Poundland. Why do I like this shop so much?
The obvious reason is that everything is cheap and everything is £1. Each time I am cascading down New Malden high street this is the shop I invariably venture into. There is another reason though and maybe an even more obvious one. They have everything I seem ever to need. Let me give one solid example of a diverse and eclectic list of items that cost me a whole £6 this morning. I also for some curious reason like the fact that it is 36 and not £5.99.
- Superglue. This was my main reason to go in today. I am having the opposite of joy with my fitbit. Which although only a year old is falling to pieces and the only logical way to preserve it for even a short while is to glue the pieces together. Not ideal and not a good selling point for Fitbit. I bought a pack of 8 small tubes of superglue that seemed indeed to have temporarily preserved my fitbit.
- Gloves. My usual gloves are large ski-ing type items and I wanted a small pair of gloves that I can literally put in my pocket. In Copenhagen yesterday with a temperature of minus 6 these would have been appreciated.
- 40 Tea Holder candles. I was not expecting to find these but there they were looking at me.
- Reece’s peanut butter chocolate cups. Two packets £1 each.
- Kit Kat pack of four large ones.
So potentially I might have considered going to four different shops to get these items. I was also given a useful lesson in life by the pleasant Indian lady who taught me nicely how to scan my own items. Scanning and me are not a good combination.
Anyone thinking that Poundland is not for them or too downmarket, please think again. An eclectic selection of useful items, ridiculously cheap and the shop was full of a complete mix of our little society.
What do we know of Poundland?
Poundland is a British variety store chain that sells most items in its stores for £1. Established in April 1990 by Dave Dodd and Stephen Smith, Poundland stock a variety of around 3,000 home and kitchen-ware, gifts, healthcare and other products, across 16 categories many of which are brand name and clearance products. Like many of its rivals, Poundland operates a constantly rotating product line with all products priced £1. Although price-point retailing was invented in the United States during the 1870s, the chain claims to have introduced this concept to Europe and is the largest single-price discount retailer in Europe.The retailer claims that their Croydon store is the busiest single-priced discount outlet in the world, generating more than £9 million in revenue per year with 30,000 customers a week. The company estimates it serves 2.75 million customers in an average week. Poundland reckon to be opening another 70 new stores in 2016.