We went to find out if you really can get some great deals

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Leicester's Paperchase store is set to close soon, along with the stationery chain's other 105 stores around the UK. The closures come after Paperchase fell into administration at the end of January.

Although Tesco bought the brand and intellectual property, the supermarket's deal did not include any of the retailer’s stores. Meanwhile, the closing down sale goes on at stores across the UK, including the one in the city's Highcross shop, with prices cut by up up to 70 per cent.

The biggest savings can be made on Christmas items including cards, decorations, wrapping paper and gift tags. Products with 50 per cent off include children's rucksacks and diaries and products with 30 per cent off include candles and birthday cards.

READ MORE: Highcross shoppers can bag bargains with up to 70 per cent off as Paperchase prepares to close

With big discounts available, it sounds like shoppers can get themselves some great bargains. But we wanted to find out just how good the deals are.

So, we picked out four products available in the sale at Paperchase and then compared them with similar products at comparable retailers elsewhere in the Highcross Shopping Centre. Although the Christmas stock was the most discounted area at Paperchase, we didn't pick anything from here, as the other stores don't currently have Christmas items on display.

The shops we visited, as well as Paperchase, were Typo, Clintons and The Works. Here's how the prices compared:

The colourful Paperchase notebook below was originally £6 and with a discount of 30 per cent is now £4.20

This funky notebook, pictured below, at Typo has a regular price of £2.50.

Round the corner at Clintons, you can currently pick up the notebook below in the sale for just £1.25

And over at The Works, you can get this smart notebook for £2. Or if you really wanted to save the pennies, you could pick up a basic A5 notebook (minus the coloured, hard cover) for only £1.

Paperchase has a large selection of wrapping paper with 20 per cent off. There are rolls in various lengths and you could pick up a 3m roll reduced from £4.50 to £3.60.

Typo doesn't have a huge selection of wrapping paper, but there was the 3m roll below - which had a lovely heart pattern on it - for £3.50.

Clintons has a large choice of wrapping paper, both sheets and rolls. You could get a 3m roll from here for £3.

- The Works doesn't sell wrapping paper, so we couldn't compare this item here.

There are loads of cards still on the shelves at Paperchase, including plenty of really lovely children's birthday cards. All the ones I looked at had an original price of between £3 and £4, so in the sale, with 30 per cent off, they range from £2.10 to £2.80.

Typo's cards are more aimed at adults (and had me chuckling as I scanned the selection) but there are a few that would be suitable for a child, such as the one below, priced at £2.50.

All of the cards I looked at were priced between £2.50 and £3.50, but there is a deal where you can get three cards for £6, which would make them £2 each.

As you'd expect from a greeting card specialist, Clintons has a huge selection of cards, including children's cards priced from just £1.

At The Works, you can pick up a box of 10 cards for either £2 or £3, depending on the design you choose (cute cats every time for me). Plus, they are buy one buy one free, so you could get 20 cards for £2, which works out at just 10p each!

At Paperchase, there are a few pencil case designs that you can pick from, including the one below. It was originally priced at £8 and now, with a 30 per cent discount, is £5.60.

I had a good search around in Typo, but the only pencil cases I could find were two rather large PVC options, both priced at a hefty £10.

Clintons didn't have any pencil cases, so I couldn't compare this item here.

The Works has a great selection of pencil cases, priced from just £1.50. For this price, you could get yourself a rainbow design pencil case or a cool Harry Potter one, pictured below.

So, whilst the products at Paperchase are lovely, even at the reduced prices the store doesn't really offer any amazing deals. With two of the four products we looked at (the notebook and wrapping paper), it was the most expensive store, and with third product (birthday card) it was about the same price as its nearest competitor, even with Paperchase's 30 per cent discount having been applied.

So, could the company's demise be due to its relatively high prices, compared to similar stores? After all, we do all love a bargain, don't we?

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