From one side, Taylor's looks like a perfectly normal newsagent. The only problem is that, from…read morethe other side, it looks like a perfectly normal little café. This is because the shop itself is half newsagent half café. This unusual but handy feature in the shop means that you can buy your weekly copy of Heat before popping next door and reading it all with a cup of tea. The selection of magazines in the newsagents is pretty varied without offering anything too obscure like Knitting Weekly, and their sweets and drinks there are competitive and pretty cheap. The café side is pretty simple but cosy enough, with Taylor's offering its customers a small selection of hot and cold refreshments and snacks whilst you sit and watch the world go by through Ormskirk village. Both sides of the shop are reasonably-sized, meaning they can fit plenty in there without making you feel too cramped. A decent place to go for your glossies or a cup of tea.

This is kind of like the local version of W H Smith's. They sell greeting cards and stationary,…read morebooks, newspapers and magazines, and sweets and snacks--but they also have a coffee shop in house. I find this impressive for an independent newsagent. The shop was clean, well arranged, and reminiscent of the big guys, but in a good way.

I liked this gift shop because it was different. It pays to be different, in my opinion, because…read moregifts should fit the personality of the recipient and that's difficult to accomplish when most gift shops carry one-size-fits-all made-in-china crap. Now, I'm not saying that all of this stuff is high quality or even that none of it is made in China (I'm sure some of it is), I'm just saying it deserves a good review because it's different and you are sure to find something a little out of the ordinary here. Gifts here are definitely girly, though, so don't expect to find anything for a guy. You will find jewellery, photo frames, figurines and collectables, stationary, gift cards and wrapping paper, etc. All fairly decently priced, and it's definitely worth a look, especially if like me you kind of have an obsession with gift shops ...

Cottage Crafts is a really cute little gift shop…read more They sell a really great variety of cute and unusual stock including greeting cards, jewellery, stationary (including a really quirky line with cartoon animals and funny quotes--I can't remember the name of the company, but they are really cute), and all manner of other gifty items. I love almost everything in this shop. It's colourful, cute, girly and all around fun. The only thing negative I have to say about this shop is that nothing for sale here is actually truly of a "craft" nature, and therefore Cottage Crafts is kind of an inappropriate name for the shop.

I'm sorry, but no ... This is not actually a fabric store. This is a tiny, dinky little shop that…read moresells a lot of ribbon, lace, trims, and sewing notions and happens to have a couple of bolts of fabric in stock just so that they can say they are a "fabrics" store. I was not impressed by the quality of the stock, either. The whole place has a cheap feel to it, and I would not go back here. I do think the ribbon selection was okay--they were not really cheap, and they would suffice for most projects. But don't call yourself a fabric store unless you actually sell more fabric than other items.

I have been using Maureen's Fabrics for 20 plus years. They have a range of fabric and plenty of…read morehaberdashery. They also have a shop in Southport, so if I want something they don't have in stock in Ormskirk, they phone through to Southport and it can be brought through for you to pick up at ormskirk the next day ( or often several hours later) or if you can get through to Southport they will hold the item for you there. I could go to the big warehouses or large fabric stores if I had the time or inclination, but so far Maureen's has always had the items I require and a wealth of sewing and craft knowledge to help out. If it wasn't in Ormskirk I would miss it. I nipped in today for some ribbons and ended up buying a pattern and fabric for a maxi dress. If they weren't there, I would probably have bought the ribbon off the Internet and missed out on buying myself the fabric and extras to make a dress.

There seems to be a trend recently for shops opening in which businesses sell rather cheap looking…read moreprints of photos or pictures of people which they then apply a rather simplistic Photoshop effect to and attempt to sell for rather extortionate prices. What's worse is that people think these look good and willing buy them as well. Thankfully, Art Framed in Ormskirk is not such a shop. Unlike their cheap imitator's, Art Framed offers its customers a range of pictures that are framed on the premises on frames that are finely crafted and beautiful. They do sell pictures of celebrities and people in general (their catalogue boasts 30,000 images), but they are all tastefully done and look quite professional whilst at the same time not being too expensive. Art Framed also sells a small selection of art from local artists which are also very tasteful pieces of art that are perfectly framed and again available for a small price, a nice touch.

This is as much a gallery as a framing shop. They do sell some prints, as was mentioned, but they…read morealso sell some original art work. There are some lovely local artists that place their paintings here for sale, and for original art the prices are good. The framing services are really good and they offer you quite a selection to choose from so that you can generally find exactly what you want to offset that fabulous piece. I