Costa del Sol welcomes its first Poundland

You can’t open a shop where ‘everything is £1’ in a country that has the euro. No problem: Poundland’s owners – multi-millionaires Dave Dodd and Stephen Smith – simply changed the store’s famous name to Dealz when recently opening the first Poundland in Spain, in the heart of Torremolinos…

Dealz bears the famous Poundland colours and, more importantly, the same premise… save for one small detail – items are not sold at £1, but rather €1.50, which at current exchange rates works out at £1.19 (would-be naysayers may be interested to learn that it works exactly the same way in Ireland, which also has the euro).

Still, the store’s early shoppers were not to be deterred by this slight price markup, with Dealz welcoming more than 2,700 customers through its doors on opening day.

“It was a very hot day, so drinks were a big seller on our opening day: water, Red Bull, six packs of Tango, things like that,” said one employee. British chocolate was also a big seller as the majority of those through Dealz’s doors on opening weekend were largely from the UK.

The store manager told local press that the Torremolinos store is the first of ten planned Dealz branches in Spain, set to open over the next two years. “We are extremely excited to be introducing Dealz’s unique, single-price offer into the Spanish market at a time when households are trying to survive on a tight budget,” the manager said.

The store, which has created 40 jobs for local Spaniards and expats, is set to pour half a million euros into the local economy in its first year. Although the presence of a Poundland in the UK is usually indicative of an area’s low economic standing, Dealz’s management is hoping to target some of Spain’s more well-heeled markets, including Madrid, Barcelona and Málaga, in the hope that its one-price-fits-all model will appeal to a nation still reeling from the after-effects of two recessions in the space of five years.

Established in 1990 in England, Poundland’s price-point retail model was nothing new to the UK, which had gorged on 99p shops for decades. However, since 2008 the company gained immense ground in the single-price market as many smaller, independent chains offering similar services fell into debt as the global economy took a downturn.

Now Europe’s largest retailer of its type, Poundland and Dealz attracts more than 2.75 million customers every week, drawn by its offers of cheaper-than-elsewhere big name products, including brands such as Kelloggs, Cadbury’s, Maxwell House and Pantene. The Dealz store in Torremolinos will also source and sell locally produced eggs, bread and milk, helping local farmers and suppliers in the process.

The store was officially opened on 10 July by the Mayor of Torremolinos, Pedro Fernández Montes. During the ceremony, Dealz also announced their commitment to supporting local cancer charity the Cudeca Foundation – based in Benalmádena Costa – throughout 2014 and donated 40 boxes of products to the hospice as a gesture of solidarity.