . bbc . 2014 . pound shop wars 4 x 30 series . zodiak rights . 2014 . nine lives media . nine lives media . 2014 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to poundworld . poundworld official website bargain buys official website v t e variety stores asia 100 yen shop japan daiso china hong kong japan macau malaysia philippines singapore taiwan thailand living plaza by aeon hong kong watashi to seikatsu hong kong europe 99p stores uk action netherlands b & m uk bargain buys uk coop city switzerland el corte ingl s spain dealz ireland eurogiant ireland euroland netherlands flying tiger copenhagen denmark hema netherlands home bargains uk karstadt germany manor switzerland migros switzerland monoprix france poundgiant uk poundland uk poundstretcher uk poundworld uk quality save uk upim italy zeeman netherlands north america 99 cents only stores us big lots us a buck or two canada casa ley mexico daiso canada us deals us dollar general us dollar tree us dollar tree canada canada dollarama canada family dollar us five below us fred s us great canadian dollar store canada hart stores canada k dollar us ollie s bargain outlet us ocean state job lot us rossy canada waldo s dollar mart mexico your dollar store with more canada oceania abc stores guam daiso australia crazy clark s australia defunct the reject shop australia retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title poundworld & oldid 744521113 categories 2004 establishments in the united kingdomcompanies based in west yorkshireretail companies established in 2004discount stores of the united kingdomvariety storeshidden categories use dmy dates from december 2014use british english from april 2014all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from march 2016commons category with local link same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata 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