A warning to all you ladies out there: if, after dragging your doting boyfriend around the retro…read moreshops of Park Street, you loving ask, 'is there anywhere you want to go?' you may just end up at Forbidden Planet. This comic book and sci-fi mega store is every boys dream and every girl's nightmare. Be prepared to lose several very important shopping hours here. Having said that, it's easy to admire the scale of the store and the quality of the goods they have to offer. Even I, a sci-fi phobic, enjoyed flicking through the comic books and eyeing up the DVDs. It's a great place to shop for presents for boyfriends, friends and little brothers. And, luckily for me, the shop assistants are so helpful so even the clueless can pick the perfect stocking filler.

Comic book nerds and geeks (or those that think Sci Fi is so square that it's hip) from all around…read morewill love forbidden planet. It's not the easiest place to find - it's on the less visited part of triangle, so a little away from the main shopping drag on Park Street, but definitely worth making the effort for. If you're not into comics too much yourself, this is definitely a brilliant place to grab an original gift for someone who is - there's endless amounts of memorabilia. The stuff here is pretty expensive though.

I was out Yelping in town the other day - by which I mean I had to do some chores so I took my…read morecamera with me and took some photos of various shops in the centre, not that I was standing outside the Tesco Metro where the nutters congregate shouting to myself. Anyway, this was all going fairly well and I'd established something of a routine - go to a shop, take a photo, go to the next shop, take another photo - you get the idea. This was all going swimmingly until I got to Smiths. For some reason, after I'd taken a pic, the manager came running out after me and demanded to know what the pic was far. I told her and she insisted that I write down the URL of this site for her to investigate. Out of respect for the privacy of Smiths, I've decided not to upload the pic, though, even without looking at it, I can easily describe it for you instead. It's a Smiths. As for a review of the store. It's a Smiths. I sincerely hope these revelations won't damage this secretive little store too much...

Yes, it's a Smiths, so expect a fairly standardised approach to the printed word, in magazines and…read morenewspapers. However, this place has a special significance for me, as I work for a magazine and it's always with special pride that I trot down to this store to make sure that all the hard work that me and the team put into making it each month wasn't entirely wasted. It's fairly niche, as magazines go, so this is one of the only stockists, and it's on this fact that I recommend this branch, especially now that Borders has been wiped off the face of the earth. Yes, this Smiths has two floors, so it's packed with printed goods. One of the better stores in the chain, for sure.

Split into two little shops either side of the staircase at the back of Clifton Arcade you will…read morefind this little gem of a store. This is how I remember all record shops to be - even the new ones! All items here are second hand and they do a particularly good range of vinyl. Most will be in the rock and pop genres from 60s-80s which is great for me. If you are a Queen fan I think they have everything ever made ever.... They also have CDs, DVDs (mostly in the shop to the left) which are priced around the £6 mark which is the same as online but you get to spend time shuffling round a shop which is infinitely nicer then an online buy. Also t-shirts for you retro slogan wearing kids and music sheets for the talented ones. You are welcome to browse and you will definitely find something unusual here. Like a record fair imploded.

Right at the very end of the Arcade you'll find this record shop. Not huge, but with a good…read moreselection of vinyl and a few posters and CDs as well. They'll have music on when you go in, which I've always thought is a bit questionable, but nothing my ears couldn't bear for ten minutes of browsing. Not big enough to have a properly extensive collection, this isn't really the place for music aficionados. There's specific sections for metal and prog rock, to give you a flavour of what they stock. If you've got a spare tenner and an afternoon in Clifton this is a good place to discover something new. The owner is happy to give advice, and there's just enough on offer for most people to find plenty of stuff they haven't heard before. A run of the mill independent record shop, X is good for wasting a bit of time.

I could spend a good few hours of a weekend in HMV, when they have their, what actually seems like…read morea pretty ongoing, sale of £3 dvds I have to remind myself that I can't buy more than I can carry! As much as I love HMV I wasn't 100% impressed with this store - usually the staff are really really helpful and genuinely seem to have an interest in music/film but this store seems a little under-par. I often think they could fit a lot more in as well, maybe it's me but part of the fun of a cd/dvd shop is the slightly cramped feel, you know when you bump backwards into the guy looking at the opposite row? I still give it 3* because HMV is HMV but there's room for improvement here!

THis HMV has a really good selection, and the staff are very friend;y, and once helped me discover…read morethe brilliant Garth Marengies Dark Place, for which I will be ever thankful! Being a massive fan of the Mighty Boosh, I was asking about the box set of the 1st and 2nd series (this was in the days before the 3rd series and subsequent band formation) and they suggested I have a look at Dark Place, I didn, and it was brilliant. I remember seeing 1 or 2 episodes on CHannel 4 when it was on tele but I didn't pay much attention, so thankful I paid it a second look, and all thanks to some bloke from HMV... don't think he works their anymore though.

