Tills ringing when the price is right

While most of the high street suffers, the "cheap and cheerful" shops cash in. Women's Editor Maria Cusine reports on one such store.

Credit crunch, what credit crunch? As shoppers fill the aisles of a store on a Black Country retail park you could easily be forgiven for thinking we are not on the brink of recession - either that, or you'd think they were giving away the stuff for free.

But when you realise the shop in question is Home Bargains, the picture becomes a lot clearer.

Bargain is the key word today for shoppers forced to tighten their belts.

We all want our pennies to go further, and so, as most of the high street suffers, business at the "cheap and cheerful" stores booms.

Willenhall-based Poundland and the likes of Aldi and Lidl are among the value retailers benefiting from the economic downturn - as shoppers turn away from more expensive retailers in search of lower prices.

And Home Bargains, the store emblazoned with a huge blue and red sign declaring "top brands - bottom prices", is another to benefit.

The Bentley Bridge branch at Wednesfield was enjoying a bustling trade during my visit, with young mums filling their baskets with nappies and baby clothes. Others go for shampoo and toothpaste or kitchen and bathroom cleaning liquids or snacks and bottles of wine. Some even stock up early on Christmas presents.

As you wander through the aisles, it does appear that the store sells just about anything and everything.

Loo roll is piled sky high - £2.99 for a pack of 18 rolls - while crisps and chocolates seem remarkably cheap. Cadbury's relaunched Wispa bar is just 36p, and I know I've seen it for 50p or more elsewhere.

The store sells everything from health and beauty products to towels, bedlinen, toys and food and drink. And while there are some brands you may never have heard of, there are plenty you recognise.

Walkers, Kellogg's and Cadbury's are among the well-known brands. Nivea, L'Oreal and Radox are also among the recognisable names on the shelves.

There's Colgate toothpaste on sale for 99p, which has a recommended retail price of £2.29 and anyone who can afford some winter sun can buy Ambre Solaire spray for £3.99, rrp £13.99.

While you won't be able to find everything on your weekly shopping list in store, you will be able to tick off a good number of items.

Wednesfield couple John and Wendy Cooke were among the shoppers who started their Christmas shopping early in the store.

Housewife and mother-of-five Wendy is a regular visitor, doing a weekly shop in the store, with household and cleaning products top of her shopping list.

"This time we are here mainly to buy Christmas presents. The toys are really good value; we've been able to get good quality branded games, made by MB, for around a tenner," says Wendy, 35, of Coppice Farm.

"It is a good value shop, although you are tempted to spend more than you planned because it is so cheap," she adds. "Normally I just pop in once a week to buy cleaning products and toiletries - on top of my usual supermarket shop."

But with prices so cheap, you wonder how the company manages to be such a success.

The chain is actually "doing better than it ever has done," says Joe Morris, operations director at TJ Morris, the firm behind Home Bargains.

"At the end of the day we want to sell the best possible product at the lowest possible price. Unless we can sell them cheaper than other stores, we try not to sell them," he says.

The family-run company, which was formed more than 30 years ago by Mr Morris' brother Tom Morris in Liverpool, can afford to sell the products at such low prices, because they strive to keep overheads low, he says.

"We don't sell anything that's complicated." By that he means fresh and frozen food - as they would obviously incur extra cost to store.

"We'd need fridges and freezers and that would mean more expense. And we don't do fashion, because it would be too much to go into all the sizes. We strive to keep it as simple as possible, and basically stick to what you can put on shelves," says the 49-year-old.

One thing that customers notice in the store is how the stock can change, not just week after week, but day after day, as around a third of the items on sale are one-offs.

"About 70 per cent of what we sell are standard lines and 30 per cent are one-off lines," says Mr Morris. These one-off lines may have at one time graced the shelves of supermarkets.

"Perhaps the supermarket in question may have surplus stock or may have found the items are not selling as well as they'd like. So, if we can get a good price from the manufacturer, we will take it on and sell it, with the supermarket's agreement.

"This means that there are always new products for the customer - it certainly makes the shopping experience a bit more interesting," he says.

"It can be a bit difficult for the stores as they really don't know what's coming until the stock arrives. So our staff really have to be organised and have to continually move stock around on the shelves," he says.

"And it may be a bit frustrating for shoppers who have bought a one-off and then return to find they can't get it again, but that's what we do.

"We do have very loyal customers who have been shopping with us for many years," adds Mr Morris, who describes the chain as "little bit of a retail enigma" because they do not advertise and instead rely on word of mouth. And while much of the retail world suffers from the credit crunch, the chain, which has stores across the Black Country, is bucking the current economic trend.

"We've seen a 25 per cent growth in sales and we're doing better than we ever have," he says. "But we're certainly not complacent and we have to keep working hard."

The company, which currently employs 4,000 staff and has more than 150 stores, intends to double its business in the next three to four years.

So while other stores announce slumps in sales and shock profit warnings, Home Bargains not only survives, but thrives. It does appear to be one home the credit crunch forgot.