Poundland is a British
variety store chain that sells most items in its stores for
£1. Established in April 1990 by Dave Dodd and Stephen Smith, Poundland stock a variety of around 3,000 home and kitchen-ware, gifts, healthcare and other products, across 16 categories many of which are
brand name and
clearance products. Like many of its rivals, Poundland operates a constantly rotating product line with all products priced £1. Although
price-point retailing was invented in the United States during the 1870s, the chain claims to have introduced this concept to Europe and is the largest single-price discount retailer in Europe. The retailer claims that their
Croydon store is the busiest single-priced discount outlet in the world, generating more than £9 million in revenue per year with 30,000 customers a week, which as of December 2008, was more than any of its
yen and
dollar counterparts in Japan and the US respectively. The company estimates it serves 2.75 million customers in an average week.