One Below will sell over 5,000 products including toys. 

Christopher Edwards Senior.

The founders of Poundworld have opened a new discount store in Manchester, creating 20 new jobs with plans to launch a further five stores across the region. One Below is based at the former Poundworld unit in Cheetham Hill’ s Manchester Fort Retail Park. The store is staffed by many former Poundworld employees, who lost their jobs when the retailer went in to administration last year.

One Below will sell over 5,000 products, retailing at £1 or less with prices starting at as little as 29p.

The store will stock a wide range of items across 10 departments including toy, groceries, home, health and beauty, baby care,  DIY, partyware, craft and gardening. One Below is being independently financed and launched by father and son entrepreneurs Christopher Edwards and Christopher Edwards senior, the original founders of Poundworld Retail before it was sold to American private equity conglomerate, TPG Capital in 2014.

One Below plans to open five stores in Greater Manchester this year, creating 100 retail jobs for the region. The company has ambitious plans to open 50 stores nationally in 2019, creating 1,000 jobs for the struggling UK retail industry, reviving empty retail units on high streets throughout the country.

Chris Edwards Junior, managing director, said: “We’re proud to be launching one of our first One Below stores in Manchester. It’s come full circle for us, as we are breathing new life in to the ex-Poundworld store, that was forced to close when the new owners of the business, TPG Capital, sent the business in to administration in 2018. We’re also delighted to be able to employ many of the former Poundworld staff, including our store manager, who were some of the 6,000 employees to have lost their jobs.”