Jolly's might look like an old fashion British department store from the outside, but it is…read moreactually a part of the House of Fraser group. But even though it's part of a chain, House of Fraser should be commended for making it look as though it's an independent department shop. Spread over three levels it's a one-stop shop for ladies who love retail; there's fashion, cosmetics, homeware and a cafe to sit down after an exhausting shopping session. It may all seem a bit middle class but look closely and there's plenty for younger girls too. There's an Oasis, Benefit, MAC and All Saints to name but a few stands. Not the cheapest of places, but a lovely place to go if you're trying to please a whole family of shoppers. They also hold weekly one-off events so make sure you pop in to see what's happening in-store.

Proper higgledy-piggledy department store of old, lots of steps and staircases making it unsuitable…read morefor shopping with a buggy. Ladies clothes - lots of concessions, Planet, Paul Costelloe, phase eight etc plus House of Fraser own brands linea and platinum. Good undies section, and leather handbags and gloves. All the major perfum people are there - use the top entrances to get straight to these. Homeware a bit hit and miss, always worth a look when it's a 20% off day. Staff are either very young or old (some of the ladies in the clothes area must be over 70 - lovely people, not so hot on the till technology) and are ALWAYS pushing the storecard.

Scene: A damp and dreary November morning. Bristol…read more Mission: Find a bikini for impromptu holiday in the sun. Jenni's reaction: Panic. Sheer panic. Having not actually gone on holiday for the last three years, I'd seem to have misplaced all my bikinis and so I was set the unenviable personal challenge of trying to find swimwear, in England, on the run up to Christmas. House of Fraser laughed and H&M asked, "You want a bikini in November?" Things weren't looking good. And then I remembered Debenhams. Lovely Debenhams. The place I used to consider "quite classy" as a child, and where I used to go with my Nan to try on perfumes. I hadn't been into Debenhams for over a year and it hadn't changed one iota. It was a little bit like stepping back into my childhood; smiling made-up ladies behind the counter, unflattering lighting, mums and their children looking for sensible shoes. I approached the nearest shop assistant and looked pleadingly into her eyes. Swimwear? "Let me show you Madam," said the lovely woman as she led me to the first floor sale section. There, in the furthest corner of the store, four bikinis - 70% off. A bit behind the times, but very reliable!

To fully appreciate Debenhams take a trip to Primark first. After the barely controlled chaos (well…read morethat's a slight exaggeration) to the latter shop, Debenhams will feel like a paradise of tasteful muzak and neatly folded clothes. The staff are keen, sometimes overly so, to help you out. The quality is always good - the suits in particular are lovely. Excellent ranges up on the upper floors in the home and electricals departments. Unfortunately this all comes with some hefty prices. Although the new Harvey Nichols has probably taken the crown for Bristol's most expensive department store Debenhams comes a strong second. This is probably why it's so empty of customers, and makes the rock-bottom prices of next door Primark all the more attractive. Give everything in there a 30% discount and I would be in there like a shot, at the moment Debenhams offers good stuff in a pleasant setting but is just a bit too pricey.

