House of Fraser in Solihull is a fairly good store, one of two large department stores in the town…read more While I prefer John Lewis at Touchwood, this certainly is not a bad alternative, offering some competition within the town's high-street. The store is a little dated, and seemed very quiet - this seems to be something that has came up in many other reviews. It makes me think if people are visiting and claim it's quiet - do we all turn into ghosts when we visit here? Perhaps they should call it House Of Kasper? The product selection was fine, again there is better within the town centre, the store did feel a little old, in need of TLC and like it was on its' last legs anyway. I'm surprised this store remained open despite many closures within House of Fraser. The staff in the store seemed friendly enough. 3*

I came here last week to pick up an on line order. The service was great and staff was very…read morehelpful, in particular the shoe staff they were very patient while bringing out about 20 pairs of shoes for me. ...But never mind that, the reason I decided to write a review was because of an incredible discovery I made....If you go to the haberdashery section, (next to the on line order collection point) there is a large stand with all sorts of different wool in it, all for only a few pound each! How amazing! I would never have thought to look for wool in house of Fraser, and I definitely never thought I would get reasonably priced wool there lol. So I thought I would share my brilliant find so that my fellow knitters can get an early start on their Christmas presents this year :-)

A nice department store in Solihull, I find myself visiting less and less now because John Lewis is…read moreusually where I park my car so will always walk through JL first. Beatties does have a beautiful Christmas display and sells a good range of toys on the top floor. I had a make-over done here a while back and the sales staff were really helpful on the counter and kept a card with my details on for me, if I wanted to go back and get some more products. Towards last Christmas they had either a 10 or 20% off day and I managed to get a lovely perfume set for cheaper than anywhere else.

A good department store with a good mixture of thingson sale. Good range of clothing, toys,…read morehousehold items etc. Just a shame there is no Bobby Brown counter! Very easily accesable from Beatties carpark direct via a bridge linking the two so very easy to pop into. Well laid out and easy to understand and helpful staff who are more than happy to help you out. Also a good range of food and drink on offer with a proper restaurant on the top floor and a more like cafe style snack bar on the first floor. Highly recomended and convenient to get to.

John Lewis' only remaining location in the West Midlands, following the closure of their Birmingham…read morelocation, is the flagship store within Touchwood Solihull. It is a large location with entrances via the mall and street level. It is over three floors, with a good range of services offered. They have toilets on multiple levels as well as "The Place To Eat Cafe", for coffee, there is Joe and the Juice, located right outside the mall entrance on Ground Level, although they claim this as part of their store. The store had a nice feel to it, and a good product selection, I like how the store was rather spacious, so moving around the store wasn't an issue, even on a busy Saturday afternoon. A clear store guide/layout plan, as well as having more staff on the shop floor in key areas - would be the main focus for improvement. 4*

I have been a loyal customer of John Lewis for years. However, I recently encountered a…read moredisappointing situation during their delivery of a washer. Although it was to be fulfilled by a two-people team, one of the two deliverymen refused to bring the washer to my kitchen via the stair and instead left it outside my kitchen for over a week, even during the hot weather in June. I am astounded by John Lewis' failure to take responsibility for their mistakes, which only further enables the deliveryman's dishonest and unethical behaviour. It is disheartening that: * Their Duty Manager disregards the fact that the single flight of stair has never posed a safety issue for the delivery of my previous appliances, such as a washer and a heavy 85cm Chimney Cooker Hood with Baffle Filter from John Lewis. * Their Duty Manager remains unresponsive to the photograph of the stair I provided as evidence, conveniently claiming that the stairway is steep and lacks turning space without offering any justification that is specifically substantiated. * Their Duty Manager fails to provide what inclination degree and width of a standard stair should be for their public delivery guidance, instead relying on a so-called internal investigation and empty talk about safety to dismiss my concerns. * Their Duty Manager chose to close the case, even though this decision contradicts John Lewis' own delivery policy which states clearly that customers living up several flights of stairs should not be an issue. Thus, a company of John Lewis' stature shows no business ethics and willingness to refund for a service that customers have unfortunately not received.

