This is a relatively large Sports Direct store, in the Bullring in Birmingham city centre, it is…read morepretty much your typical Sports Direct store, relatively cheap sports clothing in a claustrophobic atmosphere, where they always seem to unnecessarily make the store as narrow as possible, resulting in a not so great overall shopping experience. There are entrances through the mall and on street level which is handy. They did have a pretty good selection, many of the items were competitively priced. They did seem to have a good number of employees working to satisfy demand, which is rather efficient and can be hit or miss at these types of stores, more so in the current climate - although queuing at the checkouts could have again be improved. 3* - Large store with a good product selection, I just wish they thought more about their own layout making it more welcoming and accessible, rather than appearing to be more of a mess than anything else.

This place provides a truly awful shopping experience…read more A discount sports clothing chain that sells a small amount of sporting equipment also. The staff here seem to hate the place. I don't blame them as the clientele seem to be mostly rude with little consideration for other shoppers or staff. You'll also find plenty of pushchairs in the aisles blocking your way, or people having conversations unwilling to step aside to let you through. There's always a queue at the tills, and you'll always be asked if you want to buy a branded plastic bag. After a second "no thank you" persuasion techniques became annoying. This place's saving grace comes in the form that it's cheap branded specialist sports clothing. Also in its location in the bullring- if like me you needed some sports leggings and are in this area, there's not many other places where you can pick up good quality ones fairly cheap. (Let me know if there are please!) Be warned though, they have an in store no refunds just store credit policy which can be inconvenient.

JD Sports are one of the sportswear chains in the UK, founded in Bury in 1981 they have gone on to…read morehave a large amount of stores in the United Kingdom, and then 25 in Ireland which shows despite not being as good as SportsDirect, they still are quite a big name on the UK high street. This JD Sports store is in the Bullring in Birmingham is quite a large store, and actually is the store that features on JD Sport's Wikipedia page. The store seems to be over 2 floors, with a floor on the top dedicated to trainers, as JD Sports like to think of themselves as "The King of Trainers", but I think they are barely average for them. The staff here seemed okay, but the range of most items seemed to be a little poor, albeit not as cluttered as SportsDirect, the range here wasn't great, especially for football shirts and similar sporting gear, which is quite unusual for a town like Birmingham, no local teams were stocked here even though most of them are not the biggest, best clubs anyway in a polite manner. 2 stars as it is okay, but below average and a bit of a let down!

I have developed a little bit of a trainer obsession after years of saying I wasn't…read moreinterested....great.... I went into jd today just for a casual look and before I know it was trying on adidas and reebok trainers....happily I left with nothing but I have to say the service from the guy that served me was perfect. Registering that I am a bit of a goth and only wear black or dark colours a lot of the time he whipped around the shop grabbing me most black varieties of shoes. Very nice of him...but still sadly no joy....the quest for summer trainers confines but well done jd :)

I had a stubborn bottom bracket with mangled spline teeth on a second hand frame I had been riding…read morefor months which had developed an unsettling creaking sound. I took the bike to sprocket and asked about replacement if they could get it out. The staff were very helpful and when I said it might not be possible to save the frame, out of curiosity they put the bike straight on the shop stand to have a proper look at it. Minutes later I was walking out with a brand new bottom bracket installed. Very impressed. Reasonable prices. These guys love a challenge.

I headed down to Sprocket Cycles to get a quote on fixing my death-trap of a bike after nearly…read morehaving a stroke in Evans when they quoted me £80 to replace my brake cable and tighten my wonky wheel. Yes - I could fix it myself but I am lazy and my bike is 50 years old so figured I'd just get a quote and see if someone professional could give it a once over. Not sure who I spoke to at Sprocket but he was very helpful and quoted me £28 for the same job. What a nice guy! I'll be taking 'Star Rider' (yes) down for a service very soon! The shop is located not far from Moor Street and is next to Warehouse Cafe and the vegan shop.

The Birmingham City Club Shop has undergone refurbishment in recent years and I have to say the new…read morestore is not that bad. It's not the biggest of Club Shops but you will still find your official home and away shirts, training shirts, beanies etc. All the Blues shirts come in all different sizes and are at decent prices. As the season soldiers on you will tend to find that the official shirts will get cheaper in terms of price. This is a great place to buy Blues merchandise from if you know of someone who supports Birmingham City. I have been here and brought some merchandise for one of my mates who is a massive Blues fan. The majority of staff who work here are Birmingham fans and they get across their knowledge of the Blues very well. They do like to chat with customers about the team and I have had many conversations with them about City. Try not to talk to them about the Villa. That's all I will say.