Not really sure if it is just me, but I feel like the store is always in a bit of a mess when I…read morecome in for a browse. It has the feel of the House of Fraiser outlet store down the road, but no outlet prices. It is quite easy to find, although Mr. Snarky had trouble finding the parking garage that is connected to Debenhams. Most of the time I stop in to get things for Mr. Snarky, not myself. They usually have a good selection of polo shirts as well as sweaters and they are usually on a buy one, get one half off deal. The store is spread over multiple floors, although it doesn't seem quite as large as some of the other Debenhams I have been to. They do have a nice lingerie/bra section and you can have a bra fitting if you find you are one of the many women wearing the wrong size bra. Sorry I saw a sign in store about 70% of women wearing the wrong size bra... Anyway, there is a cafe, travel money office, in addition to the usual departments. Some departments are a bit smaller than others, for example the shoe department is quite small, so there may not be quite the selection you are looking for. On most visits I have received pretty good service, specifically in the Men's Department, but on the most recent visit service wasn't great, in fact I was so disappointed, that I just made a note of the information from the shoe I was looking at and looked it up online. I have been looking for shoes for the wedding (not long now) and haven't been having much luck. Debenhams was the last store before heading to the bus stop, so I stopped in thinking I probably wouldn't find what I want. I noticed that they had a display of shoes with a sign that read 'Bridal Debut' and there were some promising candidates. After looking through the display, I found a pair that looked like it would not only match the colour of the dress, but also the vintage feel of the dress. I noticed they only had two sizes in the shoe, so I tried on the 5 and sometimes the 5 works, sometimes it doesn't. I managed to get my foot into the 5, but walking wouldn't really be possible in them. There was a sales associate sitting on one of the benches doing something with sales tags. To be honest, I didn't realize she was a staff member until another customer asked her a question. I took another look around to make sure that there wasn't a 6 on the display before asking, but still couldn't find one. So I walked over and asked her if they would have a size 6 and she said that there were no other sizes in the stock room. I remember on one of my past visits that they used to have a kiosk where you could scan the item and order the size you need, so I asked about ordering or even just locating the size at another store and she said that wasn't possible. I got the distinct feeling that I was interrupting her and that she wasn't going to do anything to help. So I went back to the display and used the free in-store wifi to look up the shoe and see if it could be ordered. And it was the second shoe to appear on the shoe page and not only can it be ordered, but it can be ordered to collect the next day in store. It was really disappointing because I usually have a good experience here and am able to find what I am looking for. According to the Debenhams website they do have an in-store ordering service, so I don't know if the website is out of date or if the employee just didn't know about the service, but something to keep in mind if you can't find the size you are looking for.

This is a huge store on three floors with an impressive array of goods for sale…read more The top floor houses The Pierre, homeware goods and childrens clothes. The first floor is entirely womans wear with loads of mini store selling their clothes here, Jane Norman and Oasis but two of them. Unfortunetly due to there being limited space for each vendor, the full array of clothes each store would sell individually is not always available. On the ground foor, are the cosmetics, mens wear, accessories and the general gifts. Great store for finding special gifts. Fantastic deals, like 25% off days etc. There is a cafe on the first floor and hair salon and wedding section on the top floor.

A huge store full of goodies. It's worth going every week as the stock is constantly changing. Very…read moregood at the mo. for ski wear. Brilliant selection of gifts - perfume, bags, toiletries, food items. Have recently opened a jewellery section which is in the centre of the store - some really lovely stuff (watches included). Very good for underwear - look out for all the top names Babywear excellent and some unusual clothing. Also sell toys, bedding and homeware. Huge car park. Small cafe inside. Best to allow plenty of time to search through all the racks - can't be done in a hurry. I find the best time to go on a Saturday is just as the store is opening at 9.;00 - otherwise daytime in the week.

TK Maxx is a good place to get designer labels cheaply. The store in Swindon is away from the town…read morecentre, but is near to the train station, so long as you know where you are going. There is also lots of free car parking. They have racks and racks of clothes and shoes etc. Sometimes, there is so much to look through on the rails that it can be off-putting. The stuff is not laid out well to enable you to browse easily. In the Swindon store, there is a small cafe where you can grab a cake and a cup of coffee when you have shopped to drop! There are not many other places nearby, it is a bit out on a limb.

This shop has been in existence, in one form or another, for over 100 years and has evolved into a…read moresleek and stylish independent gallery and shop for homeware and art. Difficult to pinpoint, the Guild offers not just ridiculously over priced kitchen accessories but also smaller trinkets and gifts, postcards and gourmet food - you know the kind, fancy jars of jelly beans and unpronounceable preserves. The various sections within this surprisingly large shop cater for the kitchens, living rooms and what I consider the best bit - kids bedrooms. Cuddly toys and traditional board games are on offer, as well as the more unusual, such as life-size green dogs made from moulded rubber. Bristol Guild is the kind of place I imagine Kirsty Allsopp would frequent if she lived round these parts, and is somewhere that should make it on to your list if visiting the area.

Bristol Guild is a small gallery crammed full of things. It's quite narrow in here but they sure…read moreknow how to get as much in as possible! Just don't visit with large bags or a clumsy personality! There are some hidden gems in here if you are willing to give the gallery some quality time, however I have never really found anything that tickles my fancy. Staff pretty much stay in the background and won't approach you unless you go up to them. They have a nice coffee shop at the back of the gallery if you have exhausted all your energy supplies. It has a nice terrace overlooking Park Street if you are able to brave the cold and rain too!

