Thursday 24 May 2012

Poundland -- I've seen the light!

All this for £9...
When the Woolworth's on our high street closed, the shop space was empty for a very long time and it felt as though it was dragging the whole town down. Then, at last, the site was split into two smaller shops and both opened. One was a Peacock's, which closed about a week after it opened when the chain got into difficulties. The other was a Poundland, which filled me with despair as it didn't feel like the right sort of shop for the town. I only went in it once, last November, to look for things to put in the kids' advent calendar and it was depressing. I vowed never to set foot there again.
     Then... yesterday I was catching up with all the blogs I follow and saw Sue's fish slice challenge. I find it hard to resist challenges, specially arty ones, but that meant going back to Poundland to purchase said fish slice (the challenge is to transform it -- Sue does amazing things with enamelling and cutting).
     Mentally pinching my nose, I stepped back inside the scorned shop. The first things I saw were some cool Royal Family masks for the Jubilee. I'm no royalist, but I found myself thinking, 'Hmm, those would be a good bit of ephemera to buy and store away for 100 years' time...'. Then I saw a very nice stripy tea towel in the colours I particularly like. Then three packets of ibuprofen for £1. Then I found the metal utensils for Sue's challenge -- a set of 3 for £1. Surely just the metal is worth that? (Oh no, now I'm suddenly having dark thoughts about the cheap labour that makes all these things -- that wasn't part of the planned post...)
     It suddenly seemed as though I was no longer in Poundland but in a specially created Janestore, stocked with items uniquely suited to my tastes. In the weird selection of CDs I found two I liked. In the even more random selection of books was a perfect book for me by an author whose book on the Rolling Stones is next on my bedside pile. Then, finally, I grabbed three huge packets of plastic straws, just because the colours were so beautiful -- in my mind art projects spiralled out like kaleidoscope patterns.
     All this for £9 -- it doesn't seem possible. So although I know it was just the chance coming together of my profound randomness and Poundland's randomness to make a happy moment, I won't sneer at Poundland too readily in future.
     And why don't you join in with the Fish Slice Challenge? It could go viral...

6 comments:

colleen said...

You have discovered the trouble with Poundland: all those £1 things you didn't know you needed add up to a tenner or thereabouts before you can say fish slice.

HAd me laughing though.

Joanna said...

I LOVE the Poundland/99p type shops! They are full of random things just asking to be repurposed. Fish slice challenge? I've got to check that one out...... :o)

x

LAC EMP 2020 said...

As a dedicated 'tat' shopper, therefore a signed up member of the Poundland and £1 shops fan club, I love what you bought but wonder why you think you need so much ibuprofen? Are you expecting that fish slice challenge to bring on a headache or two? It already has me flummoxed and I think I might jump ship before struggling with it. I can't wait to see what you might come up with as I can't think of anything!

Kitsch and Curious said...

Sorry for the delay in commenting - I read this the other day when I didn't have time to comment. I've been a bit preoccupied - I'll email properly later.

I must admit, my first reaction to this blog post was to wonder what took you so long! On the whole, I love pound shops. They vary a lot, and if you're not in the right mood, they can seem like a sea of the worst kind of tat, but I can nearly always find some sort of bargain that I can't leave behind. My favourite cheap shop is Wilkinson, which is pretty much like Woolies used to be.

Anyway looks like you got some rather interesting stuff (I never find books!). Be prepared to find nothing on your next visit, mind!

One of my captcha words is 'Surrealisme', (including the acute accent on the e!). I intend to type 'fish' instead and see if they get it!

menopausalmusing said...

We have yet another pound shop opened here and just about three shops along from it is a 99p shop being kitted out........ Like Elaine said: sometimes you find nothing and other times you find wonderful bargains. The fish slice challenge is definitely a headache inducer! I started with a whole host of ideas, and it seems to have fallen by the wayside (hopefully temporarily!).

Francesca said...

hilarious! i can also imagine my disdain if a poundshop opened up here and then secretly popping in to stock up on pointless things! thanks for your comment on the blog. have a lovely weekend.