Poundstretcher

Poundstretcher reminds me of shopping in the mid 90s with my mum — I used to drag her around What Every’s and in here against her will to search for cheap toys and CD’s. My cheapskate aunt was also all over the bargains Poundstretcher had to offer, and we would consequently receive some rather fetching, oversized pyjamas out of here for Christmas each year.
Nostalgia over — nowadays What Everyone Wants has disappeared, and I don’t see as many Poundstretchers, either. But this one in the slightly run down South Bridge still stands. Amidst its bargain store friends, it sells all kind of everything — from outdoor BBQ sets to gardening equipment.
Poundstretcher can be alright but sadly this one is on the shabby side. Although it’s huge and spans over two floors, it’s not very neat or orderly at all. In short, it’s a shambles. So while Poundstrecher can come up trumps with the bargains, this one is a chore to raid around since stock is bundled erratically all over the shop. Other local bargain stores are a better bet, since they seem to be better organised.

This store is great if you are on a budget– and has the most random accumulation of stock.
To give you a better picture, just imagine all the excess stock of larger stores as well as the stock left over from various closures seems to end up here, hence a very random assemblage of objects. The only thing that seems to remain standard are the cheap duvets, everything else seems to be constantly changing. It’s split over two floors and I swear the staff move stuff just to mess with you– things aren’t really placed in the most logical order either.
Having said that, this place is a bargain for stuff like Christmas lights, cleaning products (yes occasionally the shower has to be white guys) and pots and pans etc. There’s no guarantee you will find what you are looking for, or that what you are looking for will be cheap necessarily, but it’s still worth a browse when stocking up your new flat if you have the time.

This branch of Pound Stretcher is huge and has a whole mish mash of items, upon entering I nearly tripped over bags of compost that were stacked up by the entrance. For some bizarre reason dance music was blaring at full blast which made me want to leave quick smart but still, I decided to have a wee browse around to see what I could see. Everything is all over the place and it gave me a migraine just sifting through the stuff.
I noticed a whole stand full of cheap batteries but they weren’t any brand I’d ever heard of and I’ve fallen into the trap of buying cheap batteries before and they wouldn’t even power my TV remote.
I thought Pound Stretcher was supposed to be dirt cheap but I spotted a packet of kitchen roll at £3.49 — that’s not really a bargain.
I suppose if you were looking for something in particular you could pop in and make a b-​line for it otherwise I’d avoid having to spend time here.

True, this shop smells of dirty people, but as a skint student, it’s been a real life saver. At christmas and halloween, it always goes all out with cheap, fun decorations. It’s also a great place to pick up plain white church candles for a song and they sell great flasks for the library for £3.