Touchwood Shopping Centre might not be the largest shopping centre, but it's a pretty cool place,…read morewith a good number of brands, making it excellent for a small town like Solihull, meaning people can shop without making the short trip into Birmingham. It can be easily accessed via public transport, with many buses stopping right outside and Solihull Railway Station a short walk away, I do find the buses can be confusing if you don't know where you're going, due to the many different stops even to the same destination (Some buses to Birmingham take longer than others for example) Brands located here include Apple, Footasylum, JD, Nespresso and Lush. There is also a large John Lewis store here, which is all the more useful after their Grand Central location closed. This also features a Joe and the Juice. Food and beverage locations within the mall include Joe and the Juice, TGI Friday's, Nando's, Starbucks, Pizza Express and Wagamama. Most of the shops are on the Ground Level, while the restaurants seem to be on the upper level, there are exemptions to this rule, for example, Starbucks is on the Ground Level. I did like the contrast of the modern and older parts of the mall, I did find a lack of lifts/staff around the centre to be a slight problem. 4*

A very poor experience today!…read more I found myself with 45 minutes to spare in Solihull before my meeting so I walked into the town centre and into Touchwood to take some photos to share with you here and on twitter for my 100 Days of Birmingham photos. I took a portrait photo of the closest shopping arcade and then turned my camera to take a landscape photo. A security guard walked up to me and asked me what I was doing. I told him I was taking photos to share of the shopping arcade on twitter and he told me that I was not allowed to take photos. Ironic since there are already 12 photos on here. He suggested that I was taking photos of the people in the shopping centre which wasn't the case. He then asked me to DELETE my photos. I tweeted from BrumHour's twitter account about my experience and received a reply back that said they can ask people not to take photos. As its private property they are well within their rights to do so.

Excellent, excellent! No wonder everyone goes to Selfridges!! This place is awesome! This was my…read moresecond time coming here; the first time This time I came here for skin care products. You don't need to go to any other store to get what you need! It's four stories and is massive, it's pretty much a mall in itself. It has a relaxing, cool vibe with dim lighting! People there are very nice and have excellent service! They always have what you need and if they are out of stock, they restock quickly and will tell when they will restock. I was looking for Kiehl's and unlike most lazy sales people, the woman I asked was very attentive and actually walked me over there to sight of Kiehl's. This was very much appreciated. You really are supposed to walk them all the way over to the area, but since she was by herself, makes sense. She was very kind and helpful. Great customer service!! Once I got to Kiehl's it had a nice set up with a large range of products! They had the items I needed unlike the useless Kiehl's store in Grand Central. Don't go to the Kiehl's at Grand Central. They are rude and they don't good stock of their products, even though they are the official store. Do not go there! (It's located at Grand Central, but go straight to the Kiehl's at Selfridges! You will have a great experience at the Kiehl's in Selfridges! :)) Back to the awesome Kiehl's at Selfridges!! They are very kind and the two women there were very friendly, inviting, attentive, answered my questions, knew what they were talking about and were so helpful! I was able to get the product I needed. It was in a larger size, but I'm glad they had it and I bought it! Even though the smaller one was out of stock, they were very honest and told me when they would restock. She was very descriptive and thorough which I really appreciated and invited me to come back next week to get the other product I needed, which they would have in the smaller size. They even set me up the Selfridges mailing list! Excellent! I will happily be shopping here more! So friendly and excellent customer service!! Go to Selfridges, go to the Kiehl's there, go to every floor and company they have there! They have everything and have excellent service!! Plus you get to leave with a cute yellow bag!! :)

Selfridges is still one of the most iconic buildings in Birmingham, it has managed to stay ahead of…read morethe times since being built as part of the bullring when it launched. It still remains my favourite department store in the city and stocks everything you could want from amazing food and drink through to homeware, fashion and cosmetics. The highlight for me is the food hall on the ground floor, I think you would be hard pushed to find anywhere with the diversity and range of things you can try and buy in one place. I could easily spend a whole afternoon looking at the many weird and wonderful items that fill every countertop and display cabinet in the open and modern feeling space. One thing to note is that this place only stocks the very best of everything they sell, so don't go here expecting the cheapest products in Brum. However you can get a bargain from time to time in the many sales they put on throughout the year. In my opinion Selfridges keep pushing the boundary in terms of what people expect from a department store. Forward thinking, well designed and and always changing to keep thing fresh!

There's a reason why this is called popular way. It's the main building between Mel Square and…read morePopular Road, which are two of Solihull's busiest areas so it provides a nice short cut with some good shops and quality art work on the walls. Popular way has been around for as long as I can remember and the only thing that's changed is the shops. The tiles on the floor and walls are still very old fashioned and the toilets remind me of those horrible toilets at school. I try and avoid using the bathroom here because it's not very clean, some of the doors don't lock and the toilet roll feels like newspaper. In conclusion they need some refurbishment here! On a positive note, they have a good range of shops here; a couple of supermarkets, a herbal shop, a few clothes stores, a newsagents and textile store. I enjoy going to the independent clothes stores more so than the others because they have a good choice for decent prices and high standards of customer service.

