I popped into Ginger's while on holiday in the area. What a lovely little shop, chock full of…read moreunusual and in some cases quite quirky clothes and accessories. It may not suit the younger generations, but for me I found the clothes to be stylish and modern, and the shop assistant was so very friendly and helpful I bought a beautiful jacket after having looked for something similar all summer, but without any luck. It's very high quality and exactly what I wanted, and it has already been highly complimented on by my friends. I'll definitely go back when I visit Penarth again next summer

Gingers is a small boutique in Penarth that caters to a more traditional, older generation of…read morefemale shoppers. The clothes seemed like something your aunt would wear to a colleague's dinner party, and although the shop isn't anything incredibly special, I think shoppers of a certain age may find something here to suits their tastes. The accessories here are varied and plentiful - the wall to the left is covered with beaded strings in a rainbow of colours. Prices here seem fairly reasonable, with jumpers priced from about £45. The shop assistant (or Ginger herself, perhaps?) was cheerful and helpful, and struck me as incredibly stylish, making me feel a bit frumpy in my hoodie, jeans and trainers (hey, it was a Monday morning after all!).

This is a great shop to have a rummage through, and you're likely to find something incredible…read moreevery time. Because this is vintage clothing, you often have to spend quite some time in this shop to find what you're looking for. This is sometime a bit frustrating when you've found something that you love, only to realise that they don't have it in your size. This isn't a high street store where they have everything neatly lined up and labelled; you have to really work at shopping in this store! And, of course, the staff have to be very helpful because of this. And they are. If they've spent 20 minutes searching with you for something, you feel terribly guilty if you then turn around and say you might give it a miss. The only issue with this place are the the high prices, as have been mentioned time and again by the frustrated shopper of Cardiff and the lovely other yelpers.

Probably Cardiff's best city centre retro / vintage store, Hobo's is a vibrant little shop that…read morecrams a lot into its tiny and rather cramped space. The shop mainly sells clothing and accessories spanning the decades since the 60s, although in the window display you'll also some odd gifts and novelties such as greetings cards, purses and even bathtime rubber ducks with bizarre designs - including one with a Rubik's cube theme. From second hand jeans, old leather jackets, and retro t-shirts to brightly patterned summer skirts and dresses, they have a really good clothing range and seem to update and add to their stock fairly frequently. You can also pick up retro style sunglasses, old belts, hats and other accessories. As is the case with most vintage stores, the prices aren't cheap - but for those of your who are students, Hobo's offers a helpful 10% discount.

Looking around Laura Ashley is like looking into both the past and future at the same time. There…read moreis a certain type of timeless style and cosy middle-class Britishness that seep from every corner of this store. In Cardiff's Queen Street Store, Laura Ashley is split between two levels. The ground floor has women's fashion, shoes and accessories. These clothes are clearly designed for the more mature lady, but there are the odd pieces that are beautiful enough in design to appeal to a far broader spectrum. Some of their dresses I'm thinking of in particular. Upstairs is the home furnishing department. And this is the bit really like. Their range of sofas, curtains and bedding are all made out of beautiful and superior quality materials. Their wallpapers are classic and beautiful; in short everything up on this floor is lovely. Yes, it's old fashioned, but it has an appeal that I don't think will go out of style for a long while yet.

Wonderful store, all of their pieces scream countryside kitsch and add a touch of warmth to any…read morehome. Good quality fabrics available for craft or sewing projects. They also do a fab range of clothing and jewellery. If Cath Kidston/vintage style is up your street then Laura Ashley is definitely the place for you. Excellent central location (Queen Street), also have fantastic sales too!

This is first branch of streetwear company Fenchurch outside of London. To be honest I'd never…read moreheard of them. Anyway I was quite surprised to find that I quite liked this shop. Its got plenty of room to move around and has lots of video screens to distract you. I was more surprised to find that the prices were much less than I was expecting. £20 for a funky t-shirt and some really nice jackets for less than fourty quid. Some of their stuff was a bit too street for me but I liked a fair bit. They don't the full range of products but they cleverly have an interactive station where you can look at their website. Strangely they have quite a big range of headphones too!

The Queen B is run by very glamorous young women who watch you with beady eyes as you touch their…read moreprecious merchandise. It's full of shoes, bags and accessories (incidentally, my favourite things in the world... and now you know) It's very glam without being garish and some of the wedges are so delicious you have to fight the urge to drool, but the atmosphere is a little frotsy. I want to go back there and have my pretty woman moment... "You work on commission right? Big mistake... HUGE..."

Unlike Tiffany, I'm not a fan of this shop at all. The products that they have to sell I think are…read moregarish and overpriced. I've been in this shop a couple of times now and have yet to see anything that I would consider buying for myself. However, I know the products, though not to my taste, are always likely to be to someone else's. But the staff are so odd that I think they'd put off most people from any real purchases. I think that 'The Queen B' says it all really. This shop is for women who think it's named after them. And unfortunately it's run by them too.

I found the clothing on sale in Belle to be rather uninspiring, frumpy, and similarly to its…read moreneighbour Ginger's in that they reminded me of clothing that you'd see in the 1980's. To give credit to Belle the clothing available is slightly more upmarket than the pieces in Ginger's, many of the outfits seemed aimed at and suitable for the 'Mother of the Bride', or perhaps for someone over 50 attending a wedding. I personally however would not recommend the clothing in Belle. Though the English translation of Belle is 'beautiful' the clothes available in this store are far from it.

