Wilkos, the new Woolies? (Wilkinsons)

Member Name: McBeer

Product:	Wilkinsons
Date:	23/05/09 (48 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Everything you need, very cheap and cheerful!

Disadvantages: Que management

Wilkinsons are found all over the country! I never really noticed until I shopped there regularly. I even read that there are over 300 stores in the UK. I wouldnt of even dreamt of that many before I started to realise how popular it is.

Wilkinsons is a store for anyone and everyone. No matter what you need, its bound to have it. Many people will even be shocked if it doesnt have what they want!

With the majority of stores being a very good size, it has the departments toilettries, food and confectionary, seasonal, kitchens, home living and DIY. The funny thing is how Wilkinsons was originally a hardware store and is still to this day 'Wilkinson Hardware Ltd', but in every store I cant help but notice it lacks in a lot of hardware, with DIY being the smallest department. The company itself has more focused on every day goods.

The toiletries and kitchen section can be two of the most popular, with everyone needing face wash, shampoo, even medicals as well as bowls, cups and even tin openers. Theres even home brewery kits which seem rather popular at the festive period! The seasonal section will be changing from season to season (hence the name seasonal), with christmas being a very busy time of the year once again.

Its always a shop that you go in for one item and come out with 10! A bad habbit for some, but do people complain? Very rarely!

So whats so good about a shop that sells almost everything? Well the prices! The prices are very reasonable! Theres always great offers promoted on end units, with many buy one get one frees wherever you look! It has great price matches with local stores and always seems well stock.

So why after all of this praise have I rated it 4/5? The one star it loses is for some of its quality. As much as in the last year there have been more and more branded items compared to the cheaper but more variety idea, some of the Wilko range still finds itself a bit tempremental. I must say who complain though when you're paying £8 for a large and 2 small silver pedal bins?

The one other minor let down is the queue management. This is one store that seems to be slightly understaffed in this area, where there always seems to be a que when you go in. The staff do try their best however, constantly calling 'que busters', but nonetheless, as busy times you can be waiting a while. It never puts me off however, as daily I'll be picking myself up a bargain!

Summary: No matter what you want, or if you're short for cash, pop into your local Wilkos!