Going Dutch with HEMA

What comes to mind when you think of the Dutch? If you said tulips, hang your head in shame. (They originally were cultivated in Turkey.) Now. Think again. Anything? No? Well allow me to introduce to HEMA, huge in its native nation of Holland with 660 outlets across Europe, this chain of value lifestyle stores has begun its steady climb to capture the UK with three branches opened since June including its first one in London’s Victoria station.

HEMA is like IKEA on a tiny scale. And it won’t give you a headache. It also won’t serve you meatballs but hang on, that’s a Swedish thing.

So what can you expect when you walk through the doors of a HEMA store? The concept is to make everything about shopping in one of its stores simple, stress-free and soft on your takings. It is split into sections Eat, Study and Beauty with products priced to round figures. Really, it’s like a classy version of Poundland – which is no way a terrible thing at all.

I was invited to the Victoria station branch (which is located inside the Victoria Place Shopping Centre on Buckingham Palace Road), handed a £25 gift voucher* and asked to return to the till with my findings. Since it was my very first time inside a HEMA store, I didn’t have any preconceived ideas or notion about what to expect so I ended up spending a good 45 minutes having a good old rummage.

There was kitchenware, tea towels and other such homely things, as well as stationery, tights and Christmas decorations but being a beauty blogger, my natural instinct (or should that be ‘weakness’?) was inevitably predictable…

Still, for £25 I got a total of 8 items including jewellery, make-up (natch!) and stationery. Let’s take a closer look:

These face masks in big and brightly colourful sachets caught my eye. Then the names made me salivate: Chocolate Orange, Strawberry Scrub and Fruity Feast. They’re only £1.50 each.

HEMA has an impressive display of jewellery and I was very pleased with myself for finding these two pairs. I love big chandelier sized earrings though they usually hurt after a few hours wear – not these ones from HEMA, which cost £6.95. They’re light as a feather but don’t look or feel inferior in quality. The teal green and gold set are beautifully too and these were £3.95.

The beauty section is one part where HEMA is really pushing the boat out. The layout and selection is pretty astounding from foundations to nail varnishes for their budget friendly range but what I really liked about it the most was how accessible it is. Every product can be tested with tissues to wipe off swatches. This is something Superdrug and Boots (still) don’t do and I would love to know what their excuses are. To give you a heads up on price points, nail polishes are £2.50 to £3.25 and lipsticks are £2.50 to £4.75.

Any way, I found a green eyeshadow duo (£4.25) and a trio of greens and blues (£2.50), which are brilliantly pigmented.

My final pick was a 160 pages mint coloured spiral A6 notepad for £3. I reckon I did pretty marvellously, don’t you? Actually, I tell a little fib – my total spending was £25.15. Just thought I’d put that out there before someone added up the prices and pointed it out…

With the Danish store Tiger already digging its claws in, it’s pretty clear (and worth applauding) that our European neighbours do bargains better than our paltry Poundland and 99p Stores. Or maybe they understand value doesn’t necessarily mean cutting corners. Quite often I have to go to Victoria for work where the offices are within the shopping centre. I suspect I may be dropping into HEMA soon again. (It would be rude not to.)

HEMA currently has three stores in the south east which are London Victoria, Bromley and Kingston though I am sure more will be opening in the future. The store also has an easy-to-use website www.hemashop.com.

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