SHOPPERS in Bournemouth town centre have lost their branch of the discount chain Poundland after just a year.

The retailer had only a short-term lease on its store in Commercial Road and is to make way for another shop.

Poundland opened the store, previously occupied by fashion trader USC, last July, creating 28 jobs.

A Poundland spokesperson said: “Poundland can confirm the Bournemouth store is closing.

“We are currently in the process of looking for a new site to relocate to and hope to be back in the area as soon as possible.”

Barny Swainson, director of in town retail for landlord JLL, said Poundland had been in the building on a short-term lease.

He could not yet reveal the name of the tenant lined up for the building, but added: “The profile of that block with Zara, H&M and recently River Island, seems to suit the clothing and fashion retailers best. What we’ve done is in keeping with that.”

Mandy Payne, past president of Bournemouth Chamber of Trade and Commerce, said a fashion shop would be better for that location.

She said trade was good in Commercial Road. "It's definitely the vibrant end of town," she added.

Andy Duck, manager of the nearby Avenue shopping centre, said the number of shoppers in the area was holding up.

“Trade has been quite fair,” he said.

“Footfall has been slightly down because we had a very cool May and haven’t seen so many tourists, but trade on balance has been about what it has been in the past.”

Poundland was launched in 1990 and has more than 530 stores across the country.

It recently reported a surge in annual profits, but warned of a tough start to the new financial year.

Chief Executive Jim McCarthy said changes to shopping habits meant consumers across the spectrum were hunting for bargains and that the business would continue to prosper as the economy improved.

Underlying pre-tax profits rose 18.6 per cent to £43.7million in the year to March 29 after sales topped £1billion for the first time.

But Mr McCarthy said figures for the first half of the current financial year would be “relatively subdued”. The same period last year was boosted by a late Easter, good weather and the loom band craze.

The group recently agreed the £55m takeover of rival 99p Stores, which has 251 sites, and which hired former Beales chief executive Tony Brown as chief operating officer.