Bristol isn't short on department stores, but top of my favourites list is House of Fraser. Since…read moreit changed location it's undergone a swanky makeover making it as bright and shiny as Cabot Circus itself. It may be that I don't cope well with change but I find the layout of the new store a little confusing, often meaning I walk past the same rail of clothes several times before finding a polite shop assistant to point me in the right direction. In-keeping with the ethos of Cabot Circus, this House of Fraser stocks high-end lines such as Vivienne Westwood and Lulu Guinness in amongst Miss Sixty and French Connection which can push it into a "looking not buying" category of department stores. I tend to come for the small but extensive Paperchase and Benefit stands, and a bit of a window shop in the ladies department. Not great for every day wear, but worth a look if you're looking for a "special occasion" outfit.

When it moved from the Horsefair to shiny new Cabot Circus, House of Fraser had a bit of a…read moremakeover. No longer the frumpy department store most people walked past to get to Debenhams, now this has an emphasis on the higher quality (and higher priced) brands. Over four floors, with cosmetics, accessories and Paperchase on the lower floor, mens on the middle, women's fashion on the third floor and home decor on the top floor, it is a sprawling space with indiscernible boundaries between the brand displays. It doesn't have a great flow for browsing round, but its not bad. I come here mainly for Mango and Ted Baker brands (although there is a Ted Baker shop in Cabot Circus their women's range is better here).

The other main store at Cribbs at the other end from John Lewis is a two-storey M&S with the food…read morehall, mens and xmas bumpf downstairs and the women's section upstairs. The selection is OK, but has dwindled in recent years from their more expensive or exclusive ranges back to their staple Per Una and cashmere jumpers choices. Their shoes remain, mystifyingly, some of the kinkiest in the Mall bar Kurt Geiger so even if thought of shopping in M&S makes you think of your grandmother's twin set and pearls then brave it and check out the shoes. Staff are always helpful in here, especially good as its such a big store, and will help you find things or fetch you different sizes of clothes whilst you stay in the changing room.

The M&S Deli serves reasonable food, largely because the cooking is automated. For instance, the…read moremanager explained to us that the pasta is cooked automatically by a special machine, so why we had undercooked pasta was inexplicable. Yet, it was undercooked. However, my penne and pesto was lovely and was just what I was looking for. We were told we would have to wait till 12 noon before ordering lunch (it was 11.55am), but it still arrived at about 12.25 anyway. This underlines the real reason we wouldn't return to M&S Deli: the food is reasonably tasty and reasonably priced, and the wine is good because it's straight off the M&S shelves, but the service is terrible! We were there for an hour, which was way longer than we expected. This was because of poor all-round service. While we were there, we heard at least three other complaints, with one couple actually leaving. I'm sure this isn't the sort of 'experience' M&S wants to encourage. Our waiter wasn't polite, wasn't attentive, was blasé and had dirty fingernails (yet still handled the raw Parmesan cheese). Get the staff sorted and the rest will follow.

I love that you can follow the progression of this Bristol store by old shop signs at increasingly…read morebigger stores up Stapleton Road, up to its current destination in Fishponds Trading Estate. It is difficult to describe - basically a homeware shop with a bunch of oddities on top - think pictures of Jesus standing beneath holographic waterfalls. Apart from the sheer fun of going round here, during the heatwave five years ago this was the only shop in Bristol still to stock fans. Genius.

Rajanis is the stuff of legend for the cheap and cheerful. Only if you're prepared to trawl through…read morea warehouse of junk, tat and odds and ends to find what you're after. And if what you're after is a job lot of chairs, or a mop or a big bag of mixed sweets. I'm doing it an injustice. Wholesale is the right name for it (despite selling to the average person off the street too). They stock a whole host, floor-to-ceiling - gifts, cards, stationary, candles, ornaments, mirrors, luggage, beauty and cleaning products, household goods, crockery, catering supplies, DIY products, pet supplies, gardening goods and furniture, curtains, towels, cushions, blinds, bedding, toys and electrical goods. All at warehouse discount, bargain basement, super-duper low prices. The Xmas decoration section itself is breath-taking - you could decorate an entire village with what they have here - tinsel, baubels, trees and lights a go-go. Rajanis also has a café on site, a cashpoint, delivery service and pensioner discounts on a Thursday. Phew... it's like an entire new city of stuff.