Great 'What to Buy in Pound Shops' Hunt. What should and shouldn't you grab?

tomtombeanie

as with anywhere, check dates (i;ve bought stuff at tesco only to find it's past date when i get home!!), but there are all sorts of bargains to be had. you just need to know how much things cost elsewhere to decide if it's a bargain at a pound or not.

i got some great stocking stuffers last week including packs of magnets for the kids (thomas tank, cars, etc) and pokemon mugs made of heavy duty plastic. i always check here for party favours as well, as they have loads of bits that kids like (sweets, pencils, notebooks etc). i bought four cd cases that hold about 50 cd's each to tidy up our cd/dvd collections - yes they ARE a bit cheaper looking than the ones you pay a fiver for in asda or tesco, but they do the job.

every now and then they have a great dustpan & broom set, the kind where you don't need to bend down and sweep. my mum bought one for my little lad (who was obsessed with helping to clean at the time) and it worked so well that we now use it as out main brush and pan set! these can cost quite a bit in most other shops.

i don't buy a lot of toiletries or cleaning stuff from here as find that products tends to be cheaper at b&m or quality save, but as i said above, it's just knowing how much things cost elsewhere - maybe the brand you use is cheaper here then somewhere else!

josiedocherty

We have Poundland in our Town Centre and I go in about once a week to see what bargains are in store.

I have managed to get a lot of Sally Hansen Nail Products, Nicky Clarke, Charles Worthington and Andrew Collinge Hair Products. A couple of weeks ago I bought sandals which were George from Asda!!

Beware of the books, I found that when you get nearer the end of the book the pages are upside down so best check them before you buy!!

Cleaning product great, Flash, Ajax etc.

Skyhigh

Poundshops and why they're so cheap...

A few people have raised concerns about the stock in pound shops (and similar), saying goods may be rip-offs or faulty batches.
Legally, this shouldn't happen, but it can - just as it can happen in any other shop, no matter the 'price' gimmick.

Pound ships (and other bargain shops), for the most of their products are 100% sound. The only thing you sometimes have to watch for is the dates on certain products, but that's all.

Chains such as Poundland, are especially careful not to buy in anything potentially harmful to their customers, since any bad press will kill a store such as this since they live off pure volume sales.
Just like many sellers on ebay, they go off pure volume.

Not to mention, they also buy in ex-stock and liquidation stock. I've seen things from the Science Museum that retail at £12.99 in pound shops.
All this means is that the product probably cost about 20p to manufacture oversea's, the original retailer could not shift them and as shelf-space is expensive, they've flogged them off cheap, possibly for 20p per unit or even 50p per unit to a cheap shop.
Who then mark them up at £1.

Again, what people usually fail to understand is that the large amount of products you buy cost about 1/20th to manufacture, or less.
Specific brand items I can think of (but can't mention) cost about 11p to manufacture and ship (per unit), but retail at £19.99 commonly.

As this thread denotes, not everything is a bargain in pound shops, so you have to be alert

Birdy12

Tin foil. This can save me around £1.50 a time.
Haribo gummy bear sweets, 2 packs for £1. DD loves these!
Big packs of A4 envelopes. You'd pay at least twice at the Post Office. Crisps as they normally stock the packets that come with '50% extra free'. Packs of 12 are normally around £1.80 at my local supermarket.
I found some Horrid Henry books in there once, they normally retail at around £4 each in Smiths.

The only thing I have found is that the Aquafresh toothpaste they stock, I can pick up for a 78p in Tesco. So not everything's a bargain. But, hey, I'm not complaining!

Whitemonk

I searched all over for a toilet roll holder that did not require drilling holes in the wall (the screws and plugs supplied are always too small anyway) as I have a tiled loo. I found some which had suction cups on them in a "Pound" shop. I bought two so we always have a spare roll!

The ones with screws retail from £3.99 upwards so two for £2 was a bargain.

And by the way - they don't fall off - they are quite secure.

Philycheesesteak

wolfehouse wrote: »

personally soap, toothpaste and superglue (a card of 12)

£1 shops can be good for 'specialist' cooking gadgets for the disabled

(e.g. a cooking basket (if you have arthritis, to lift out vegis without picking up the pot and water too) is £1 here and £12 at a specialist disability shop);
non slip matting can be used under dishes (eating one handed)...
a bit of lateral thinking sometimes needed.

My only issue with the superglue is they tend to be use once no good again. I.e. they lock up (poss cos the lid isn't greatly sealed.)

I've tried petrolium jelly to keep the seal still no good.

However this sometimes happens with expensive superglue brands so still think it's a bargain!

mbb123

recently bought a ankle support strapping from our local 99p shop seen elswhere at prices up to 8 quid. they had tubegrip as well and a regular line as was told about it by parents who bought from there 6 months or so ago, would never have thought that they would have that sort of product.

russell07

Yesterday my girlfriend bought 14 tubes of Neutrogena hand cream which usually costs at least £3.50 in boots etc. from Poundland.

From the 99p store we also bought a pack of Beechams flu plus which again is usually around the £3.50 mark (although the expiry date was early next year so not worth buying too many).

Avalon_Adam

TravellingAbuela wrote: »

Don't bother with the lightweight travel rucksack!! After the first use (and honestly there wasn't much weight in it!) it had all frayed away from the seams!

Beware rucksacks tha tlook like a bargin , such as those for 4.99 or 9.99 from service stations. When the strap breaks away from the main bag in Thailand or Australian Bush, all the fivers saved folded together won't make it any easier to carry.
Large supermarkets and some travel/camping specialists are selling off this summers stock cheap now. It could be a good time to secure a bargin. I used to work in the camping leisure industry and know that now is a down time but come christmas everyone will be buying rucksacks to give to relatives who are planning to go on a gap year or shoot off on a long haul holiday somewhere warm com january, so the bargins will disappear.
A good guide is to see if teh rucksack has been reduced from a high price to something more reasonable. If its been cheap and is now super cheap then that is a reflection of its quality. Also if you buy a well known brand and something goes wrong in a foriegn country, as long as they have an outlet there , you may get a rep[lacement or repair on production of your receipt. Companies such as Karrimor , Blacks etc. surbive very much on there good worldwide reputation.

hss

:pI have bought Terry's chocolate MINTY ORANGE here (normally over £2 in supermarkets), also Terry Wogan's book 'Mustn't Grumble', also Bloo toilet cleaner 2 for 99p, usually at least £1 EACH in supermarkets. Beware some toothpastes. I once bought Sensodyne and thought it didn't feel as effective as usual. I then read somewhere that some fakes were being sold in these types of places or markets. I contacted the manf. who told me to send them the box, they then informed me this batch were made to sell abroad, different ingredients etc.
Sometimes you can pick upWeetabix cheaper than supermarkets. Just have a good idea on prices because sometimes you can get carried away and find the same item cheaper in the supermarket.
Overall always worth checking out.