High streets and retail parks are filled with ‘bargain’ shops, from the likes of The Range, Home Bargains, Poundland and B&M all offering cheaper products for good value.
While you might not be able to do your weekly shopping in these stores, you can often find a good saving.
Whether after some smart storage to tidy up your home, a new toy for the kids, some bird feed, essentials like coffee or even a hot tub, the bargain stores promise it all.
But, as a nation of shoppers, we Brits love a bargain and will grab at it before it's all gone without question especially when many households struggle to face the cost of living crisis.
That’s why stores like B&M seem to do so well on British high streets.
So, I wanted to ask the question of whether shopping at the likes of B&M really does save you money, here’s what I found out.
Is it cheaper to shop in B&M?
Before heading to B&M, I wanted to pick out a few everyday items that shoppers can’t just get in B&M, so sorry no in-depth looks into the brand's homeware here.
Picking out some popular items attached to well-known brands, I hunted down, coffee, sweets, DIY items, shower gel and hair products.
To wake things up, let’s start with many sleepy heads' favourite drink of choice, coffee.
In and across stores in the UK, there are endless amounts of coffee brands all with different strengths, tastes and styles.
My local B&M stocks two main brands of coffee, Kenco and Douwe Egberts with prices in-store ranging from £5 to £6.49 while the sizes range from 150g to 200g.
Starting with Kenco, in B&M you can grab a 200g of Smooth style for £6, but over to top supermarket brands Tesco, it will cost £6.25 and Sainsbury’s where it's an extra pound at £7.
On to Douwe Egberts, B&M offers it for £6.49, which also happens to be the same price on Tesco, but in Sainsbury's, the same item is £7.20.
Moving on to just as important of an item, sweets, specifically, the globally beloved Haribo sweets with the classic and tangfastic style.
B&M offers Haribo’s for £1.25 a bag in each style, Asda, Tesco and Sainsburys all offer the exact same price.
However, the upmarket store of Waitrose adds an extra 25p to the family favourite sweet, costing £1.50 for the same item.
Away from drinks and food and on to beauty products like shower gel, you can buy Aussie Mega for £5.89 but, in a twist of events, you can get that product for slightly cheaper in Sainsbury's for £5.50.
Another essential is shower gel, with Sanex being on UK supermarket shelves for decades.
In B&M it costs £1.25 for the Zero style, but, in top supermarket brand Sainsburys, it will cost £2 and in Waitrose £2.30.
Last but by far not least, on to DIY, with UniBond’s Speed Sealant becoming the most expensive at £11.99.
Focusing on two leading DIY brands, B&Q and Wickes, you can buy the sealant for £13 or a further £14 respectively.
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To answer the question of whether it is really cheaper to shop in B&M, the short answer is yes, but don’t expect to save thousands of pounds.
Across the board, B&M compared to fellow leading retail brands seems to offer savings, even if it's only a couple of pennies.
While you might have to shop around and check prices online before you head out to the shop, wherever you can save a bit of money, it's well worth it.
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