Does anyone learn to punctuate / spell properly / check their sentences make any sense before they…read morebother to write a review? I cannot make sense of the awful grammar. Plus I believe it is called Poplar Way not "popular way" - to avoid any confusion.

First visit and I am impressed. Very bright and spacious. Floor space bigger than West Bromwich…read morebranch. They also have a Home section separate at the back. Large Clearance section. Huge lingerie section. The prices are good which is a bonus! Free Parking!

A first-floor series of connecting, partly-covered avenues has the site come across as a mix…read morebetween old-fashioned precinct and the world's worst mall. On a jet of air fashioned from 1,000 utterances of 'bab', it's as if the souks of Morocco have been transported to Brum, but with chips, Jammie Dodgers and betting slips where once there were figs and mint tea. This is not necessarily a criticism, but it is hard to tell what year it is. Here, an otherwise disparate group of enterprises have been brought together under one brand; a sense of unity among the rag-tag which is loosely supported by a multi-storey car park, shared escalator and website. Familiar names - mainly fast food, bookies and vendors of shirts worn by those on whom people have a flutter - are to be found, along with independents whose frontages have not changed since 1982. Hamsters, greetings cards and lots of things for under a quid are among their wares. A really good chippy is the best of the bunch. A new and modern annex, which has an almost atrium feel, is a surprise find, but it would seem initially to only serve as an entrance from another compass point rather than a source of a better retail experience. It does, however, comprise an Asda supermarket which is one of the chain's best designs regionally. It helps cut down on the trolley-clashing, marbles-losing frustration usually experienced in two of its sister stores, Minworth and Tamworth.

I have regularly visited Chelmsley Wood Shopping Centre for many years. The last time was 7/2/13…read more Many years ago I worked at Coventry Building Society for 7 years. I have today received a parking ticket of £75 for shopping in the town centre for more than 3 hours on my last visit! I telephoned the shopping centre to be told that a new company has been employed and have installed CCTV. The town centre shops are disappearing one by one. Asda is killing off the shops and I will never return there now having this parking fine. I parked where I always have in the carpark at the bottom of the escalators. This car park is always empty now. I have the same shops closer to where I live and will use them from now on. What a ridiculous thing to advertise a free car park for the shops as the website boasts.

Turn left onto memory lane.....I was back in the Oasis market the other day and my god it has not…read morechanged a bit! The last time I was in here I was buying flared chord trousers and band posters......but today it was all change and i was having t shirts printed for a dj set.....with the wonderful diva face of Mariah Carey...obviously. T shirt printing is only £8 if you take a T-shirt with you which I think its a stupidly good price and the quality was excellent. I felt fabulous and glamorous wearing it so thank you T shirt printing lady! Inside the market you can also get a load of hippy stuff, jewellery, bongs and smoking paraphernalia, band merch and other random treasures and delights. This is a place for the more alternative amongst us really but not exclusively. If you haven't been go and have a look as its an untouched and unchanged part of the city that is quickly becoming modernised everywhere you look. Never change Oasis market...never change.

If you've ever been into line dancing, skating, surfing, dressing up, hippies, goths or bands at…read moreany point, you'll probably have been for a visit to the oasis markets. It's spread over a few floors, which are all inside. Most of the stalls are set into each corner of the place. There's loads of stuff in here, most or nearly all of it now new stuff. There used to be a couple of vintage stalls in here but think they have moved on now. There are a couple of women's fashion stalls selling stuff like punky fish, big flares and little tops. There's a couple of Levi holders with lovely phat flares and skinny jeans, really good prices too. There's smoking paraphenalia and some kinky stalls selling fetish stuff. On the ground floor there are a couple of shoe stalls, perfect for probably the best and widest choice of Doc Marten's in Brum, these are pretty pricey though. Head downstairs for the surf stalls that sell; animal, roxy (quiksilver) mambo etc, there's a good choice of clothing and there is often a sale on. Not many accessories here, but good for rucksacks. If none of this takes your fancy you can get a tatoo or pierced while you visit. Always worth a look even if it's a little bit out of the main hub now the Bullring's been built.

I am not a fan of the big makeover it had a few months ago I think the downstairs now seems a…read morelittle cramped as it can get busy and you have to zig zag in and out of the clothes to get through. They sell womens, mens and childrens clothes as well as household and food. They always have good offers on some of the food but for me it is a little pricey to do all of my food shopping here so I tend to look out for bargains as I walk through, have a nice count on us low fat range and some nice sandwiches.

I have done clothes and food shopping in here. The clothes department is good. The food department…read moregets very crowded and it sometimes takes ages to pay. They have installed 'scan your own and pay' machines now so it may get better