Although the front part of this former record shop is now the Art of Tea, the Didsbury Village…read moreBookshop still remains in the back room! It's a great little shop that's crowded with endless rows of bookcases, each holding a huge variety of secondhand and collectable titles, including lots of coveted vintage Penguin paperbacks! For some reason, the shop also does a great line in books about classic Hollywood icons. I've picked up everything from straightforward biographies of Clara Bow and Jean Harlow to a slightly odd biography of Jayne Mansfield written by her psychic here! The prices aren't cheap at around £2 6 per book. But there really are some great one-off titles here that you'd struggle to find elsewhere. The man who works here is very chatty and will happily recommend titles to you. His mind seems to function like a human stock control system, too. So he can usually tell you whether or not there's a particular book in stock, saving you hours of rifling through the shelves!

Fantastic second hand book store at the back of the Art of Tea. Literally crammed floor to ceiling…read morewith books of all descriptions and in the type of environment perfect for rummaging through old books, especially when you have a couple of hours spare. This shop is situated directly behind the Art of Tea as part of a four piece (alongside zero and the Picture framing service) avant garde nod to commercial shopping. The perfect one stop shop for your creative needs and caffeine addled brains. Have a good rummage through the countless number of books (thankfully listed by style and subject matter) then pop next door to grab a brew and purvey your literary acquisition. I found a bargain on a Stanley Kubrick hardback perfect condition and sold for a very good price considering it's quality. This part of Didsbury Village is slowly but surely re emerging from years in the wilderness and this type of book shop is exactly the type of thing Didsbury currently needs.

Fantastic little gift shop selling the usual fare aimed at the laydees and the kids. A well-chosen…read moreselection of handbags, scarfs, gloves, stuffed toys, handmade cards and jewellery and a very helpful shop owner, if you're looking for something a little bit different or special you'll find it in here. In particular they carry a great range of silver including the popular brands Lovelinks and Trollbeads. I'll be buying myself a few well-deserved Christmas presents from here!

Harriet and Dee is tucked away on Warburton Street in Didsbury. I didn't notice this at first but…read morethey have two shops on this street, one selling general gifts and the other focusing on jewellery. It's the gift shop I'm writing about today. This is a pretty little shop. You're greeted with tinkling mobile sounds as you walk in and they have a huge selection of unusual and novelty gifts. A few things that caught my eye were a range of cake forks, complete with plastic cupcake embellishments, paper weights with inspiring slogans, shoe shaped soaps and a rather splendid cup carrying the slogan, 'I'd rather be The Stig'. Other items include toiletries, candles, ceramics and cards. There's a good selection with lots to choose from. You won't come away empty handed if you're looking for a gift.

I love Belly Button Designs. It's great to see an independent company which started by selling…read moretheir cards on check-out counters come so far. They have a great range of their own cards and cards from other designers such as Razzle Dazzle or Bon Bon, and also some cute and unusual gifts that make finding a last minute present a doddle. Cushions, bags, necklaces, candles and more in here, as well as gifts for children and babies, there's something for everyone.

A strange name I know but this place is a fab little shop that sells independent handmade cards,…read morejewellery, gifts, bags etc. They also do personalised cards and photo albums that will make a present really special. Staff are extremely friendly and the atmostphere is really chilled out. This place is only a small shop but its got a big heart (sorry for the cheesiness). Support local and independent talent and buy someone special a card/ present from here...I can guarantee it will put a big smile on their face.

A nice enough M&S Simply Food location located on Wilmslow Rd, serving Didsbury Village in…read moreManchester. It is a fairly small store, as common with "Simply Food" branches, but they still had a fine selection of most items you would expect to find from a Marks and Spencer, although it is still minimal compared to their other stores, so if you're looking for something in particular, you might wish to head to nearby branches in either Stretford or Manchester city centre. The staff seemed friendly enough, although they did leave a warehouse cage, blocking part of the aisle, which was difficult to move to due to a lack of space, so it ended up blocking certain items that I wanted to buy. The Marks and Spencer app is available here, so you can scan and pay for items using your mobile device, which is handy, especially if you're looking to get in and out of the store quickly. There didn't appear to be any manned checkouts here - self-service only. This could be difficult for the elderly, so I was surprised that Marks and Spencer which is common with older shoppers did not have a manned checkout. 4* - A fairly good store apart from a couple of major flaws which hopefully will be reviewed.

