Bargain Buys Trading Limited is a British

variety store A variety store (also five and dime (historic), pound shop, or dollar store) is a retail store that sells general merchandise, such as apparel, auto parts, dry goods, toys, hardware, furniture, and a selection of groceries. It usually sel ...

chain, and a subsidiary of

Poundstretcher Poundstretcher Limited is a British variety store chain, founded in 1981 by Paul Appell and Stephen Fearnley. The retailer is currently based in Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire, and since April 2024 has been a subsidiary of the Fortress Investme ...

. The company is based in

Kirby Muxloe Kirby Muxloe is a large village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish that forms part of the Blaby District, Blaby district of Leicestershire, England. Located to the west of Leicester, its proximity to the city has resulted in its inclus ...

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

. The Bargain Buys name was first used in 2013 by Chris Edwards Sr. and Chris Edwards Jr., to be a subsidiary of the single-price chain they founded,

Poundworld Poundworld was a British variety retailer. It was founded in 1974 as Bargain Centre by Yorkshire-based father-and-son team Chris Edwards Sr. and Chris Edwards Jr. The business then became a single-price retailer in 1997 as Everything £1, befor ...

. In 2015,

TPG Capital TPG Inc., previously known as Texas Pacific Group and TPG Capital, is an American private equity firm based in Fort Worth, Texas. TPG manages investment funds in growth capital, venture capital, public equity, and debt investments. The firm in ...

purchased a majority stake in

and Bargain Buys, the chain went into administration in 2018, with all locations closed. Later in 2018,

trademarked and began opening new stores nationwide as 'Bargain Buys'. A legal dispute between Poundstretcher and businessman Manni Hussain (who purchased the Poundworld intellectual property assets) began over the 'Bargain Buys' trademark. Poundstretcher won the suit as the 'Bargain Buys' name had not been previously trademarked by Poundworld.

History

Poundworld subsidiary (2013–2018)

Bargain Buys' first store was opened in

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

in November 2013. Edwards and Edwards launched the multi-price chain to complement their single-price chain. Bargain Buys was the result of rebranding existing Discount UK (Discount NI in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

) stores, initially launched in October 2010. The name and branding was changed to allow the chain to compete more closely with its rivals in the market, and to exploit the expanded product range and knowledge that the business had built up. The stores were invented to rival the likes of popular discount retailers such as

Home Bargains T.J. Morris Limited (trading as Home Bargains) is a British variety store and garden centre chain founded in 1976 by Tom Morris in Liverpool, England, as Home and Bargain. History The retailer was founded by owner Tom Morris in 1976 as a sing ...

, B&M Bargains and

. As of 2015, the chain had 41 stores across the United Kingdom. The company intended to expand rapidly, with plans to double the number of stores by 2016, and to open an additional 100 stores by 2018. In April 2015 it launched an online store in a bid to expand its customer base. The chain stocked over 8,000 products over 25 departments, this included

groceries A grocery store (American English, AE), grocery shop or grocer's shop (British English, BE) or simply grocery is a retail store that primarily retails a general range of food Product (business), products, which may be Fresh food, fresh or Food p ...

, home living and

cleaning Cleaning is the process of removing unwanted substances, such as dirt, infectious agents, and other impurities, from an object or environment. Cleaning is often performed for beauty, aesthetic, hygiene, hygienic, Function (engineering), function ...

toys A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and ...

, electricals and pet care. It sold leading household brands including

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

L'Oréal L'Oréal S.A. () is a French multinational personal care corporation registered in Paris

Fairy A fairy (also called fay, fae, fae folk, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, generally described as anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic, found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Cel ...

and

Gillette Gillette is an American brand of safety razors and other personal care products including shaving supplies, owned by the multi-national corporation Procter & Gamble (P&G). Based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, it was owned by The Gil ...

. On 15 May 2015 the Edwards family announced that they had sold a majority stake in both Poundworld and Bargain Buys business to US

private equity firm A private equity firm or private equity company (often described as a financial sponsor) is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of a Startup company, startup or of an existin ...

TPG for £150 million. On 11 June 2018, TPG announced that the Poundworld and Bargain Buys stores had appointed administrators after talks to sell the company fell through. At some point during or after June 2018, the official website was shut, and the Facebook and Twitter pages stopped being updated with new products and offers. Any remaining Poundworld stores closed in early August. It's not clear whether any Bargain Buys stores remained trading this long as well, or were closed earlier in June or July. There were 20 Bargain Buys stores by the time of administration.

Poundstretcher subsidiary (2018–present)

acquired numerous Poundworld and Bargain Buys leases from the administrators, whilst the Poundworld stores were rebranded to Poundstretcher, the Bargain Buys stores were not. Poundstretcher began to open stores under the Bargain Buys name towards the end of 2018 with an updated logo, their first being in Paisley in September 2018. This was followed by 59 other stores across the UK. The Poundworld brand was purchased by New Money Limited, a company established by Yorkshire-based property entrepreneur, Manni Hussain, who unsuccessfully attempted to trademark the 'Bargain Buys' name in October 2018, the application was challenged by Poundstrecther.

filed a month later and successfully won the trademark with the phrase 'Bargain Buys, Big Brands Big Discounts'. Throughout 2019, the company has since opened over 75 stores across nationwide using the Bargain Buys name, with plans of more to come throughout 2020. As of October 2019,

has opened over 75 Bargain Buys stores, many of which are opened in former Poundworld and Bargain Buys units. As of March 2023, there are 61 Bargain Buys stores.

References

{{varietyStores Retail companies established in 2013 Companies based in Wakefield Discount shops of the United Kingdom British companies established in 2013

History

Poundworld subsidiary (2013–2018)

Poundstretcher subsidiary (2018–present)

See also

References