What would you buy with 99p?

What can you get nowadays for 99p?

You’re probably thinking ‘not much’ – penny sweets are about ten pence each nowadays, and what happened to Mars Bars being 25p eh? When did that stop? When did I become old??

If inflation is making you feel your age, you need a trip to the 99p Stores.*

Now reviewing the shopping experience at 99p Stores may not seem like the most glamorous of assignments, but bloody hell, we certainly got a lot for our money. We were given £50 to spend, but as there were only baskets, not forklift trucks, we quite literally couldn’t spend it all at once. We physically couldn’t carry fifty quid’s worth of cereal.

We did manage to spend £29.70 in our first trip, and this is what we got:

"99p Stores"

Cor blimey, what a lot of shopping.

If you’ve never been to a 99p Stores before, you might be surprised to see that they actually sell a lot of branded items – food in particular. We eat a lot of cereal in our house, but normally I’m too tight to buy brand names, so we stocked up on lots of horribly over sweet breakfast items, at bargain prices. It really is a lot cheaper than you could buy in the supermarket, and the choice is quite amazing. I picked up three totally random things I have been meaning to get for a while – a pair of flip-flops, some more cord for our strimmer, and a book light. And each less than a pound! Bizarre.

I was shopping specifically though with a small picnic in mind, as Belle and I were meeting friends today at the Bristol Balloon Fiesta. I picked up some sandwich spread, which was a bit of a blast from the past, drinks, dip, fruit bars, mini-cookies, and some intriguing looking ‘hummus chips’ – crisps made with chick pea flour. That’s the lovely thing about 99p Stores – yes, they have the brands, but they also have some really unusual things you just wouldn’t see anywhere else in your average UK shopping centre.

"99p stores picnic"

Om nom nom

I worked out that this little feast came to less than four pounds, which was about the price of a Mr Whippy at the fiesta.

The staff were helpful, the choice was great, and we even picked up a One Direction stationery set for Bee.** When I go back to spend the rest of my vouchers, I’ll definitely be taking Boyfriend, so he can stock up on pickles and cleaning products – two of his favourite things. We might just get some more of those hummus chips too…***

*This works quite literally too, as they do a lot of skin care products.

**Don’t tell her. It’s a surprise.

***Brushes crumbs away guiltily.

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11 Comments

  1. 11 August, 2012 / 8:32 pm

    Oh I remember penny sweets and sometimes even 2 for a penny, 10p on Fridays to spend :-) 99p stores sound great especially the hummus chips and love school bars too 99p bargain there, yum yum :-)

    • 12 August, 2012 / 8:02 am

      Happy days – I used to get a 10p mix up on the way home from school on Fridays too! I used to spend AGES choosing. I remember one week putting in an extra sweet and not telling anyone. I felt soooo guilty about it all week I made myself get one sweet less the following week to make up for it.

  2. 11 August, 2012 / 9:22 pm

    looks really good, have heard of £ shop but this is a new one on me

    • 12 August, 2012 / 8:01 am

      You’ll have to have a look at their website and find your nearest store!

  3. 11 August, 2012 / 9:45 pm

    Wow bargain! Although I do remember when you could get 20 Red Band for 99p….those were the days in the 80’s!

    • 12 August, 2012 / 8:01 am

      It WAS a bargain. What are Red Band though?? Never heard of them, but I’m intrigued. I was telling my kids this week about the sweets I used to get as a kid that were mocked up to look like actual cigarettes, in the packets and everything, but that were made of edible paper and chocolate. Not sure they’d be allowed nowadays!

  4. 11 August, 2012 / 9:55 pm

    We used to live near a 99p store. Hubbys definition on saving money, is shopping at the 99p store instead of Poundland! And the penny change on each item racks up a few pence pocket money for the kids to save!

    • 12 August, 2012 / 7:59 am

      Haha! Well, it did add up to 30p on our trip – every little helps and all that :-)

  5. honeybee35
    12 August, 2012 / 7:20 pm

    I’ve recently moved to an area with a 99p store (and a Poundland) and to be truthful, I don’t know how I lived without these shops.
    I thoroughly recommend anyone and everyone – irrespective of your income – to take a visit to your nearest branch…I’m sure you’ll be happy you made the journey and be really pleased with the range of food items, gardening and homewares, toiletries, etc, etc on offer.

  6. 24 May, 2013 / 10:53 am

    I just could hardly vanish entirely your internet site prior to indicating i always incredibly experienced the typical details a person offer for your website visitors? Is going to be once more consistently in order to scrutinize brand new blogposts

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