Wakefield among first Poundland stores in UK to get frozen food

The move to expand the offer, which will see almost one in 10 UK stores receive a comprehensive chilled and frozen offer, comes after customers gave Poundland’s five-store trial in 2019 a sizzling reception.

The store at Wakefield's Trinity Walk will be one of the first to get the make-over which will see a new range of 400 everyday items, from frozen fish to luxury yoghurts, hit the shelves.

Dubbed “Project Ice”, Poundland expects to open the first 20 shop-in-shops by the end of this month and the other 40 by early June as it offers customers access to the estimated £20 billion UK chilled and frozen food market in its stores for the first time.

The decision to roll out this new offer at pace is part of Poundland’s story of reinvention as it enters new categories and widens ranges at simple prices.

In frozen food, Poundland’s new ranges offer customers convenient everyday meals and in chilled there is an emphasis on “food to go” or “eat soon”.

The ranges have been developed in partnership with Fultons Foods, a leading regional frozen food specialist with almost 100 stores across the North of England.

Since the five-store pilot started, hot sellers have included top chilled food brands such as Ginsters, Cathedral City, Lurpak, Sutherland deep fill sandwiches and Rustlers cheeseburgers.

Customers have been snapping up frozen products including Bernard Matthews chicken breasts and Birds Eye cod fillets, plus brands such as Aunt Bessie’s, McCain and Young’s.

Poundland managing director Barry Williams said: “We’re here to bring customers more of what they love, and frozen and chilled food is high on their list.

“It’s clear from our five-store pilot that customers have given a warm welcome to our Project Ice offer that brings our promise of amazing value to more of what they buy, week-in, week-out.”

Work began installing frozen and chilled cabinets in the rollout stores over the last fortnight and will be completed by early June as the 60 shops begin to stock the new products.

The Trinity Walk store will start selling the food from March 30.

From day one, Poundland intends to ensure all its freezers will have doors and LED lighting to minimise energy use.

The new food range marks the latest step in the expansion of Poundland’s offer at its stores in the UK and Ireland. At the end of 2019 it began rolling out new simple pricing at UK stores to stock a wider range of goods.

Poundland’s approach to frozen food ‘shop-in-shops’ mirrors the success of its fashion shop-in-shops offering its PEP&CO clothing brand, which is now in over 300 stores across the UK and Ireland.