tim dowling of "the guardian" said the series "was not enhanced by caroline aherne's jokey narration, and it had more than its fair share of isn't-he-a-character type characters, but it was saved for me by a surprising discovery: the pound shop business is actually pretty interesting." "metro" caroline westbrook said it "certainly didn't disappoint". "bath chronicle" called the narration "lacklustre" and commented on how boring the series was. andrew billen from "the times" gave the programme three stars out of five. "the sunday times" said "full marks to the makers of this documentary, who find a clever and absorbing way to tell the story of the biggest current trend on britain's high streets."