The area around the Abbey Centre has grown over the last few years to become as much of a draw as…read morethe shopping centre itself. My first stop is always the huge branch of TK Maxx. How I love that shop, with its shoes and home wares and clothes and jewellery and stuff, stuff, stuff. Always a bargain to be had - I even lugged a huge chest of drawers out of there once. After paying for it of course. Curse those efficient security guards. There is a branch of every high street shop you can think of - Mothercare, Pets at Home, M&S, Tesco, JJB Sports, Matalan to name a few. I always like a look around Matalan where there are some bargains in ladies and children's clothes and a selection of birthday cards and invitations which has to be seen to be believed. Make a quick pit stop in McDs and you'll be ready for round 2 in the shopping centre itself. The Abbey Centre is pretty big, with several different 'wings' coming off the central point. Highlights for me are River Island, the bargain emporium that is Primark, Top Shop and Wallis. Apart from clothes, I also like going to the Abbey Centre for books - Stewart Miller and Easons always have offers on new releases. Chick lit I'm afraid to admit but someone has to read them.

Ah, my good old friend, the Abbeycentre. How I love it…read more Just a short trip up the road from me, I have been shopping here for as long as I can remember, and take a browse around its' many shops at least once a month. There is a large amount of on site parking, so you can usually get parked with ease (unless you go stright after Christmas when the January Sales are in full swing) then its an absolute free for all! There are many shops here to suit all pockets, from sport shops, to fashion clothing, from banks to mobile phone and gaming shops, from card and gift shops to butchers, you will get pretty much anything you want at the Abbeycentre, without the headache travelling into the city centre can bring. There is even a new Poundland store for some of the old bargain hunting. And long may it continue!

This store does mens, ladiesand kidswear, plus footwear. Most items are branded goods, with well…read moreknown labels such as Converse, Soviet, Vans, Jack & Jones, Lipsy, AX Paris, etc. Ad you walk in, its mens/boys to the left, ladies/girls, to the right, with the customer service counter in the middle. As USC stores go, this is a pretty small one and I never really find any clothes in there to my taste, but they do some fantastic discounts on Converse (and you can never have too many pairs of those!) - I got my son a new pair for £17.

One of the smaller USC stores around. A few years ago they…read morereduced the amount of ladies clothing that they stocked and increased the men's! Which means I now find very little that is to my taste. They have a large range of footwear from converse, firetrap and rocket dog (nice brand) and always have quite good offers on there shoes which is the main reason I still visit this shop regularly! My other half uses this as a go to shop when he needs something for a night out! Staff are helpful but could maybe smile or at least look like the are happy to be there!

This shop is brilliant for fashionable and trendy, up to date ladies clothing. It's perfect for all…read morebudgets as they have their new season stock which is expensive, but not overly so and then they have their sale rails which are always bunged so you can always find something whatever amount of money you have! Dorothy Perkins does a good maternity range which not every shop does so I'm sure this is very convenient for pregnant mothers. They also offer student discount all year round, win! They also sell some lovely shoes and gorgeous jewellery so you can find your perfect outfit all in one shop which means less shopping more time for getting ready and going out, woohoo! Come on girls, lets get shopping!

A shop for the larger ladies, Evans recently opened its doors here and since has done a thriving…read morebusiness. Although the clothes unfortunately couldn't be described as high end fashion it certainly does the job in that it caters well for plus size ladies and makes clothes shopping that whole lot easier. If you don't fancy a trek around the shop then you can browse through their items online and you can return items to your nearest store, how's that for handiness! If you're wondering about sizes, the clothes cater for sizes 14 -32 and as far as shoes go they offer size 4 to 11 and they also offer two different widths E or EEE for those with a wider foot. As far as lingerie is concerned the sizes range from C to G cups which should suit even the most voluptuous of ladies. Evans is a great shop for curvy ladies, Even Beth Ditto has created a snazzy new collection for the shop which is worth checking out.

Streetlife is a relatively new store in the Abbey Centre. It was only recently I finally called in…read moreand was surprised to find some really lovely clothes. They sell the ever amazing Rocket Dog and Iron Fist shoes, this is the only shop around Newtownabbey that sells these, so this makes me a fan already! There's a good sale on quite regularly which discounts the stock prices down quite a good bit. The staff generally don't tend to acknowledge you and I haven't decided yet if this is a good or bad thing, but a small recognition would be nice I think. A trendy, funky clothes shop which is unusual for the Abbey Centre in that it is a shop I genuinely like and would shop from regularly. We desperately need more of these please! Come on Abbey Centre, you can do it!

When I was younger I would have shopped in this store a lot more, not regularly, but they did some…read moregood jeans and shoes so it was popular with me back then, and still is with most teens. D2 are best known for their wide range of jeans. Honestly, it's not really my cup of tea but it does seem pretty popular in the Abbey Centre. Really, in my opinion the best thing about D2 is the way out because their horribly bright inquisition style lights, and bangin thumping music just isn't my scene. Sorry D2 but your customer base is limited to the younger, dance music loving spides that seem to be popping up more and more frequently around here (aargh!!) So really D2 probably won't be your cup of tea, but who knows, everyone's different I guess and even eidjets have to be clothed...

This is a great really well laid out matalan. Its a really good size with a great new party…read moresection. The location is fab near abbey centre and the prices are great! Great parking.