Poundland

Once you've been to Poundland, you realize how ripped off you have been. I used to make a special trip to go there and save so much money on branded goods. It's just snobbery not going and when people realize it, they will happily go. The 99p store is also good and Poundworld, but with all things, you have to be wary of some items. They are good for disposable things like plates, tissues and bin bags, less so for electrical things. I do find the DIY things okay, like duct or masking tape, but the chocolate and crisp selections are always good value.

 

We have those kinds of stores here in the US, and they are called Dollar Stores here, and they are extrmely popular everywhere. We have several of the stores that are called Dollar Stores, but they are actually more like miniature Walmarts. They carry a little bit of everything, and the prices are about the same as you would expect to pay at Walmart. Still, if youneed a fairly common item, and do not want to fight your way through the crowd at Walmart, and like to actually be able to park close to the store, then the Dollar General or Family Dollar is a good choice.
The only actual store that sells everything for a dollar is called Dollar Tree. They are a great store, and get some amazing bargains there !
They get in liquidation items which originally sold for up to $5, or even more; so some items are way underpriced. Some would be a dollar anywhere you cought them. And some items might be less than a dollar at the grocery store; so you really have to pick and choose when you shop at a dollar store.

 

Here in the US we have dollars stores that admittedly can no longer just sell items for $1.00. It has been more than 20 years since I saw the very first Dollar Store. Common sense would tell you that inflation would cause the prices to increase.
Family Dollar, Dollar Tree, Dollar General, and Dollar Castle, all sell products that are greater than a dollar. Those are are stores where I enjoy shopping. I enjoy purchasing the bargains.
Then on top of all of that I have had friends who had teens working there. Every single child was happier to work at those stores as oppose to working at Walmart or Target because the hiring process was less tedious, and the pay was a few cents hirer.
The only downside matter those teens agreed upon was the possibility of getting robbed.

 

At Christmas, I take my kids to the dollar store, and give them $20 to buy Christmas presents for everyone. It gives them a chance to give gifts, even if they are not really buying with their own money. They do all the shopping, and wrapping. It is a lot of fun to open presents from the kids. Some of the things they pick out are hilarious.

 

The whole Poundland dynamic is pretty new in the UK, and feel slightly different to my memories of dollar stores in the US. Regardless, they are absolutely amazing places for getting bargains.

If I'm not mistaken, a lot of the branded products Poundland sells are basically made somewhere in Eastern Europe for a different market and in need of a home because they've been over-ordered. That's why sometimes you're not able to find some of the same things twice. But overall, they're absolutely great shops that a lot of people don't appreciate yet.

 

When I lived in the UK I loved Poundland, I would buy all my cleaning products from there, as well as 4 packs of Kit Kats for a Pound and Penguins, Quavers and so forth(sorry the Yanks might not be familiar with some of the names), there are some things I would steer clear of just like with any other discount store, but for the most part I enjoyed shopping there. By the way, one pound is =to roughly $1.52, so technically not a Dollar store in the American sense.

 

Lol. I think that it is cool and a little funny that you have only just experienced the wonder that is Poundland, OP. I have been going since I was a child. My mother would take me in there when she needed to buy certain products in bulk, or when she had to get one item that would cost too much in other stores. Like Christmas crackers for instance. We have never really gone all out for those, so we used to just buy ours from Poundland, and the little prizes/toys inside would more than do the job.

 

I like the Dollar Tree and true dollar stores. But I have been in other stores that call themselves dollar stores, but have things for sale inside the store that are much more than a dollar. I don't like this type of thing, because for me, the reason why I go to places like the Dollar Tree is so I'll know ahead of time how much things are.
I hate going into a "dollar store", only to find many things that say $3.29, or $2.50 on the price tag. I think it is deceptive to advertise being a dollar store just to get people in the door, but then actually have higher prices.

 

I think the great thing about the whole Poundland phenomenon is how socially acceptable it now is. Years ago there used to be similar type of stores that were full of bric-a-brac - often a mixed bag of items that were sometimes lower quality, sometimes just weird.

As a kid I used to buy gifts from these shops, but no one would ever know. Even walking into one of them all those years ago was social death. Now everyone is embracing the cheaper shopping model, loving the likes of Lidl and Aldi etc. The shops, to be fair, are selling far better quality than they used to as well. Times have definitely changed.

 

I love Pound shops mainly for cleaning materials and things like chocolate. You can also get some handy kitchenware in some. Although not exactly a pound store, Home Bargains is another good one. Some of the cosmetics you get in pound stores are actually known and respected brand names that they have had to stick a label over for legal reasons. There was a documentary done on it, and I actually peeled off some obscure brand label to discover a product I was using was actually from Body Shop! So you can stumble across some gems for a fraction of the price, only you may be blissfully unaware.

 

Yes those ersatz Dollar Stores are definitely a "bait and switch" tactic which is dishonest and to b avoided like plague, when I go into a dollar store I want to know that I am just paying a dollar and whatever tax is added on, period!

 

Poundland goodies are the best and cheapest.