Quality Save

It’s cheap.
Cheap booze. Cheap bath mats. Cheap beauty products. Cheap biscuits. What more can you ask for?! It’s also had a cheap refridgerated section put in a few months ago so you can buy cheap bacon and cheap rustlers microwave burgers (if that’s the sort of thing you buy when sober?!).
Seasonal items at present include suitcases, suncream, bbq and garden gear.
Anyway, it’s cheap. Something other supermarkets nearby aren’t.

In a lot of ways I feel like Quality Save is my spiritual home. So when people turn their nose up at it, I just think they don’t know what they’re missing. Obviously it’s not the classiest of shops and doesn’t look very inviting (particularly this branch, located in the slightly depressing Chorlton precinct) but it’s just great.
I love bargains. I love tat. And I love hoarding certain items, mostly toothpaste and cleaning products. With this in mind, there’s really no way that I could *not* shop here. You can get three lip balms for £1.50. You can get so much toothpaste for so little money. You can get all manner of things that you didn’t even know you wanted until you saw them, such as bright yellow bobble hats, little balls to put in your fridge to absorb bad smells, and Pop Tarts. Despite how cheap everything is I can’t seem to get out without spending at least a fiver.

Ahh Quality Save, you truly are a legend in your own postcode area. Filled with disgruntled, apathetic staff and oodles of premier sweatshop crafted tat, this is THE place you need to be if you’re looking for that Bad Boyz Inc annual you’ve been searching for your whole life.
OK, so maybe I’m being a bit mean — Quality Save is good if you know what you’re looking for. And you can get some halfway decent brands of shampoo and facial products there if you look hard enough. Back in the days when I lived in Chorlton and often had only £1 to my name, Quality Save saved my bacon on more than one occasion with its cheap noodles and even cheaper booze (no wonder there are so many shady alcoholic types hanging around Chorlton Precinct).
However, a fancy retail experience this is NOT — indeed, whenever I’ve been in, it’s always had this strange aroma of ‘pet shop’ about it. But then again, I’ve always left with bags full of lovely (usually) useful things so I can’t complain really. And you do tend to find anything and everything you could ever possibly want here. Just be sure not to get too distracted by all the cuddly toys and cut price grilled cheese sandwich makers!

Toilet paper. It’s a difficult thing to buy when living in a shared house. You don’t want to spend a fortune on some triple-​ply double-​quilted baby-​soft paper that is going to be flushed away within a day or two, but you don’t want to wipe your posterior with something that resembles the tracing paper you used at primary school. This is where Quality Save comes in. For £2.99 it is possible to buy 18 rolls of good quality bog roll, which even keeps our house of 6 going for a few weeks.
Other bargains that I have picked up include a large tube of Colgate for 79p, some Olay tinted moisturiser for £2.99 (about £16.99 in the shops), canvases and oil paints for 99p each and numerous packets of cookies for 39p. OK, so the queues are normally long and the staff are as unhelpful as you could get, but this is a great place for picking up toilet paper.

When things are a little tight (aren’t they always?) and especially around Xmas/​mass present buying time I take a wander into Chorlton and visit Quality Save.
They stock a large range of brand food; hair and face products (ermdon’t ask); art and craft kits (I picked up a topical Easter card making kit over the weekend); cookware; cuddly toys; greeting cards/​invitations etc. I just need Larry Grayson/​Bruce Forsyth to appear from behind the large knickers range and the Generation Game flashback was complete/​
The prices in here are fairly breathtaking, of course it hasn’t got the aura of the likes of Waitrose or M&S but once out the bags at home, for most items they look the same by this stage! I almost worked out you could get a bi-​monthly supply of toiletries in here for the same price you would pay for a single item of post organic beard gloss at the more expensive and spotlit supermarkets. Tiger balm for the cost of a family sized Snickers bar anyone? My lower back muscles have never felt better whilst my wallet remains in pleasant enough place.
Great piece of ying and yang goings on for Chorlton, contrasting this place and the middle class vegetarian curtain and fruitarian shoe shops dotted around the area.
Pop in save yourself a bob or twowhich you can then spend on fresh Polish bread or some of the country’s finest ales a mere hop and a skip around the corner.