Groceries, stationary, confectionary, magazines. Another addition to the multitude of convenience…read morestore on this 100m strip of shops. Go in plunder for bits and bobs exchange currency for said grub. Walk out. Honestly I racked my mind and there's no entertaining, interesting or slightly eye catching account to detail you with.

If you want to go to a newsagents in the Fallowfield area that isn't Gaff's, then you've lost the…read moreplot. By that I mean, your marbles are everywhere. I mean, there's a rocker, but your sitting next to it. However, should you decide that you just need to go to a newsagents that is not gaff's, then you'll probably want to make it Lloyd's. Interesting (well kind of) fact: the property upon which you now find Lloyd's was previously owned by Gaff's! Anyway Lloyd's is like Gaff's, one of the similarities being that they sell the same things. These are not just the usual newsagents confectionary and snacks, but stationery and odd essentials such as bread, milk and bog roll as well. Not much else to be said, so I wont say it. Didn't need to say that. Or this.

One Stop is located in the main bit of Withington, near the nice cafés like Fuel and the banks…read more There's not really anything that remarkable or even unremarkable about this place, its got all of your basic sweets, crisps and basic groceries. There are a few greetings cards which is useful. What is very not useful in One Stop is how the newspapers and magazines are at entirely different end of the shop. I didn't like this, One Stop, and it made finding my Guardian hard. I panicked suddenly, and thought "Oh! Do they only sell Mizz and Heat and stuff but not the Guardian?" But then it was ok, and I realised that the papers were back near the door. Then I tried to pay for my paper and the nice girl behind the counter was having a nightmare restocking the scratch cards which were falling about all over the place, meaning that it took ages to get served. All of this for a Guardian.

In my Withington days, a visit to One Stop was a rare thing, fraught ith much disappointment. "They…read moreonly have frozen mince, and NO potatoes!" hissed the boyf once, when I'd sent him out to get ingredients for hungover shepherds' pie, and all the other shops were closed. Y'see, that's the only time anyone's likely to go to One Stop, when Somerfield and the butchers and the fruit and veg shop are allll closed. Because their name is a lie. Yes, it's a one-stop-shop for all things cheap-boozy, but in all other areas it fails miserably. A word, then, about the booze. It is OK. They often have decent deals on booze, one of which is a nice wine, Ogio, which is around £9, but One Stop occasionally sell it for £4. It's not exactly exclusive, as you can get it in other shops, but I've never known anywhere put it on offer as much as One Stop. The big cardboard boxes of beer (crate? case?) are also usually on offer for around £8. Good for BBQs or, y'know, stocking up the fridge. While the food section is appalling, the household essentials section is just that, essential. Bog roll, washing up liquid, cat litter. It's usually well-stocked and all quite reasonable value. In short, One Stop is a no-no unless you're desperate, but then, I guess, it is a bit of a saviour. Just make sure if you want to make a hungover shepherds' pie, to buy the ingredients the day before...

Jet News is a superb newsagents and convenience store on Kingswood Road. Its also the only one…read morebetween Fallowfield and Mauldeth Road, so if you are in the area, or you live nearby, you'd better make this your local stop for all things immediately required. Its basically a normal newsagents, which sells all the usual things, but there's absolutely no point (within reason) on which you can catch it out. Newspapers, confectionary, milk and bread, alcohol, its got it all, and always in stock, at good prices. Also, its got an alarming collection of football stickers if that's your thing. The piece de resistance though, without a shadow of a doubt (the phrase not the Hitchcock film), is the wine. For £5, that's right, just £5, you can buy 2 bottles of wine. That's £2.50 a bottle don't you know. And the most surprising thing.. its absolutely fine! If I had to call it either way, I'd say its nice! Honestly. Its worth the trip down there to stock up, as I have never witnessed such good value vin rouge this side of the English Channel. P.s. they sometimes close for an hour at lunch so be prepared for marginal disappointment on occasion.

I am perhaps biased about the quality of Jet News due to it's sheer convenience to myself. Located…read moreapproximately 2 meters from my front door, it is the corner shop of dreams. It has everything I could ever possibly want! From newspapers on a Sundays, to bacon and eggs on a hung over Saturday, to a cheeky packet of chewing gum on my way to work during the week. It meets every single one of my needs perfectly! But by far and away the best thing about it is, as Alfie has already mentioned, is the 2 bottles of wine for £5. All I can say is that whoever is putting them at that price clearly knows nothing about wine. It's really good red wine, but only costs £2.50 a bottle. I have spent a tenner on bottle of wine in the local supermarket that were not a patch on the Jet wine. I reckon I have probably saved hundreds of pounds this year alone from that absolute bargain, and for this reason alone, Jet news gets the thumbs up.

My sister has just moved to the next town and I think she misses living near this Co-operative…read morestore more than she misses living near me! For a rather small shop, it has a huge selection of products, including freshly baked bread, a well-stocked freezer section, lots of fresh fruit and veg, newspapers, magazines, cigarettes and alcohol. It also sells lots of seasonal products, so you can expect to find selection boxes and huge tubs of Roses at Christmas and tonnes of chocolate eggs at Easter! The prices aren't cheap, especially when there's an Aldi just down the road. But the shop has a lot of special offers on, which change every week. These can be fantastic if you're flexible about the brands you buy. The wine and beer promotions are particularly good. The shop is open until 11pm during the week and 10.30pm on a Sunday, which is really handy if you live nearby. They don't have a huge amount of staff working in there, probably about ten. But they're all so friendly and chatty that you end up making friends with them all!

