Poundland (Poundland)

Member Name: thole09

Product:	Poundland
Date:	25/09/09 (35 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Value for money

Disadvantages: "Value" often impacts on quality

Poundland is a British retail chain store which offers a variety of items for £1 each. First established in the 1990s, Poundland claims to have introduced the single price retail concept to the European marketplace after having seen its success in the United States. Poundland offers a range of up to 3,000 different products across its shops though this figure may not be true for all locations.

I first set foot into my local Poundland today. The chain's recent boom in sales had me interested as to what could be drawing customers to a strictly value location, and I happened to be after some reward stickers. After comparing prices at Wilkos (97p for a single sheet) and WHSmith (£5.99 for a large bumper pack), I ventured into the large teal green shop nestled in the corner of my local shopping centre. The first thing which immediately struck me was the fact that the shop had no odour; the typical repugnant smell of cleaning supplies was not present here. Could this suggest that the store isn't cleaned on a regular basis? It's possible but it was pleasing to enter a shop which didn't immediately attack my sinuses. After taking in a brief whiff of nothingness, I started my journey into the previously unknown.

Poundland has often been criticized for having narrow aisles. I found this to be particularly true at my local store. I didn't feel very comfortable navigating through the shop and often disturbed others customers as I passed, or more bluntly walked directly in front of them as they looked over some of the products on display. This didn't seem to cause any concern to other shoppers so perhaps it is the accepted norm when shopping at Poundland. I did, however, enjoy the time spent looking at the various items for purchase.

While I can't say for sure that 3,000 different items were available at my local Poundland, I can say that there was definitely an abundance of different items to select. Each "department" seemed to be clearly organized into certain sections within the numerous shelves and I had no problem locating similarly based items; toothpaste would be near the toothbrushes, pencils would be near the pens and toys were grouped together by appropriate gender. My local Poundland exhumed a strong sense of order and it was clear that employees either meticulously cared for their work or that they were following very strict orders from a manager. I did, however, notice that several items were clearly flawed in some way. This was especially obvious in the toy section as many female items appeared to have slight aesthetic blemishes. For example, toys which contained decals had obvious air bubbles trapped beneath the sticker which gave the item a "raised" sort of appearance.

I did happen to find the stickers that I was looking for. I came across a brilliant three sheet sticker set which included a small album and happily surrendered a pound coin to the till operator. The staff at my local shop didn't appear to be particularly friendly or outgoing, but were able to perform their jobs appropriately and provided an acceptable level of service. The sticker product I bought has yet to be put to any sort of test but visually appears suitable for its intended purpose.

Value is the key when shopping at Poundland and this was reflected in some of the obvious lower quality wares in store. I would happily recommend Poundland to those seeking to stretch a budget further but not necessarily to those seeking items conforming to a quality control standard.

Summary: Thumbs in the middle