From Poundland  to Poundstretcher, Poundworld and 99p Stores, they seem to be mushrooming. Poundland - the trailblazer - now has 460 stores in the UK. And where Poundland leads, it seems others follow. Each of the variously named discount stores offers its own unique combination of household goods, supermarket fare, beauty products, homeware, and car accessories. So, do they all sell the same products? And just how do they keep their prices so low? Bags of bargains: Tessa with her shopping from Poundland The chain was founded in 1990 by Steve Smith and his father, Keith, in Burton-on-Trent. After changing hands numerous times, it's now the biggest bargain basement chain in Europe.
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Poundland is best for health and beauty, Poundworld for cleaning products
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Not everything is £1, but Poundstretcher has cheap bigger ticket items
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99p Store was Tessa's favourite
Cleaning products: Poundworld stocks incredibly cheap cleaners, but there wasn't much else @placeholder wanted to buy there