Pound Empire

I won’t lie a lot of the things on offer at Pound Empire are not particularly useful. They have bags of little green plastic army men, small ceramic models of fairies and an odd selection of promotional alcohol-​related t-​shirts (Guiness, Magners, Stella — presumably surplus stock that should have been handed out to Wetherspoon’s staff.) They also sell a selection of more suspect items including laser pointers and, most worryingly, small knives — kept in a small glass case under the counter. It’s all only £1 but who needs to spend £1 on any of that.
When they get the stock right though this place is an absolute godsend stocking four-​gang sockets; SCART leads; universal remote controls; every possible combination of male and female ended television aerial cables — all the sort of stuff you don’t even realise you will need and all the sort of stuff that will have to pay through the nose for at Curry’s, all for £1. Also, they had 2 packs of chocolate Hobnobs for £1 the last time I went there which alone means it deserves four stars.

As pound shops go, Pound Empire is totally brilliant. It’s not as fun as a Friday night at Trof, as great as a trip to the Imperial War Museum North or anything else that is five star worthy, but as a pound shop, it is really, really good.
I find that most pound shops of this ilk are a total mess of random tat that’s almost spilling off the shelves.
However, this is the neatest, most ordered and tidy pound shop I have ever been to. It’s also rather massive, meaning that they will almost certainly have whatever random item it is that you’re looking for.
Would totally agree about the comments about the staff following you around the shop. I was in here looking for a scart lead multiplug thingy and fancied a look around the rest of the shop as well, and found myself being followed at several turns. Most weird. I’m probably the furthest looking guy from a shoplifter ever! Solution to this — buy some cameras, have a guy watch the cameras, get shop lifters. Don’t make loads of your customers feel uncomfortable.

Things I have bought from here:
–socks (I realised I forgot to bring any when travelling from Piccadilly)
–toothpaste (see above)
–shampoo (see above)
–a white boiler suit (for fancy dress as a snowman)
–a diary (although the pages were made out of an annoying tracing paper-​esque material)
Where else could you get all of that for a fiver? They also stock Carlsberg and Smirnoff t-​shirts for £1 each!
However, I have had similar experiences to James and Alexandra — there are often some dodgy characters ‘shopping’ there and the staff do tend to follow you around the shop. I have a feeling the two may be linked, and I’ve got nothing to hide, so I still feel comfortable shopping here.

The English fabric designer, writer and Marxist William Morris once declared: «Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.»
Taking his words to heart renders 99% of Pound Empire’s stock invalid. Best give it a miss then!

This place is great. Only downside I would say is that they do not take card payments– although I imagine most peoples purchases come to less than a tenner.
I buy dog toys, dog food, shampoo, gloves, sweets and small carton drinks to take to work from here and I thinking its ‘FLIPPIN AMAZING’.
A word of warning though, make sure you know is right at the back of shop before wandering down there, been in the shop with a few strange characters a couple of times– no major drama just little unpleasant.

My life hit an all time low in here. I should have suspected something was afoot, it was a strange day– winter, warm, overcast, still, just generally weird.
I was staying at the nearby Mal Maison and needed to pick up a few bits and bobs and spotted Pound Empire.
Jumping up the steps I said ‘hi’ to the guy behind the till as I passed, he said nothing.
I gave a ‘rude but not bothered’ display of my bottom lip and started my browsing.
Halfway through my shop I noticed ‘rude guy’ had now taken an interest in me, in fact he was so interested he proceeded to follow me all around the store.
If I turned around he would give me a knowing nod, stern and focused.
I was weirded out at first but then I it hit me– he had taken me for a shop lifter!
Weirdness was replaced by anger, which was then replaced by embarrasment– how low would I have to be to steal in Pound Empire?!