Belle is a women's clothing boutique in the Penarth area that seems to cater to a more mature…read moregeneration of female shoppers. These kind of shops are all clustered together in the centre of town, making it a bit more convenient to find a special occasion dress or suit. Belle is probably not one of the better ones though, I'm afraid. The clothes seem a bit on the dated side (circa early 90s): jeans in magenta, green and other colours didn't strike me as something many people could pull off. They seemed better suited to a store like Topshop, where the sorts of clothes that mark this era are now on display. Sale-rack shirts were priced as low as £8, which struck me as extremely reasonable for a boutique item. If you're looking for accessories, you're better off going to Ginger's a few doors down, as there's an entire wall dedicated to necklaces, bracelets and earrings.

Xantippe (try saying that when you've had a few) is a boutique furniture and gift shop that…read morespecializes in all things French. Style wise I'd say this is a place for the ladies as I'm not sure how many men would be keen on the delicate hand painted book cases and pink garden chairs. That aside, if the furniture isn't to your taste then there is a huge selection of gifts for the women in your life. Expect beautiful little china tea cups, candles and hand woven baskets, (perfect for storing bottles of vin!) It's a little on the twee/kitch side but that's exactly my style so you won't find me complaining. If you're not into it then that's a whole other kettle of poissons.

Devon, when I lived there about ten years ago, used to be awash with shops that sell the kind of…read morestuff that Xantippe specialise in... but their prices were never quite so steep! I guess there's been a fair few price hikes in the last ten years, but I'm still prone to a stiff intake of breath when I pick up a mug, albeit a very nice mug, and see that it costs somewhere around the £12 mark! i am also astonished by the cost of butter dishes! Did you know that you can pay as much as £40 for a butter dish...? yes, that's right, a butter dish! And that's on eBay. My quest, whilst not being of the Holy Grail epic proportions quite yet, has seen me visit practically every interior design, kitchenware, and charity shop in Cardiff and surrounding area over the last six months, and so desperate am I to find one soon that I have resorted to looking on-line. I peeled through in excess of twenty pages of dishes the other day, and didn't find one that I was suitably impressed by... well, I did actually, but I am unwilling to pay £40 for it! Sadly, Xantippe also didn't offer me a solution to my perpetual search either! But it did provide me with a half hours worth of extremely contented browsing. This is a lovely shop, that sells a lot of rusticana... delightful!

Fabulous shop/Wonderful photos.....I must visit…read more The owner should take a look at thebestofcardiff.co.uk/cardiff

I visited the Pumping Station with my wife yesterday as she wanted to purchase a vintage outfit for…read morea wedding. There was the most amazing display of hats - I believe the biggest selection of vintage hats in Wales over 800 - and the quality was superb. She purchased a fantastic 1930s outfit plus hat and bag and gloves - all in superb condition and was able to view a similar outfit in the most amazing original fashion books from a French fashion house of the 1930s which contained the hand drawn designs of that period with hundreds of original fabric samples. I have never seen anything like it. She found it difficult to resist so many items, but I managed to restrain her - eventually!! The selection of 1930 wedding dresses and veils was amazing too. There were many other antique shops all under one roof plus a cafe. Highly recommended for an absorbing day out. It is great to to able to park easily too.

This is super new shop and a very welcome addition to the shops of Penarth. Forever Vintage has a…read moresimply huge collection of some stunning vintage fashions from many different periods. It is a real treasure trove of a shop with two little back rooms simply bursting with fabulous stock. Acessories are also available like hats and gloves and shoes all of which are beautifully presented. The staff are friendly and polite and happy for you to browse and the prices are reasonable.There is an enormous collection of wedding dresses and I believe they run some sort of vintage clothing exchange system too. A fabulous shop!

I do hope my boyfriend doesn't read this, as I'm going to start this review by saying: I'm really…read morelooking forward to having children. While it's a few years off yet, I am excited about the idea of being a mum, and I really hope that this shop is still around when that day comes. The shoes in this shop are absolutely gorgeous. So much so that I'm actually jealous of the children I see in there because they get to wear these shoes, and I don't. This shop is fantastic, selling high quality shoes that are fitted by well-trained staff in a fun and colourful environment. And good shoes doesn't mean they have to be either; so many of them are unstoppably cute. Shoes aside, I noticed the other day that there's a huge selection of hats on the wall. Again, I'm really annoyed that my head's too small to buy one for myself, because these hats are awesome. Absolutely the best place to come to keep your child's head warm while making them look all kinds of adorable.

This is a shoe shop down one of my favourite arcades in the city, namely Castle Arcade. The arcades…read moreare a great part of Cardiff's shopping experience that are generally less busy than the likes of Queen Street and St. David's 2. Though, I'm sure the shops down Castle Arcade are welcoming the pedestrianisation of St. Mary's Street which is bound to bring in a little more foot traffic. Funky Monkey Feet offer a range of children's shoes from early ages to those that are almost teenagers and about to go all grumpy. They tend to be those branded, fancy shoes, so these aren't exactly cheap. I think this will tend to be a shop attended by those that are into fashion and all that kind of thing. They also do toys and a range of clothing for the little ones as well.