Whilst evil Yankee behemoth Starbucks gets a lot of (admittedly deserved) flak for being so densely…read morepopulated in Manchester, good old 'British as the Queen' M&S seems to escape similar treatment. Has nobody noticed their growing numbers? Has nobody noticed the Marks and Sparks devil offspring mini stores popping up on every redeveloped corner or every new outlet, public transport station or mall? No? Oh...um...well this is embarrassing...couldn't you have just stopped me a little earlier? Maybe before the whole 'devil offspring' bit?

One of the most "retro" "vintage" charity shops I have ever been in. They have really made the…read moreeffort to make this charity shop stand out from the rest, and there are about 8 charity shops along this road in which we visited all of them yesterday but this is the only one worth reviewing! They have wedding dresses for £24.99. And not tatty old wedding dresses with things spilt down them, but proper heavy well designed fancy pants dresses in perfect condition. Almost made me want to get married just so I could buy them, not quite enough though. Seen all these new vintage shops selling old clothes for a small fortune? Well visit this Barnardo's and get the same stuff for less money with the knowledge a charity gets the money! Also a nice change - not walls filled with books, dvds and cds - only really old old stuff! Well worth a visit x

this is one of the cutest thrift stores I have been in and I love the fact that they had a whole…read morebookstore on the other side separated between the clothes and HomeGoods, 10/10

Another day, another Oxfam, and another Oxfam that is 100% defined by its location. In this case,…read moreDidsbury. Home of the well-dressed, the well-heeled and the well-read. This wee shop takes in a normal Oxfam and an Oxfamm bookshop, and is jolly well stocked on all counts. To the bookshop first, which has a great window display of signed first editions. None of them hugely lucrative or historically important, but still pretty cool. Inside, the sections are clearly demarcated and all well stocked and, more importantly, alphabetised. The crime/thriller section is, as in all charity shops everywhere amen, very good; full of your latest Cornwells, McDermids, Ludlums and whathaveyou, as well as a brand new Charlaine Harris box set for £15 (the True Blood books, to the uninitiated). The general fiction section, too, is well-stocked, and te Literature section is modest but respectable. In glass cases around the place you will find rarer and older books, including an early edition of Pride and Prej for £100; nice if you're a wealthy person with an Austen habit. The other side, selling the usual second hand bric a brac and fairtrade shizzle, is solidly good, carrying a lot of Topshop, Pringle and Coast clothes, and a lot of jolly nice smart menswear. The homeware and bric-a-brac section is pleasingly mad. Wine glasses sit beside ugly china tat and Chinese urns. This Oxfam has a very convenient drop-off point; a well-manned back room that will happily take your bags of stuff, and help you to 'tag your bag' so that Oxfam can claim Giftaid on all the stuff they sell. Oxfam Didsbury; a better class of customer, and a better class of second hand stuff.

Andrew Graham is an independent shoe shop in the heart of Didsbury Village that stocks some great…read morebrands and some more unusual ones. I've bought myself a pair of Birkenstocks in here, and got a great, friendly service. I think what I like most about this shop is that they cater for comfort with brands like Gabor, Ecco, Rieker, Josef Seibel, rather than high fashion.

Bond is a great clothing boutique on Burton Road that stocks well priced and well cut outfits for…read morethe discerning young lady. I've tried on some gorgeous trousers in here (the only reason I didn't make the purchase was because they were the wrong colour in the end) and bought a summer t-shirt for £18 that I've worn to death. They've also got some great accessories in here - belts and necklaces and reasonably priced shoes, although I've never found what I wanted in my size! Probably a good thing because I've be buying all of them

Absolutely love the clothes in Bond and always have to go in for a shop when I'm In Didsbury. The…read moreclothes are very reasonably priced with most items costing between the £25-£40 price mark. Bond is a boutique that stocks tunics, dresses, trousers, tops and skirts by labels such as Glamorous, Sugarhill Boutique and Vero Moda. They also do fab range of jewellery with most pieces costing around £15. The assistants are friendly and happy to offer advice too. Thanks to Bond you can get all the latest trends without emptying your wallet.

Wow Big Discount - a super cool, ultra mega pound shop down on the main Levy strip. You can see why…read morebiz's like Woolworths went out of business with the unstoppable roll out of the pound shops over the past couple of decades. This place has everything you could need from food and drink (tinned and canned mainly), toiletries, cleaning equipment and household items such as batteries and cables for every occasion and household need - all at low low prices! If you're in the area - Levy antiques village is worth a look at and Trove/POD are great for food and drinks!

i love this store it has everything for low prices and they are sooooooo kind and helpful!!!!! i…read moreneeded candles and sweets for a birthday party and it was past thier closing time yet they still let me in whilst everyother place was closed. i am superrr grateful and definitly recommend!!!!!!!!!!