Open all week, including Sundays, this arcade is centrally located just off the High Street and…read morePaul Street, and next to a car park (the 600 space Old Market Centre multi-storey). It is on the site of the old market but was been updated and opened, with the new name, in 2009. There are many shops including opticians, travel agents, jewellers, gift outlets, and a book shop too. Quite useful but could do with a few more interesting and inspiring shops.

Now fully refurbished... with some new stores - some new designer clothing stores, as well as new…read moreaccessories stores... currently they have a Fish Spa in the centre £10 to have your feets cleaned by the fishies... COMING SOON: Music Festival 30th July 2011

I know with the recent press coverage of how Primark are accused of using child labour and I do not…read moreagree with this at all and quite rightly they have been through a bad time. However I am sure if you investigate a lot of the high street stores you will find exactly the same, at least they are trying to do the right thing by opening factories etc which do not employ young children. They also let the public have the benefit of cheap clothes unlike others who blatantly lie for the price tag. The clothes in Primark are cheap and fashionable. Not all good quality but if you delve into their jumble style rails you can find great things. 100% cotton tee shirts and shirts ( I bought a really smart shirt the other day for £1.00) Underwear and night wear, shoes and accessories. Mens jeans at £4.00 (ok for work!) mens jumpers at £6.00 Great looking clothes at the fraction of the cost. In these hard days I am glad to say we have such a shop on the high street.

Some of their clothes can be quite good. Unfortunately, this only spans as far as the women's…read moreclothes. The men's selection is dire. There's about 5 styles of t-shirt, 2 styles of combar jeans, and a selection of garish ties in a variety of neon colours. If you buy something from here, you'll end up wearing the same as at least three other people you walk past in a given day. Underwear is very poor quality, and seems to fall apart after a few wears, or one wash Fine for generic wear on one night out, but apart from that, avoid!

This is a relatively small example of the large chain. They have a nice Per Una section plus all…read morethe other clothes that you would expect downstairs, along with a small food section. Upstairs is childrenswear, underwear and homewear.

I like this branch of Debenhams, particularly the basement fashion floor…read more I usually shop here after Christmas when I have vouchers to spend and enjoy shopping for clothes and looking around the branches of Oasis, Warehouse, Dorothy Perkins, Jane Norman and Red Herring in this store. There are usually bargains to be found. It has a reasonable restaurant on the top floor which does cheap meals and has a view over the park behing the store.

This is a great department store and has everything you need such as clothes, perfume, cosmetics,…read moreunderwear and household goods. My favourite section is on the lower ground floor and it is where they have the younger style female clothes with shops like Oasis, Dorothy Perkins and Warehouse, they have great sales on in here and it is well worth coming in for a rummage. This is also where I had my wedding list when I got married. They provide a great wedding list service where they send you off around the shop and you can scan everything you want for wedding presents then people register on-line for gifts and Debenhams send it all to you at the end, it couldn't be easier and was great fun!

I always forget that Matalan is there! It is situated in Bindon Road just down from Chaplins. My…read moremain gripe is that you have to have a card for no apparent reason to shop in the place. You dont get points or rewards although it does come in handy if you have lost a receipt and they can look back at the records. The clothes are cheap but not as cheap or indeed the same quality as Primark. The houseware dept however sells good quality bedding and towels and crockery and for this reason I would shop in Matalan, good quality and good prices. Its just a shame that it is out of the way.

I love Matalan, their clothes are great quality (for the price) and they have sales and reductions…read moreoften! I love that the store is out of town and is therefore less busy - it means you can navigate the store much more easily (especially as a wheelchair user) and you can always get a parking space - and park for free, which is great! You no longer need a card to shop here, which has encouraged me to visit the store, and the only thing I can really fault it on is their online order collection service, as I had my order number, ID and payment card and they refused to serve me as I didn't have a print-out of their email on me! This was partly my fault, but it was very inconvenient (and not something I've experienced with similar services at other stores).

Hawkins Bazaar is in the Old Market Centre. It is next to a surf shop and Card Warehouse. This shop…read moresells all types of toys; new, old and not too expensive either. It is quite a large store. The staff are helpful. The small gifts they sell inside are good for party bags or just small gifts to give to people. They have some books at the back which are good. At the front of the shop they have interesting gadgets that are good to look at. All the products inside are good quality and very fun. I would recommend visiting this shop if you want a gag, a joke or a funny book for someone.

Hawkins Bazaar is situated in the centre of the Old Market Centre. It sells all types of toys but…read morespecialises in the retro and toys of the past! It is good size store, that always seems well stocked. The staff are friendly, knowledgable and very helpful. The smaller pocket money gifts are ideal for party bags/stocking fillers! I have found that some of the products are cheeper online but it's worth taking a look.

Party On is Taunton's only fancy dress and joke shop (apart from the RSPCA shop which claims to do…read morefancy dress hire). They have a good selection of costumes and accessories, all reasonably priced. On top of that, they have lots of party supplies, from balloons and streamers to facepaints and party poppers. Definately a good shop to look in, an aladdins cave of curiousity!

Party on has recently moved from Station Road to a bigger store on the high street. This has…read moreallowed it to get even more stock. It has loads of fancy dress items from hats and wigs to full costumes. They also stock everything you could need for a party including balloons with all different ages on them. They will also provide helium balloons for weddings and other events.