Nothing to do with the similarly named film studio, 20th Century Flicks is a small independent DVD…read moreand video rental shop. It's better than Blockbusters for so many reasons, the chief one being that they have dedicated staff who have an encyclopaedic film knowledge. You can go in, say something along the lines of 'I want that film, I think it was Hitchcock, made 1961 or maybe '64...' and they will usually be able to work out what you're looking for. They also go to the trouble of writing little cards with their opinions of the movies, which I think is a nice touch. Their library is as comprehensive, I've always been able to get what I want and kept up to date. They do a good line in ex-rental, so it's worth going along even if you don't rent much. Walking past this morning I saw Atonement on DVD for £5, a bargain. 20th Century Flicks is a good place to find a film and has a bit more of a personal touch to it, which I always appreciate.

This is quite simply the best video rental shop in Bristol. Unfortunately I live a bit too far away…read morenow, but I used to go here all the time when I was in Clifton. Why? Well, it's independent for one, which is a bonus in any walk of life. Also, the staff know what they're talking about and are all encouraged to write cards and lists recommending their faves new and old, with art house and cult hits very much to the fore, not just the latest crap from Hollywood. It's a little bit expensive but you certainly get what you pay for. And if they don't have what you want on their heaving shelves, ask at the desk as they can dig pretty much anything, however obscure, up for you from their back-up warehouse.

Always pumping out the latest dark DnB or dubstep, I love coming to this place to while away a…read morepost-payday lunchtime or two. There's so much to take in, the staff really care about the music they sell and it's well worth coming in weekly to have a listen to the latest releases. There's a good range of posters advertising the upcoming dance events in Bath and Bristol, too, and they'll always stick a poster up if you're organising something yourself. They have a fair selection of second hand CD, if you're still caught up in the nostalgic age of music buying, so I can't recommend this place enough, especially for local DJs looking for something new to, er, drop.

Great music shop with a good range of music and extremely friendly staff. Also sells many DVDs and…read morevideo games at reasonable prices.

This shop is just the best cd shop in Hereford! Sells most cds, dvd etc. Staff helpful and shop is…read morewell layed out. This is the place to go if you are needing a cd!

The only other shop in Llantwit Major's Pound Plaza alongside the mighty Filco is Rainbow Plaza…read more And what a freaking awesome shop it is. The ground floor is nothing too exciting, just newspapers, magazines, gift cards, stationery, chocolate bars, that kind of thing, but if you head up the stairs to the right, then boy does it get good. Up here you'll find a proper toy shop alongside a DVD rental operation and the only place in Llantwit Major to sell CDs and DVDs. The selection of CDs is a bit rubbish but the toy side of things is frankly brilliant. I've never seen so many box fresh board games. They've got both Cardiff and Swansea editions of Monopoly (surely they're all brown squares in Swansea? Boom! Take that Jacks!). They even have the table top cricket game that I always wanted as a kid. With an impressive array of Lego toys, huge cuddly toys, a Games Workshop section, and some toys for girls (phhmp! Whatever...), Rainbow Bargains is a cracking little shop that is very difficult to leave without whipping your wallet out.

This was where I bought my copy of Dark Side of the Moon years & years ago! I went home, shut my…read moredoor and put the record on, and I don't really remember much after that. But this shop symbolises everything the Independent Record shop should be; the staff will always chat to you about music and ask you what you like so they can recommend stuff to you, or keep music behind the counter for when you next go in. If you're lucky enough to find this shop open you are in for a treat, they are always playing something you won't have heard before, and my advice is, buy the music they recommend to you. But finding this shop open is a game in itself, I had the misfortune of stopping by earlier today to find they have shaved even more opening hours from their week. So now it's just Fridays & Saturdays, which gives it more of a market stall feel. I hope by doing this they will get the business they need to stay open. So stop by at the weekend and start digging into the boxes of old records they have in the back! You'll find a Zeppelin album you didn't even know you needed.

An independent second hand record shop on Cotham Hill, The Beat Goes On is a rare find nowadays…read more Specialising in vinyl, they've got a big collection of second hand music, both on wax and on cd. Their range isn't massive, but there's definitely a few gems in here and it's worth really taking your time and having a peruse. Like the hardware store just around the corner, they've managed to cram an awful lot of stuff into a small premises, and it gets really crowded with just a few people in here. It's got a nice feeling to it - a bit messy and untidy but in a good, hippy and shambolic way. Definitely a shop that's well worth supporting, come and find a gem and spend a happy Sunday afternoon in musical bliss.

This small Waterstones is an invaluable resource to students too late to take books out from the…read moreneighbouring university library. Here, the friendly sales assistants can track down and order those important university textbooks for you to arrive within days. Don't forget to visit the nearby student cash machine before visiting - the books from here aren't cheap, but you can be assured you'll be buying and ordering the right editions for your syllabus. Non students are also welcome here, where they have a good range of mainstream books too.

I know, you're thinking, Waterstone's, books, yawn, we know what it does…read more However despite being in the middle of the brain-dead Broadmead shopping centre this shop is a little gem purely because of the passion of its staff. Yes I come here to get a book I know about, and it has a pretty good stock of classics and new books and they can order anything in you like. However, the love comes when you have time to browse. This is when you should have a look at the side shelves at the end of the sections and the tables in the middle. The staff carefully pick out titles on a theme - perhaps Russian writers or books about serial killers in America - and have little reviews underneath. Now I know all Waterstone's do this but this shop seems to have a knack for finding some very interesting books. I discovered The Master and the Margarita here (I know! What was I doing all this time?) and for that they will always have my respect.