‘Hello darling, back again, still buying,” says Sharon, cheerfully, to Vinod, the manager at Only5Pounds in Northampton. It has only been open a week and this is the third time Sharon has been in. Today she is getting a dog bed; for her dog, obviously. It costs £5, also obviously, although people do still ask, says Vinod.
A fiver is the new quid – you read it here first. And the high street is the new internet … maybe (and actually this is Abington Street). Anyway, following the collapse of Poundworld this year, Only5Pounds – until now only online – is bucking the trend and has opened a physical shop. Early days, but this morning it’s busy. The plan is to open another 100 stores selling things for the home and kitchen, DIY stuff and a few toys, over the next three years.
Ani, also a regular already, didn’t even know it was online; she likes to go real-world shopping. “It’s here, it’s instant,” she says. Today she has bought the last two sandwich toasters and a couple of blankets. “That’s the nieces done,” she says. It looks as if it will be a lovely cosy Christmas for Ani’s nieces, wrapped up warm and eating toasties.
I’m here for the same reason … well, a combination of investigative journalism and earliest ever – and hopefully cheapest ever – Christmas shopping. Ani recommends the duvet covers, but I’m not sure how Christmassy bed linen is.
Instead, for my girlfriend, I get a beautiful but also durable multipurpose step-stool, so she can reach the cupboards I put up too high in the kitchen. Older child also gets a stool, for cello practice; younger one an inappropriate weapon-based toy. The portable football goal they can share – along with the tiny frying pan and the art set .
Then there’s a barbecue set – cutlery plus barbecue utensils in a stylish aluminium carrying case. Why? Because Vinod says it’s the biggest bargain in the store; he has seen them for £30 elsewhere. I think the barbecue set can be for my editor. The very big candle is for my other editor. And the nasal hair trimmer is a present for myself, because it’s getting to that time (it does ears, too, although it hasn’t got to that time, yet).
I go a bit mad in the end, nine items, guess how much they cost ... “All that for 45 quid,” says Vinod at the till. “Happy days.”
I think so – certainly happy in terms of the Christmas budget. I do have a niggly worry though, that the price might be the only reason I bought some/all of this stuff. On the way to the station there’s a Poundland (still going, not to be confused with Poundworld), where I find shampoo, batteries and chocolate. All of which I do need. And – perhaps you guessed – for a fifth of the price.
