Went for first time in four years today and luckily not too many customers. The shop assistants…read moreprobably outnumbered paying customers, but they were all so helpful and obliging, everyone we met showed tremendous knowledge of the items in the store and ideas. We could have stayed there for hours. The cafe is just that, a standard snack serving cafe, nothing outstanding but the service was exceptional. But the greatest benefit is the massive selection of women's and men's clothes, from the ordinary to top quality. Something for everyone. It might have been an 80mile round journey, but worth it and we will go again before Christmas to get a few more bargains.

This one goes out to all the senior citizens... boy, I get cooler by the day :P…read more Be warned this place can be terrifying. It's so big when you enter that you can't even see the far walls beyond the vast sea of clothing stands in front of you, all arranged in a grid that forces you to move pac-man style through the aisles whilst dodging slow-moving pensioners on all sides. I think it's my uber-cool little sister's idea of hell. Not exactly my idea of a good time, and I'm not about to suggest it should be yours! But they do have a huge range of middle-aged-to-elderly mens and womenswear, much of it from branded labels at outlet prices (think Austin Reed, Moss Bros, Jaeger, Hobbs etc), plus things like bed linen, books, perfumes and stationery. Whilst I may have turned 30, I haven't grannyfied my wardrobe just yet - I'm actually suggesting you earn some good grandkid brownie points by bringing your nan here to browse and bargain-hunt. Yes it'll be two hours of your life you won't get back but it's well organised, saves them the stresses of the big malls, and the pensioners love it (there's always plenty of them enjoying the cafe at the back!). As well as doing something nice out of the goodness of your heart, you might just strike it lucky as I did and find one of the handful of things in the store that someone under 40 might actually wear (and my little sis approved of!). In my case, a gorge Adrianna Papell work dress reduced from its £139 RRP to a £30 outlet bargain, that I'm proudly wearing to the office to combat the back-to-work blues today. Boom :)

Now called the House of Fraiser, this is a good department store.There is about 3 or 4 levels to…read morethe store. On the top level is the cafe, which always serves lovely food at reasonable prices, there is quite a big seating area so it is quite easy to get a table. They stock well know brands for men, women and children, also they sell shoes and homeware items.

A great old style department store where you can lose a few hours. The handbag ranges include…read moreRadley and the prices are in line with others. the cosemtic counters are always happy to give free advice and make overs. There are a number of designer type clothing bits, with Mexx and Oasis for the younger lady and some more older type womenswear upstairs. the cafe is ok. There cards and stationary is good and there is a good selection of jewellery - although mainly costume

No staff around couldn't reach neck fan so I had to get a step stool and get it myself to only see…read morethat it won't charge the person said to me keep you receipt in case it breakers like it's happened before

My first question to my friend in Scotland was "Isn't that the RadioShack Logo?" He shrugged and…read morenodded. . Neither of us knew why it was being used. This store reminded me of a Big Lots, maybe an Ollies in design, A huge amount of merchandise, a lot of different things. They had one of the BEST craft sections I've ever seen outside of say, Hobby Lobby or JoAnnes. They even had an inflatible Hot tub and spa set up.. For $400! It was pretty stinking nice. There were a whole bunch of things I didn't expect to find in a TG&Y ( Another store it reminded me of)

Debenhams Browns of Chester is the only Debenhams store to retain its' original branding, Browns of…read moreChester. It has been owned by Debenhams since 1976, yet the store is fairly old being founded in 1780, while it doesn't seem to compare to the older department stores in London, it still is a fairly nice branch, you can enter the store through street-level or through the Grosvenor Shopping Centre. The store is pretty old and you can tell that through shopping inside, they have random sets of steps and ramps all over, so it isn't just one straight/flat level, so do be careful where you're walking to avoid tripping. They had a huge clearance sale on my visit, due to Debenhams' facing difficulties and having to close many of their stores, including this one, I still found many of their prices to be high even after the discount, I found the promotional offers to be inconsistent and it was hard to tell what item costs what as each part of the store/product range would have a different % off. The store did seem a little messy, but it did have some good products overall and it is nice to see they haven't ignored the history, it's a shame to see this store earmarked for closure as although it isn't perfect, it is and remains a nice addition to the town centre. 3*

This is a large department store where you can find really gorgeous bags, shoes, make up and…read moreperfume on the first floor and loads and loads of clothes on the second floor. This place really is fantastic for womens clothes - like debenhams it has all the usual brands such as Jane Norman and Oasis, and it has a great underwear section with huge variety of pretty knickers. It also has a wedding section with loads of higher quality dresses. Of course these come with a higher price tag that the high street stuff that can be found there but this is where I would come to look for something to wear for a special occasion.

This is nothing like your average retail park; most are nearly always home to the usual large chain…read morestores and supermarkets. Okay, so Rubery's has a Morrisons, but it doesn't go overboard on the generic stores (and one supermarket is definitely a necessity for Rubery locals anyway.) At the centre of the park you'll find a Premier Inn, and surrounding that, there's a pub, bowling and cinema. So there's loads of great things for visitors to do, without having to spend too much money on travelling into the city centre everyday of their stay in Brum. However, there are quite a few roads that go through the park, and it's a little bit annoying having to cross each one to go to different store. But the park is home to one of two Empire cinemas in Birmingham, so it's definitely worth a visit to see movies on the big screen (other than at Cineworld or the Odeon) The location of the park is really great too; it's really tranquil and open planned with lots of grassland, so customers staying at the hotel don't have to breathe in the smog of the city centre all day long.

Beatties is now House of Fraizer....but will always be Beatties to me!…read moreGreat department store with loads to choose from. I'm always a little skint so only go when sales are on. Oh my god the sales are awesome! £50-70% off if you time it right. I love the old deco of the building and it's been there before I was born lol

It used to be the hotspot for top clothes/brands in Wolverhampton. It still has a lot of brands in…read morethere in the Makeup / Jewellery departments. Sadly it's quite empty to what it used to be. Shame to see such a great store go downhill!

This is a really cool shopping mall with all the stores you would expect and some wicked ones on…read morethe walkway that you wouldn't - I stumbled across a wooden stand which had some fabulous items! As you would expect, its all clean, well maintained but unless you are used to it, it was a bit confusing, signs weren't brilliant in large crowds. Theres plenty of parking and entrances taking you into the lovely market town of Banbury. Recommended for your weekend browsing!!!