Locally based Co Op have had stores up and down the country, especially the high streets long…read morebefore the likes of Tesco Metro & Sainsburys Lite (whatever their stores are called). This branch has been here in Didsbury for as long as I can remember. When I lived in Didsbury this would be one of the first places I'd visit on a Sunday morning as I rounded up my home grown hangover kit. They've refurbished the place recently, but it's no looker either on the inside or outside. However, it sells pretty much everything you need with regard to food, booze and papersand sometimes that's all you need in life. Towards the back they have a household goods section (a few years back I entered here drunk and wound up with some quite frankly useless items: a Santa with a snow scene welded into his corpulent belly for one). I think it's always been a myth that the Co Op (although ethically aware) sell reasonably priced items: in fact the items can be fairly pricey it might be more cost efficient to get almost the same items from the Aldi store not too far up the road from here. Still, it's centrally placed and I guess if you could afford to live in Didsbury you wouldn't really be complaining about the cost of unsmoked rashers from the Co Op. They do a proper orange juice in here I'll give them that.

A & S Booze, I'd almost forgotten it when I passed the other day, and immediately took pen to paper…read morefor a Yelping to be uploaded later. This is where you can buy beer, and make yourself feel like you're a criminal in the very act of doing so. This is because of the defensive structure of the place. You can enter, and you can view the products on all sides through large thick glass walls reminiscent of a mad house. You cannot touch anything. Then you have to communicate with a man through a glass thing with a few small holes in it, reminiscent of prison telephones in the movies. The man then frowns upon you, so you don't forget you've done something wrong, and then you skulk off, beer in hand. Anyway apart from that aspect of the experience, it's a damn good off licence. They sells loads of beers, including some unusual European ones a class above the standard fosters. Most of these are available on cheap deals, as low as six for a fiver. They do few chocolates as well, but chocolates don't go with beer, crisps do.

Hmmmm. A standard corner shop in Levy very close to the train station - in fact, head straight down…read morethe steps and you're right into it. They sell all the usual canned goods, household items and convenience items you'd expect - but tbh I was a bit annoyed as I bought a single pack of gum (written with multipack all over it) for 50p (standard price, no discount) and then when I opened it later it was all soft as if it had been in stock for years - not great! Come on guys - I expected better!

24 hours of service, as mentioned below convenience is very much the faceless phantom in student's…read morelives. Open all hours you plunder and pillage for alcohol whenever you need. It does everything that a convenience store needs to do.

On a drunken mission to get the bus from Trof to the Roadhouse, Medic Friend and I realised that…read moreneither of us had a lighter. Or fags, for that matter. We stumbled across Premier and were DELIGHTED to find that as well as fags, they sold 'zippo' lighters with sexy-lady decals. That's right, kids, for just £1, you can own a fake zippo with a badly printed vinyl sticker of a woman in a pink bra and knicker set! Woo hoo! Medic Friend and I were suitably excited, and promptly bought the sexy lady lighter, and called her Sue. But then, tragedy struck! When we tried to light up, we discovered the lighter was EMPTY! That's right, it didn't work! Useless! We were upset. Upset because not only did we not have a lighter, but we had also been lied to, and our excitement turned to despair as I popped into Gaffs for matches. OK, so maybe buying a dodgy lighter for a quid isn't all that bad, but you weren't there, man. You weren't there! Premier sells an OK array of booze. The wines are standard corner shop fare; Paul Masson, Blossom Hill, that kind of thing. And the beer selection is good, with many of the beers refrigerated for instant party-readiness. The booze can be on the pricey side sometimes. I'm with Rob on its blandness. The only thing it has going for it atmosphere wise is a sense of being constantly watched by the man behind the counter. To be honest, there's nothing *wrong* with Premier, but it's not got the huge selection of Sainsbury's, or the weird (and annoying) features of Gaffs. It's just a bit nothingy. But useful if novelty lighters are your thing. As for Sue, I believe she still lives with Medic Friend, though I am of course too polite to ask.

This is a relatively new shop and it's the only one in the area. This is probably because there is…read morea massive Sainsbury's right next door, so more shrewd businessmen probably chose not to set up a small convenience store right here. Basically this means it is only worth using if Sainsbury's is closed. Considering the shops that usually play this role (Spar, One Stop, Premier) the prices are surprisingly cheap, especially on alcohol. Don't go there for anything specific, but you can probably find something bearable to eat or drink there if its your only option.

this is a reply to Lauren L. 'I just read what you wrote…read moreabout fallowfield mini market. I remember the day when they first started trading just like you and was living on ladybarn road. I found it quite unrealistic that they offered to to find you alcohol. I always bought things from the shop and i even remember asking them about alcohol. The guy at the till (Victor) told me that they are going to apply for a licence to sell but it will take few months. Yes it took more then few months, they have started selling alcohol on my second year but they have never offered me any sort of booze until they had their licence. I believe no matter what if you write something about someone or a any other business, you should guide people by telling them the truth. If they were to do any sort of illegal trading they business would not have been there until now. it is nice to comment on businesses but ofcourse when it is a true comment.' ps, i do like to support my local shop, I believe those people are trying their best to survive in a climate like this and they need every need we can offer them.