I came in here today, while in Birmingham to have a look at the football shirts. As a Manchester…read moreCity fan, I'm normally used to picking up my shirts from either SportsDirect or the club shop, or at a last resort Nike, with Nike manufacturing the kits, so to find myself looking for football shirts in an Adidas shop, might seem strange to people reading my reviews, but I came in here today looking to get a Manchester United shirt for my cousin's birthday (Sadly he didn't like the City one I got him) I knew it was a long shot, being in Birmingham where the main clubs are West Bromwich Albion, Aston Villa and Birmingham City but I still hoped they would have a good range, with the sad fact being Manchester United are one of the biggest clubs (but still with no trophies for multiple years now or Champions League Football) Adidas stock in England. I was disappointed to find a poor range of football shirts in both men and children's sizes, and there were a few to choose from, but other than the Manchester United and Spain home kit, there was nothing and not the goalkeeper kit I was looking to get him, or many other kits for that matter. The staff seemed friendly enough in helping me find the non-existant range of football shirts. This store is mainly for Adidas memorabilia, and although the store looks quite nice and modern from the outside, the typical layout to other stores such as in Manchester for example, with the Birmingham store being near enough next to the Aston Villa FC shop, the range was pretty basic. If you're looking for something in particular with Adidas in mind, this store is worth a look in, but it is probably below average so don't get your hopes up. It isn't terrible and at least warrants 2 stars but nothing more than that.

The internationally reknown surf brand billabong opens up it's doors in the Bullring. It's a pretty…read moretiny store compared to other surf shops in the city Like; O'neil's. It has the usual boardies, dresses, vest tops and a few accessories. There isn't many flip flops, bags purses etc, as you would find in other surf shops and the clothes are priced at a premium. Billabong clothes are well made and pretty funky with nice tailoring and special details. Unfortunately they are often ruined by the logo itself being rather unattractively slashed across the items of clothing.

I have only ever shopped in this store once when my niece asked me to get her a school bag from…read moreBillabong! The store itself was small-ish but they had a nice range of clothing and accessories that I can see people in Devon and Cornwall wearing! It is a very laid back surfer style shop yet the staff were really helpful, warm and friendly. The only reason for not returning is that I would not have anywhere to wear the clothes! I will probably have a look for some sandals here next summer as the staff were go nice and the quality seemed great

Best customer service! Ordered a deck sorted us out massively and received pretty much next day…read more Shouts out to Kris who I spoke via email, legend ! Vicky

Zippy and Chris have been running Ideal Skateboard Supply for over two decades…read more As well as selling a range of skateboards and accessories (including 'locally grown' produce from A Third Foot), they also have some nice lines in clothing, so even if you don't skate you can pick up some original clothes that no one else might have, or original footwear that you can be an early adopter of. (Skaters were the first to wear Converse and Vans, dontcha know?) The skateboard shop in every town is always the focal point for hanging out, as well as buying skate gear, and Ideal is no exception. On a Saturday here's where skaters meet to group to go off and skate around the city, or to exchange info on the hot skate spots. This shop is not about making a quick buck, and there is a level of philanthropy here, shown by the installation of a work-station where you can fix parts to your board after buying them. You can then skate your newly set-up board in the ramp next door. Ideal.

Birmingham Central Sports provides martial arts equipment to the south of the city and has been…read moredoing so since 1983, I once went in there to show off and actually convinced the owner to have a go on one of the bags on camera and the guy kicked the proverbial out of it! With a wide range of stock and quality advice on martials arts BCS is a valable addition to this quarter of Birmingham and you're guaranteed of a great service by the staff there.

The North Face in Birmingham is a fairly small store by the company's standards in comparison to…read moreother stores but is still a decent size, located in Birmingham's Bullring. I came in here for a quick browse at the latest fashion, The North Face is mainly a brand of high-quality outdoor gear for those who aren't aware of the brand. The staff in the store didn't seem too friendly or helpful, compared to other stores where staff are normally really friendly and down to a chat about the products and more. I did find the selection lacked a little, the store didn't seem empty it just seemed to be more stock of the same or similar items than usual but I guess that could be down to summer approaching and in many ways, The North Face is surely a brand for the winter. 2*