UNFORTUNATELY, the editor of The Northern Echo does not give me a gold card credit account to research this page. Shame. But that means I have a pretty fixed rule of not buying things when I go round all these shops, otherwise I would be broke, my house repossessed and my children starving and shoeless.

This rule has stood me in good stead many times - particularly when the owner of a tremendously grand dress shop in Harrogate offered me a 50 per cent discount on a dress. 50 per cent! Had to be worth considering you'd think. But even 15 years ago, the dress cost £5,000.

But I broke the rule this week. I went into Wilkinson's and on my way round ended up buying a bean bag, some plugs, a photo frame, face cloths, shampoo, a sponge and a notice board - and still had change from £20.

What did we do before Wilko's?

It's seven years since the firm arrived in the North-East, taking over the cavernous old Presto store in Darlington as well as stores in Gateshead and North Shields. Since then, they've opened nine more, including Hartlepool, Redcar Sunderland, Newcastle and, last month, their 211th store was opened in Peterlee.

Most of the stores are vast, and sell everything from flower pots to foam bath, toys to towels, soap powder, stationery, washing up bowls, mugs, paint. When so many town centres are increasingly devoted to luxury goods, estate agents and charity shops, Wilkinson's sell those everyday things that we all need.

Many of the things we buy there are just the sort of items we used to buy from Woolworth's long ago. But then Woolie's started majoring on videos, CDs and sweets, leaving us to turn to Wilko's for life's essentials. They sell their own brands but many top names as well, often at prices much lower than their high street rivals.

They are still a family firm and it's not surprising that they care so much about keeping prices low. According to legend, the founder, JK Wilkinson, started saving £1 a week from his wages from Timothy White until, in 1930, he had £300 and opened his first shop in Leicester.

Now they have 211 stores, 155 million customers a year and employ 17, 000 people. Though they are growing at a great rate - 20 new stores a year - they stay firmly in town centres and have avoided out-of-town shopping parks.

But what gets you about Wilkinson's is they just have so much. Every shelf is filled with items, such USEFUL items. All those gardening tools and cleaning stuff, pet food, stationery, their own range of paints, tools. There's china and duvets, pillows, towels. You can get students equipped for uni and not worry too much if you never see any of the items again.

There are hiccups, of course. A Wilkinson's trowel soon bent out of shape, but the bulbs I planted with it came up brilliantly in the spring, which was a consolation.

In our price comparisons, Wilko's regularly comes out as one of the cheapest. In some ways it's an old-fashioned shop. But in a high-tech, high-price, glitzy world, it is also curiously comforting.

Departments in store include:

* DIY (good)

* Kitchenware (excellent)

* Clothing (limited)

* Essentials

* Decorating (much improved, with new range of paints)

* Garden (good in summer)

* Home Living (cheap and cheerful)

* Pet Care (good)

* Stationery (sporadic)

* Confectionery (good)

* Toiletries (cheap)

* Toys (good between now and Christmas)

Some random price comparisons

Mr Muscle cleaner 99p (£1.59 Safeway)

Flash Bathroom Spray £1.38 (£1.88 Safeway)

Fairy Liquid 79p (88p Tesco)

16 Surf Tablets £1.99 (£2.98 Tesco)

Mr Sheen 87p (£1.04 Safeway)

Physio Sport anti perspirant£1.49 (£2.50 Boots)

4 x Fairy Soap 79p (£1.35 Tesco)

Pampers Newborn £3.29 (£3.79 Boots)

12 Tampax £1.08 (£1.65 Boots)

Johnsons Baby Lotion £1.79 (£1.89 Safeway; £1.95 Boots, but they have Buy One Get One Free offer at the moment)

HP Inkjet cartridge £25.50 (£25.80 Tesco)

* Wilkinson's sell enough flower bulbs each year to plant 2,000 football fields

* They sell enough photo frames to stretch from Land's End to John O' Groats four times over.

* Their pens and pencils sold in a year would stretch for 3,000 miles.