AN INVALUABLE SHOPPING AID IN OUR CREDIT-CRUNCHING HOUSEHOLD BUDGETING. (Poundland)

Member Name: totalserenity

Product:	Poundland
Date:	11/04/09 (246 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: SOME GREAT QUALITY ITEMS AT A HUGELY DISCOUNTED PRICE, WITH PLENTY OF CHOICE WITHIN THE STORES TOO.

Disadvantages: SOME LOW QUALITY ITEMS; CAN BE DISORGANISED CHAOS, PLUS LOW IN STAFF NUMBERS.

The dawning of the concept of a mainstream 'Pound' shop when first introduced back in the 90's was rather novel at first; I doubt anyone realised just how successful this chain of stores would become during the next two decades of trading.

Now advertised as having over 200 stores nationwide on their own website - with a turnover of approx 1.5 million customers on a weekly basis with the brand name offering over 3000 various products, this retailing outlet has done very well for itself, thank you very much!

Now when 'Poundland' first made its appearance in my home city of Sheffield, I was married at the time; so economically it wasn't such an important place for me to shop - as handy as it was for the odd bits and bobs.
However, a divorce - plus expansion of the range of products on offer, along with shopping in such a place becoming less stigmatised than it once used to be, has made this type of shop a regular jaunt of mine when out perusing for bargains.

With the advent of larger floor spaced units for these places to expand, the range of goods has become ever bigger, and to be honest, a lot better in quality then they ever used to be.

I am lucky enough to have access to two vast such units in both the huge shopping centres near me. In fact my local shopping 'mall' type structure has recently opening a new, and improved, 21st century Poundland mini-empire at one entrance site.
Quite impressive it is, and giving the poor Wilkos opposite quite a run for its money at the moment!

Obviously, the theory of these High Street 'bargain-type' stores, is rapid turn around of stock at a reduced price to the Credit Crunch-ridden consumer (don't you just hate that god-awful term already?), whilst simultaneously making as much profit as possible from end-of-line stock bought from other retailers, as well as buying on bulk from company wholesalers.
What surprises me however, is the consensus of thought that shops such as Poundland have almost sprung up from nowhere to provide cheaper merchandise during these recessionary times.
Maybe because they are thriving whilst other, more long-standing companies have sadly sunk, they have now become in the forefront of the consumers consciousness?

Whatever the reason, they are doing well, having perfected a winning cheap and cheerful turnover policy...

As a regular customer of Poundland now, I have both praise and criticism of the company.

On the plus side, the shop had some great bargains, a lot less expensive to buy a named product than at a usual retail haunt.
An example of some savings I've made have been on finding my favourite Colgate Whitening 2 in 1Toothpaste & Mouthwash there instead of paying the normal RRP of £1.55, in addition I found Cif Bathroom Moose - saving another 22p. Now if you can find several of your choice brands there you can make a reasonable saving - leaving you more spare cash to spend on something else you may need, or a little luxury you may not have otherwise been able to afford.

Their broad range of products makes snaffling consumer bargains a veritable dream! Toiletries in particular seem to be a speciality of this retailer; brand names abound upon the first few fixtures on my particular Poundland, many of the more expensively priced products a mere snip of the original RRP.
Makeup items are a real find, especially if you find one of your favourites that have been discontinued in the more major outlets. Rimmel and Revlon are amongst the giant cosmetic names to be found repackaged on plain white splinter cards at a fraction of their original price.

I was thrilled to find one of my old tried and tested Rimmel 'Twist and Shine' lip polish glosses recently, so much so I promptly bought two!

Foodstuffs and sweets abound on the shelves; four cans of fizzy branded pops can be found for the obligatory £1, as well as famous crisp labels, and different varieties of chocolate consumables - for example a box of Maltesers selling in my local Morrisons for 50p more.

Teabags, cleaning products, baby clothing and toys, stationery, tableware, crockery, cutlery, gift wrap, bubble wrap, tools, hosiery, pet food, batteries, games, CDs, DVDs, and my personal favourite - books.

Last Christmas I bought countless books from this outlet, famous names like 'Little Britain', 'Trinny and Susannah' (*shudder*), fiction and fact, both soft and hard backed...but all at bargain prices!

My teenage daughter was so stressed out at all the gifts she felt she had to reciprocate for her friends at school, we went to Poundland and invested in a £20 well spent in my opinion, on a multitude of small stocking fillers for Christmas pressies.
We got some great stuff, which her mates would probably never realise came from this famous discount store.

Another area Poundland cater for extremely well, are the various yearly celebrations such as Valentines Day, Easter, Mothers & Fathers days, general birthdays with both cards and various gift bags, plus celebration wrapping papers.

Great for anyone on a tight budget, or for the little ones wanting to buy pocket money gifts for their loved ones.

Gardening is another area that is well covered, with an array of different tools, bulbs, pots, decorative knick knacks, and so forth on display.
Fancy dress is well catered for too, again great for those of us going on a daft night out but not wanting to spend a small fortune on tat. Recently I went on a mate's daughter's 21st, dressed up as a 20's Flapper girl (Hey, I said 'Flapper' not 'Slapp..'!), so we visited my local Poundland shop for jewellery accessories to go with our costumes.
Did you know you can even get feather boas for a quid in there - fantastic stuff!

I could on for ages about the various things I peruse for in there, but am sure you get the point that this business has successfully got a lucrative niche in the lower end market, for consumables that needn't cost the earth...

However, sadly it's not all good news.

The store itself can be somewhat untidy, disorganised and cluttered; there can be a lot of junk to be found amongst the treasure also.
The saying: 'You get what you pay for', can most certainly apply to some of their more tacky produce - it would seem some of their goods, especially the kiddies' toys, may have circumvented our strict trademark standarding laws - thus it pays to be careful with wares such as these.

My one hugely valid gripe is complete lack of staff on the tills; mostly I inwardly groan upon entering my Poundland to see the huge queues stretching right back up the aisles, with people tolerantly waiting their turn in line.

Two poor assistants on the tills found in the entranceway of the large retail unit more often than not have to deal with an onslaught of patrons, sometimes it is even down to one poor member of staff to deal the dauntingly long rows.

God bless the British for their quintessential patience at waiting in this country's ill-organised retailing organisations tailbacks!

Clearly employment is an area where these types of businesses cut back on human resource costs; but it can be ultra-annoying, and I have turned tail on many an occasion when my usual zero-tolerance attitude takes an extreme nosedive into the negative degree!
The members of staff themselves are always lovely (the higher end of the marketing spectrum could learn a lot from this affable lot!), and deal with the back log with their usual aplomb.

Nevertheless, I feel it is very short-sighted to lose customers whom, like myself at times, are just plainly put off by a stream of stationary customers...

Phew! This was only meant to be a short review on this subject - someone should confiscate this laptop off me I'm sure! So there you have it, a not-so-short synopsis of a company that originally ensconced itself within this country's economic consumer needs, and in this dire fiscal climate is doing exceedingly well.
The stigma of being seen in a 'cheap' discount shop seems to be well and truly over, as we - the purchasers, are now becoming loud and proud in saying how we cut costs in everyday life; therefore it would appear the discount way of shopping is here to stay.

Anything that can help stretch my household budget that little bit further is a big fat shiny 5 Star plus in my little black book!

'Ooh', and they cater for hobbies too...


*Okay, come take the laptop off me now, this was only meant to be a short write up!*

Summary: MUST-HAVE RETAILING OPTION FOR THOSE ON A STRICT SPENDING MARGIN & NOW WITHOUT THE STIGMA ATTACHED.