Is it a pound shop? (For our American friends, a pound shop is the UK version of your dollar store. Everything's a buck, right? But here, everything's a pound. I guess you'd worked it out for yourself already!) However, the answer is that no, Home Bargains isn't a poundshop. Which is a good thing in many ways. I've noticed that in many pound shops, while you can often drop on a number of bargains, there are also numerous products that are not actually worth a full pound and can actually be bought cheaper elsewhere. Even the occasional 'two for a pound' offers aren't always worth the money. I guess the thinking is that you'll assume that, because you picked it up at the pound shop/dollar store, it must be humungous value for money. Not always so!
So, Home Bargains isn't a pound shop. There are lots of things it sells that cost more than a single pound. But there are also lots of things it sell that cost less – sometimes a lot less. The bargains at Home Bargains are real bargains!
Home Bargains in the Merrion Centre, Leeds, is a pretty large place with aisles divided up into different product areas. Where should you grab a basket and head for? Where are the best bargains to be had?
Just inside the door there are often snacky and food items that are really drastically reducted compared to what you would pay elsewhere – potato chips, high-end breakfast cereals etc. Often these are very close to their sell-by date – but so what, I say! They aren't going to last that long in my house anyway!
I have found that the vitamins on sale at Home Bargains are also extremely cheap – especially when you consider that this is an item that has risen massively in price from most outlets over the last couple of years. Improving your health can work out expensive! Gift wrapping paper is often also to be found for much lower prices than elsewhere – another item where you can normally hand over two or three quid for a bit of coloured paper.
But my favourite Home Bargains bargain so far, is the industrial size container of mustard I purchased from there. How big is it? Well, I bought it months ago, and I love mustard – a lot. And it's still going strong! So I would say, pretty damn big!
I assume Home Bargains can sell items so cheaply for the same reasons as pound shops and dollar stores can: that they purchase stock from closing or failed businesses and sell items close to expiry date, etc. But I think that Home Bargains pass on more of their savings to the customer than the average pound shop. I never fail to check out what new deal Home Bargains has in store whenever I'm in Leeds! The variety of stock available, and its unpredictability, is part of what makes the experience fun and an adventure. Of course, you can't go there with a set shopping list and be sure that they'll have everything that you want in stock – but you can go to a regular supermarket for that (and pay regular supermarket prices).
What if you don't live near Leeds, but you'd still like to experience the wonders of Home Bargains? Well, I'm happy to say that there are lots of other branches of this great little store – and most probably one near you. Find out, and check out Home Bargains today!
Photo credit: silverfox09
Flickr/Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic
