Another one for all you shoppers out there. Once you've had your fill of shopping in the city…read morecentre (see my reviews on CastleCourt and Victoria Square), there's still a few places left to burn out the credit card. Just a five minute drive from the city centre, Boucher Road has quite a few shops in it, most of which are located in Boucher Crescent Retail Park or Shane Retail Park (see my review on Shane retail park). There are men and women's clothing shops (River Island, Next, Burton, the Jeanery...), a sports shop, HMV, Starbuck's, Boots... the list goes on. There's a hell of a lot of space dedicated to parking here, but it can still be very difficult to get a space on a Saturday or Sunday. It's not a mall type place where you can get lost in, it's one of those places where the shops are all lined up in a row and you come out of one shop and into the next one - good for methodical shoppers, or those who don't have a lot of time. The downside is that the traffic on the Boucher Road can be crazy between 4 and 6p.m. But, if you're a visitor and you're out for a day's shopping, get yourself a 'day ticket' (see my Translink review) and you can take a trip up here before/after shopping in the city centre.

Boucher Road Crescent Retail Park is a handy spot for shopping if you don't fancy going into the…read moreCity Centre. It has a huge variety of shops including River Island, Outfit, Lipsy, Newlook, Next, Boots and much much more. Oh and there's a few car manufacturers nearby if you fancy treating yourself to a new Audi TT

The magpie that I am loves sparkly things, and everything sparkles in here, and today so did the…read moreservice. I was just walking through to the Paperchase part and accidentally, totally deliberately, found myself in front of my favourite perfume. As I took a sneaky sniff a glamorous assistant appeared by magic and suggested that they had special gift sets round the corner if it was something I was interested in. When I explained I wasn't looking for a gift, it was just something I loved, she said she hoped Santa would bring me some and rushed off to a drawer where she produced some samples of it for me to 'keep me going til Christmas'. What a sweetie! Yes, House of Fraser is not cheap, but with lovely service like that (which has happened before) I'll always be back. I'll just wait until the sales.

I generally shop online for H of F. As too be honest the layout of the shop freaks me out…read more Of, I may on occasion, rush to the Tom form aftershave and give myself a blitz. But no one can prove nothing. Don't feel that the store has any soul.

Wow Dunnes has actually gone downhill quite a bit since my last visit to the Belfast megastore. I…read morepopped in when I was over here in October to see if much had changed and all in all, I was disappointed. I started with the top floor which was totally devoid of any people. Just overpriced homewares. Even the restaurant was all boarded up, and to enter the toilets you had to either insert 10p or get a token from a staff member if you show your receipt! It reminded me of the old dated system in BHS! The lift I used was violent and shakey, and it felt like the floor was about to fall through. Some maintenance in this department please Dunnes Even the food hall was a disappointment - dwarfed into a small hole at the back corner of the shop. Much smaller than I remember. It's all downhill from here. Sorry Dunnes, but I'll be taking my custom to Debenhams and House of Fraser...

On a recent shopping expedition I managed to lose my wallet, It transpired that I had dropped it in…read moreDunnes Belfast. As I retraced my steps and was ringing around I was fortunate enough to call Chriss (Not sure of spelling) She was very helpful and after establishing that it was indeed my wallet informed me that they had it. I called and collected it. Tremendous help from good people. Thanks Guys

What have the Ulster Rugby players and food festival have in common?…read more They were both at Victoria Square in Belfast today. The Ulster and Irish players Jared Payne, Rory Best and Ian Henderson were at the Grand opening of the Flagship Lifestyle Sports Store in Victoria Square. All three are Ulster and Irish players, Rory being captain of both, Jared hailing from New Zealand and Ian aged 23 all took time out to answer questions before getting ready for big Pro 12 semi final next week.....Good luck guys!!!! The food festival was on the lower ground floor and made of two sections. The first comprised of mini stalls serving up samples of pickles, preserves and sauces. My favourites here was the Habanero Steves gourmet chilli jams, which did jams in increasing strengths and hot sauces (I got the Venom one and am looking forward to it!!) and Ruby's Pickles. The second was a mini "Michellin Man Tent City" which had eateries from Vic Sq serving up samples off their menu. The first stop was Yo Sushi for a range of delicious Sushi (salmon,mackerel,tuna,crab and prawn), chicken and Gyoza as well as desserts. Chef Ryan was doing Sushi making classes but I missed them!! Still in the Orient it was the turn of Wagamama to produce up Gyoza, chicken, fresh fruit juice and sake (rice wine). For the very exotic experience of surf and colour,the Hawai'in Ku 'Aina served up chicken teriyaki and craft beers. TGI Fridays were sampling cocktails and for the tea total folk Starbucks had coffee and cookies. Finally the global Cosmo plated up ribs, prawn toast, prawn crackers, chilli chicken and Spring rolls. There's a great buzz about the place and fantastic atmosphere. I certainly ate "around the world" and you can do today and tomorrow. There are some great offers to be had in the restaurants taking part.

It's hard not to love this massive semi-outdoor shopping center. Steel and glass and lifts and…read moreescalators with so much fresh air moving through. It's clean and well patrolled by security and there are retail outlets for everyone and restaurants, too. I think what most people are missing is the rooftop atrium, called The Dome. The lift goes to the top and from there, a tremendous view over the city of Belfast. It's free and should not be missed. [Review 1885 of 2024 - 867 in United Kingdom - 22907 overall]

For my 345th Yelp, I am sharing one of my favorite shopping places! I enjoy shopping at M&S,…read morewhenever I am in the UK or Ireland. I can count on them for clothes that suit both my style and my budget. Today they were short staffed. Very few registers open and no one on the selling floor to help when I needed it. This afternoon I purchased some jeans for myself, some toner and I grabbed my husband a few wee colognes from this place. The toner was a great buy for my travel weary skin. The colognes are outstanding, make hubby smell like the dashing Irishman that he is, and the jeans hit these curves correctly. Terrific food selections as well. Once I had them cater an entire Christmas Dinner. This was several years back. But again, Mark & Spencer's quality was evident; their prices are fair. Again...They never disappoint.

I was excited to visit a M&S while visiting Belfast and this particular location didn't quite live…read moreup to my expectations; as far as department stores go, this one felt like a basic Macy's back in the US. There was a major sale underway and the store was busy - but I didn't see anything that looked much higher end than an H&M.

My review isn't actually for Debenhams shop, we all know what they do. But I stumbled across…read moresomething interesting at the Benefit counter yesterday! A Brow bar! Yes you can go to the lovely benefit girls and get your crows, plucked shaped and waxed! Then have your make up re done by the same lovely girls right after! How great an idea is this! I thought it was great and was absolutely heartbroken I had only that morning attacked my own with the tweezers, i will certainly be coming here in a weeks time! Very cool!

The main reason I visit Debenhams is for their huge beauty and fragrance section. I recently took a…read morefaulty makeup brush to Debenhams without a receipt and this was replaced with no questions asked - altho I think this was due to the person who served me - a different sales assistant may not have been as helpful. I have also been to visit Debenhams a few times recently as they seem to have the best euro rate at the moment. If you exchange over a certain amount of euros you get a £5 off voucher to use that day - excludes beauty and fragrance.

Dunelm Mill is the hot pot for everything frilly and fancy for furniture and clothing. It combines…read moreall types of materials for those creative types to make into curtains, bedspreads, table cloths or clothes! I recently purchased material to create my own unique range of scarves which I attached to bags, items of clothing and bedroom furniture. The material was quite inexpensive and easily saved me money if I had of went and bought the items from a shop. The store on Boucher Road is pretty large so if you have an idea of what you're looking for hold onto it, as you could easily get distracted you look for it among satin and cotton . Staff at the store are very helpful and can give you advice on what material to choose for different purposes, what measurements you will need as well as what colour schemes work the best.

This retail park doesn't have as many clothing shops as others on the Boucher Road (see my review…read moreon Boucher crescent retail park), and has more sort of practical/big item shops. Here you'll find a few expensive furniture shops, such as Harvey's. It also has a Smyth's toy store, Homebase, Carpetright, Dunelm Mill,... you get the idea. Shane retail park is just a few minutes' drive from Boucher Crescent retail park and has a lot of parking.

If you're looking for a load of independent businesses then look no further. To be honest I hadn't…read morebeen in Smithfield for year, basically because I had no reason to go in, that was until the opening of Doughzy Donuts in Smithfield. This new store was a little bit out of character for Smithfield which includes an Army & Navy Store, Rug & Carpet Shop, Boxing Supplies outlet and Crafts and Antiques shops. I'm glad I ventured back in here as it really is a blast from the past - it's great for a dander and a general nosey. Some of the shopkeepers have been there for years and could tell you a story or two. With the addition of Doughzy there's now two options for food which is great. There's also a pay and display car park out the back if you're picking up something big! Pop in and pick up a bargain!

Sadly, Smithfield is not one of the more convivial sights of Belfast. It's dreary, rundown and…read moredesolate; a shadow of its former self. Up until its bombing during the Troubles, Smithfield was (apparently, as I wasn't around in those days) hip 'n' happening...the place to be. Dandering into it today, I was greatly saddened by the staid atmosphere and lack of decent shopping units. Whilst it mainly caters for the unusual and downright unconventional, with shops such as Filipino, Caribbean and African food stores, martial arts and boxing equipment, army and navy memorabilia, antique toys being among the more noteworthy, Smithfield leaves a lot to be desired. One of only four or five shoppers, Smithfield was in huge contrast to the rest of a bustling Belfast. Emma (the previous reviewer) is spot on, it really needs a bit of TLC and a new face lift, and maybe then it would attract the same sorts of numbers as the rest of the city centre. Strangely, the car park had one heck of a queue heading into it. There wasn't a space to be seen. Mmm...

Way back in 2010 I was perhaps a little harsh on this branch of TK Maxx. I think that sifting…read morethrough clothes is the reason that people shop at TK Maxx, they enjoy the excitement and the possibility of getting a real bargain. Sifting isn't actually too bad at this TK Maxx as the staff keep the rails in pretty good order. Belfast now has plenty of fashion outlets but it doesn't have much similar to TK Maxx. This store is huge and set over 3 floors. It has a woman's section, kids section, men's section and even a dedicated jewelry counter. My advice would be that if you are looking for something specific then come to TK Maxx and see if they have it in store, you could save yourself a few quid.

Tkmax is a huge department store with men/women clothes, footwear, homeware, food, kids toys,…read moreluggage and general random things like frames and art. It's all supposed to be 60% less than regular high street prices. There are always was/now prices to give idea of prices. The home department is my favourite part.

I love Home Bargains, my dad refers to it as the lucky shop as you never know what bargains you…read morewill find. There are some things that are pretty much always available such as 18 toilet rolls for £3.99 and it's decent stuff too (handy with 3 kids at home who seem to go through a roll a day!) Otherwise they have a bit of everything, plenty of toiletries, cleaning products, homewares, toys, crafty bits, groceries and seasonal items. The store at Cityside now has freezers snd chiller cabinets to expand the range of products. This store is usually well stocked, tidy and staff are friendly.

Nothing I love more than a bargain, this place is great for school lunch and break snacks, cleaning…read moreproducts, toys that are cheaper than anywhere else so I use here for birthday presents, the photo frames are great quality as is some Of their other household items. They have also just recently added a freezer and a salad/veg section.