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CANNY shoppers have been buying their washing-up liquid and tea bags in B&M for years. Mrs Hinch has one of its egg chairs in her back garden.
And now the middle classes are waking up to the fantastic bargains to be found in the budget chain.
The influx of Waitrose shoppers is one reason B&M is among the UK’s most successful businesses, which will soon be listed on the FTSE 100 list of most valuable companies.
With 645 stores, many in smaller retail parks beside the likes of Asda, Poundland and Lidl, it’s worth £4billion.
During lockdown, as everyone tightened their belts, B&M’s mix of well-priced antibacterial sprays and cheery cushions was a hit well beyond its core customer base.
Shoppers who had discovered how much they could save by switching to Aldi or Lidl realised they didn’t have to pay John Lewis prices for mugs, towels and colouring books.
Arts administrator Mark Irwin-Watson, 45, said: “I go there for all the things I don’t want to pay over the odds for.
“They have brands that I know cost twice as much in Asda. If there’s a bargain to be had, I’m having it.”
B&M, based in Liverpool, had 20 lossmaking stores when Simon and Bobby Arora took over in 2005. They have grown it into a thriving chain by offering deals on brand name household and grocery products, toys and small electronics.
It stayed open throughout lockdown and, while other stores struggled to keep up with demand for essentials, B&M boasts it never ran out of toilet roll.
Mark recalls shopping there just as the panic over coronavirus started.
“They were really on the ball. When everyone was stocking up like crazy at the start, they still had sanitiser and bottles of hand wash. It was the first place I was able to buy masks,” he said.
The chain knows its customers really
Why shoppers more used to Waitrose are flocking to do what many of us have been doing for years.. bagging bargains at a retail success story
BY anna.burnside@reachplc.com well. When it was the only stockist of Slimming World’s recommended Skinny Whip bars, demand was enormous.
Mark recalls a 40-mile round trip to different branches to stock up for himself and colleagues.
The store also stocks all the herbs and spices needed for Slimming World’s recipes. Its Mayflower curry sauce is a hit with dieters who crave the taste of a takeaway.
It has licensing deals to produce branded backpacks and slippers
featuring Friends, L.O.L. Dolls, Harry Potter and Pokemon.
And its exclusive range of Doctor Who figures has nerds travelling to far-flung shopping centres to snap them up.
Mrs Hinch, the Instagram “cleanfluencer”, is a huge favourite of B&M’s customers.
As well as a whole aisle of her beloved grey cushions and another of storage baskets, there are refillable spray bottles that say “cleaning” and “windows”. These look very similar to the ones Mrs Hinch uses. At £1 each, they are selling fast. All her favourite cleaning products are well represented. Scrub Daddy dishwashing sponges, Minky cleaning pads, the green Minky window cloth Mrs Hinch calls Kermit are all there. (It’s missing a trick by not calling it Kermit on the website so fans can search for it by name.)
She has done wonders for sales of Zoflora disinfectant and Pink Paste cleaning gunk.
B&M’s £150 egg chair, which has pride of place in her garden, is one of the store’s best selling items of all time. It has sold out and been restocked countless times. Mrs Hinch isn’t the only cleanfluencer who loves a B&M haul. Mario McKnight, the Paisley-based cleaning Instagrammer, recently bought one of its £30 drinks trolleys.
So what gives it the edge that attracts upmarket shoppers as well as bargain hunters?
B&M has 100 buyers commissioning their own homeware, furniture and stationery. This is where it stands out from the cut-price competition.
The key trends from Oliver Bonas, Urban Outfitters and Paperchase are on B&M’s shelves, at a fraction of the price. Groovy 2021 diaries are £2.50 compared to £8, or £10 in Paperchase. There are adorable pencil cases with bright coloured lettering and contrasting pom poms that would not look out of place in John Lewis.
A cool mug and sock set with initials, £5, is a stone cold bargain and a fraction of the price of gift shopping in Oliver Bonas.
The bathroom department is a treasure trove, with the Get Naked bathmat a huge hit on Instagram. At £6.99, it’s considerably easier on the pocket than the £29 version from Urban Outfitters.
All the season’s interior trends are present and correct – macrame wall hangings, rattan mirrors, hanging plants. The key colours are blush pink, mustard and forest green.
Beyond homeware, branded toys are really well priced, as are the small electricals.
Cables, chargers and earphones, all things the kids constantly destroy, are good quality and about half the price of WH Smith.
Mark said: “I loved Woolworths as a child, I used to spend my pocket money there. This is the closest we have now.
“I would never be snobby about it. The floor might not be as nice as the one in M&S but I’m not there for the floor.
“I think the name B&M Bargains puts some people off but not me.
“If there’s money to be saved, I’m saving it.”