Accept no Substitutes

Accept no substitutes. There are many pretenders taking on the pound moniker but this one is the real deal. Forget your local high street pound shop, on the whole they will sell you junk, forget even Pound Stretcher where the good deals are fewer and more far between. Poundland beats the competition hands down.

I’m sure you’ll be familiar with the concept and on the off chance you’re not, here goes… Poundland is a chain of shops in the UK that sells items for… you guessed it… one United Kingdom pound sterling equivalent to one hundred penny pieces.

Let’s get one thing clear – you’re never going into one of these stores for the salubrious experience so let’s forget customer service, great store layout and the other bonuses more up market retail may give you. Poundland is a shop that sells things for a pound… it looks and feels like what it is so don’t expect anything different, and don’t complain that it is what it is. Sometimes it has the feel of a jumble sale from both the organisation of stock and the general clamoring for cut price goods. It’s never quiet, and always busy. There will invariably be a queue and far too few checkouts open to cater for the number of people.

Why Poundland then over the others? It’s all about what you get for your buck. Whilst many will sell tat that falls apart, Poundland somehow deal with reputable brands for low prices or the stuff that they do sell that is from an unknown source tends to work.

The difference here is that where many criticize pound shops for not offering real bargains or only offering them on some products whereas others are no cheaper than your average shop, although this may be the case on some items, it seems the majority are actually a bargain.

I’ll give some examples: 3 cans of diet coke for £1 (Sainsbury’s diet coke 6 pack £2.46), Original Source shower gel for £1 (Boots £1.50 best offer), Colgate toothpaste for £1 (Boots will sell it for £2.29), Willie Nelson 3 CD Legends Box Set for £1 (Amazon used £2.99 + postage)…. It goes on.

And you can find things you would never expect to find. Outside of the branded items, you can buy a solid metal floral decorated garden trowel for £1 that won’t fall apart. B&Q will charge at least twice. 25 iris bulbs even, B&Q = £1.49. I think I’m making my point…

The retail experience is on the whole dreadful in a similar way to the traveling experience with Ryanair, but you don’t go for that, you go because it’s cheap, and Poundland does cheap really well. The chain seems to be growing and stores cropping up more and more so I sincerely hope there is one near you. If you can face the chaos then I think it’s definitely worth giving it a go for your essentials and a few bonuses too. Careful though, it’s easy to spend £10’s on things you don’t actually need, or sometimes want!