Acquisitive budget retailer Poundstretcher is in talks to take a tranche of stores from office supply firm Staples.
Staples is paying less than £12m to exit 11 stores in towns including Grimsby, Cardiff, Halifax and Sunderland as part of a wider portfolio consolidation and cost-saving initiative.
Staples earmarked around 20 stores, totalling 344,000 sq ft, for closure earlier this year.
They are located largely in out-of-town retail parks.
Poundstretcher has been on an acquisition trail since early 2012, with the aim of more than doubling its portfolio to 900 stores by 2018.
Rob Asbury, head of retail and leisure agency at Montagu Evans, said: “Since the demise of MFI, Focus, JJB and Comet, it has been the discounters that have been leading the charge into filling vacancies on retail parks.”
He added: “There has been a realisation that they can grow from large stores out-of-town where rents, rates and service charges are significantly less than in high streets and shopping centres.”
GVA is acting for Staples.
annabel.dixon@estatesgazette.com
