Poundland on Ayr High Street is being placed into temporary hibernation alongside 43 of its other 800+ stores in the UK due to the impact of lockdown.

Poundland is said to be replicating the measures it took during the 2020 lockdowns where it hibernated around 120 stores in March and was able to start reopening them from the end of May.

The company says that hibernation allows them to focus colleagues in a slightly smaller number of locations and provide better service to communities in consolidated stores.

The temporary measure reflects the 80 per cent drop in footfall at some shopping centres and high streets as the various lockdown rules in place across the UK take effect.

Poundland on High Street will go into hibernation from the end of trading on Saturday, January 9.

Austin Cooke, Poundland’s retail director said: “We learned valuable lessons during the lockdown in March about how buying patterns change as people stick to government advice to stay at home.

“Putting a small number of stores into hibernation helps protect them for the long term and focus our attention on the majority of stores that remain open to serve their neighbourhoods.

“We hope this lockdown is short and we can re-open our hibernating stores as quickly as possible and we remain grateful for the vital support schemes available to us that help protect jobs.”

Poundland has assured that where appropriate, colleagues in hibernating stores will be placed on furlough, protecting those roles for the future and any furloughed colleagues will retain their benefits and employment status.

Other Poundland stores in Scotland being placed into temporary hibernation include Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dumfries.