Costcutter

Your typical convenience store. Decent prices for what it is – some things are cheaper at ASDA, some things are cheaper here. The guys who run the place are all friendly, and there’s a good selection of alcohol. Not the best selection of foods and snacks/​sweets, but when you need a biscuit at midnight you can’t be too picky ;)

Mixed reviews for this place so far, but I’m going for three stars, and for purely selfish reasons. Firstly, it’s proximity to The Station pub means that I don’t have to walk halfway up the high street to buy tobacco. Secondly, it sells booze 24 hours a day. If, like me, you often work odd hours and find yourself driving home in the wee small hours, you have to either pre-​emptively buy booze so that you know there is a cold one waiting for you when you get in, or else you get to know where the 24 hours juicers are. This is another one I can add to my mental hit list.
Other than the above, this is a fairly bog standard small supermarket. You wouldn’t do your weekly shop here (you’d go to Asda a few hundred yards up the high street) but you may find this place useful if you just need one or two things and don’t want the hassle of entering a big place, with all it’s queues.

The first reviewer of this ‘ere new Costcutter gave it one star on account of its 24 hour alcohol policy. I’m giving it two stars because when I nipped in there, ravenous after a day at work, I found that they don’t sell sandwiches. What kind of newsagents doesn’t sell sandwiches?! Okay, they have a little in-​store kiosk which appears to sell stuff during the day, but where are the cheap packet sandwiches? Even if it’s some horrible, dry Chicken Tikka wrap made on some crappy industrial state in the back-​end of Dudley, it’d still perform a function.
That little rant over, it’s a fairly average shop, selling stuff you can probably buy for less elsewhere, just not on Kings Heath High Street at 4am on a Tuesday morning.
«We’re open 24 hours here» the guy behind the counter informed me as I paid for my bottle of Lucozade. I couldn’t think of a witty rejoinder, so let my actions speak as I crossed the road and headed for the warm clutches of Subway.

A new Costcutter has opened on Kings Heath High Street that sells alcohol 24 hours a day 7 days a week. I am not aware of any other 24 hour alcohol retailers on the high street, Buy Wise are 24 hours but do not sell alcohol. This is why I have included this business in one of my reviews.
With the new licensing laws hundreds of 24 hour outlets have opened across the UK. Many of them operate using a hatch in the window policy, others have a large screen in front of the alcohol and the till. Costcutter Kings Heath seem to have opted for the heavy security approach. Because, with exceptions, people that buy alcohol in the early hours are usually difficult to deal with.
I loathe 24 hour off licences, they intrinsically defy the government’s campaign on responsible drinking. I’ve had a couple of experiences of alcoholism in my life through people I love and I know that an establishment like this can help expedite the pain associated with this chronic condition.
I agree with drinking responsibly, believe me I learnt the hard way to affirm this belief. But 24 hour retailers reject any idea of responsible drinking by selling it at hours where people don’t need to drink. It is unhealthy, antisocial and irresponsible
I hope that this particular 24 hour off licence doesn’t bring any undue trouble to a relatively peaceful area of Birmingham. The staff I spoke to seemed to be responding to me with a responsible focus. They informed me they wouldn’t sell to someone that was already very drunk.
The next day I had a late night and walked past this new branch of Costcutter at 3am. Three homeless/​substance dependant people sat outside, an aggressive fight materialised outside between drunken patrons and the staff responded as if they were night club bouncers with, violence, derogatory comments, patronising retorts and a blasé ignorance.
It all seemed very seedy and exploitative and the staffs aggression scared me more the thuggery of the drunken patrons.
The business is owned by a Muslim family. I derived this from the religious paraphernalia splattering the walls of the shop. The notion that Muslims will not use alcoholic hand rub in a hospital, increasing the MR SA contamination rates and harming people, yet they are happy to sell a drug they despise to the most vulnerable and intoxicated of our society, seems to be quite a contradiction. I hope this deeply hypocritical act is only perpetrated by a minority of what is a very solemn and moralistic religious practise and lifestyle.
I hate to give 1 star to any business I review, but this time I feel I have to make a personal moral stand. The less of these 24 hour off licences the better, they are a public health risk and the government should immediately address this issue.