Did I ever tell you I was cheap? I mean really cheap, mostly when it comes to things that are a chore, such as work clothes. While I will happily spend £40 on a casual t-shirt or a pair of jeans I refuse to spend a small fortune on work clothes, they are a chore. So a few months ago I happen to come across an opinion on a shop I’d never heard about, Primark, it seemed like my kind of shop, simple and cheap. Imagine how chuffed I was to be able to test this out when the opened a store in Birmingham in December.

The Shop
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It’s a very plain affair, white décor bathed in harsh white neon lighting. Its not trendy, its not fashionable its just functional. It reminds me so much of C&A that I keep thinking that it is located in the old C&A shop and keep having to detour whenever I go there.

There has always been plenty of staff on duty during my visits with three large checkout counters, one on each floor, each one with at least three people serving. This has been during a busy rush hour Saturday as well as a quieter, yet still busy, Sunday afternoon.

And it does get very busy. Especially at the weekends, although Sunday is usually less manic than Saturday. Scores of people milling around crazed with cheap, cheap, cheapness I can almost hear them squeal it. It’s like going in poundland just before Christmas (its also why I never go in poundland) but the novelty seems to have worn off over the last couple of weeks and it isn’t so bad.

The clothing is well laid out, not too cramped like Matalan but not too spaced out like those trendy designer shops that only have about three garments in the whole shop. Stock can however get thrown around the place at busy times. I did find it quite amusing that to get to the men’s section you have to go through the ladies lingerie section. The changing rooms are well lit and have good-sized mirrors. The cubicles are of a decent size giving you plenty of room to get changed without banging you head off the side of the wall.

You can expect to queue however, even on a reasonably quiet Sunday afternoon there queue still had around ten people in it, I don’t know what other store are like but this one seems to recognise the needs to increase staff as queues increase so it has never been too bad for me.

The Range
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Primark’s range is impressive. They stock a wide range of women’s clothing, not up to the minute fashion but not too far behind either. The clothes are more along the lines of the basic wardrobe like trousers, tops and sports wear. There is a section for accessories such as hair clips, belts, bags and shoes some of them are very nice, some of them aren’t. The smallest size I saw was 8-10 the largest was 18-20. The most common size in the shop seems to be 14-16, so Primark seems to have a grasp on the ordinary British woman.

The range of lingerie is really quite impressive. In my branch half of an entire floor is given over to bras, pants and nightwear. All of a decent quality and most of it very nice too. The smallest size I saw in bras was 32A and the largest 38C, although 38C’s are a little thin on the ground, much to my annoyance.

Half a floor is devoted to children’s clothing, from pretty baby wear to clothing for your most boisterous five year old. A good range for those people in the world who care not a fig for fashion.

Finally, half a floor is given over to men’s clothing. Again there is a fairly basic range of trousers, shirts and jumpers. Nothing too special but all quite smart and would suit a man who doesn’t care for labels. The kind of man that just goes into a shop throws a load of Jeans, trousers and shirts in a basket and pays for it. This shop I think lends itself to ‘man shopping’

The Clothing
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In the past I have mostly bought trousers from Primark. I tend to wear the life out of trousers like you wouldn’t believe. I resent paying £40 for a pair that will only last a couple of months before I ruin them. Traditionally cheap trousers last the longest with me.

Primark is no exception, I bought a pair of black trousers for work back in September, while I was in Torquay, and have worn them twice a week every week since then. They are still in good condition, they have washed well and the hem has not come down (a miracle for me I can tell you) every other piece of clothing I have bought has lasted just as well.

My only gripe with the clothing is that the sizing seems to be somewhat erratic. Yesterday I tried on three pairs of trousers all the same size, one pair fitted perfectly, one pair fitted but were a bit on the tight side and the other pair I couldn’t even do up. My advice here is to make sure that you try everything on just to make sure.

The Price
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Well this is the crux of it, the reason that this is now my favourite shop. The best way to explain how good the prices are is to give you an example. Yesterday I went there to stock up on some work clothing and a few other basics, here is what I bought:

Two pairs of plain black boot cut trousers.
A pair of Black jersey tracksuit bottoms
One red cotton jersey top
One blue cotton top (the kind with the university motif)
One strappy cotton nightdress
A pair of cotton Pyjamas
One white set of matching bra and pants
One black multi way bra
One hair clip
A pack of thirty hair elastics
Two satin flower hair accessories.

Quite a lot isn’t it? It’s a lot for me to buy all in one go, I would never usually get so much clothing at once. I bet you can’t guess how much it cost. It surprised even me and I knew what the prices were as I picked each item up. The total cost of all of the above items came to a grand total of £47.50.

Seriously £47.50 for all of that!

The bra and bra set was £5 each, the trousers were £6 each and the rest of the items ranged between 50p and £6. I’ve shopped there a number of times and still can’t get over the prices. I was so amazed by how much it cost that I went and spent a fortune in boots straight afterwards (well I need some excuse).

To sum up.
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Okay, so it may not be fashionable but it’s certainly not unfashionable. There may be no labels, but who looks at the inside of your clothes? It may not be the most attractive of stores and it may get a bit like a cattle market in there at times, but I think the advantage gained from the prices far outweighs any cost paid in queuing and bustle.