I've only ever properly explored the part of Rossiters that sells lots of gifts and knick knacks,…read morejust near the shop's entrance inside Royal Arcade - but in this section alone there's lots of lovely stuff I'd like to be able to afford! From funky ice cube trays to fridge photo frames, it's a great place to pick up small presents. There are some beautiful greetings cards, items of jewellery, well-made children's toys, a few men's accessories, travel bags, purses, umbrellas and much more. The whole place is more intimate than large department stores such as House of Fraser or John Lewis, and the feeling is one of quality over quantity. For me, the gift and homeware areas are probably the most appealing, but glancing into their other 'departments' they have a Homes & Gardens area, a kitchen department, a range of furniture, plus some fabrics, lamps, mirrors, and more. They also offer an interior design service, though I dread to think how much that costs.

Shops like this get me really excited. I'm a big girl when it comes to furniture, home and…read morekitchenware. I just want everything. If I had my way, my house would look like something out of 50s magazine. This store is surprisingly big, considering it's in an arcade, and there is so much in there. The kitchen section is my favourite, because it sells the most adorable retro baking things and teapots and really funky utensils and gadgets that I've never seen anywhere else. Their gift section is also fantastic with brands like L'Occitane and Burt's Bees for toiletries, some really pretty scarves and jewellery, and then beautiful gift bags and paper to wrap them in. It's a shame this department store is hidden away and now has to compete with John Lewis, because it sells such beautiful things and it could be so easily missed if you didn't know about it. It's expensive, but everything is so nice that if I want something, I have to have it however much it costs.

The House of Fraser is a British department store with over 60 locations in the UK and Ireland,…read morethis location its-self is quite big, located on St Mary's Street in Cardiff and even has a Caffe Nero attached, which is a coffee shop which seems to be all over Cardiff, yet interestingly I didn't seem to visit on my recent trip to Cardiff, so this review focuses on the House of Fraser Department store in general, and not a Caffe Nero inside it, despite confusion I can confirm I have been to the branch of the listing in question, where I offer feedback in terms of a review here today, which I'm pleased to add, with it being nearly 6 years since HOF's last review, which once again for a busy location in a city centre, of a capital City (of Wales) nonetheless, this is quite shocking and in a way it is sad. As mentioned above, this location is on St Mary's Street in Cardiff, fairly close to Cardiff Central Railway Station, and of course right in the Cardiff City centre, which was also close to my Hilton hotel and Cardiff Castle, from my recent weekender in Cardiff. The store did seem quite nice, and was a typical high-end department store, although it seemed to lack the class I have seen in other branches of House Of Fraser, such as in the branch in Manchester, which has a lot of history to it, meanwhile this branch seems newer and the only history I'm aware that this branch has, is Cardiff Castle not far from here. This did pretty much seem to be your average department store with high-end labels and high-end prices, as a fan of the Hugo Boss brand it was a shame not to see them having a selection here in Menswear. Here is a full list of there in-store brands here, in Menswear, which is the only part of this review copied from the House of Fraser website, which I feel is useful to add a more in-depth analysis and conclusion to this review Alexandre Armani Jeans Barbour Berwin & Berwin Bjorn Borg Bugatti Calvin Klein Corsivo Criminal Diesel Dune Emporio Armani Failsworth Farah Fred Perry Fulton Gant Hilfiger Denim Howick Howick Tailored Hugo Boss Jack & Jones Kenneth Cole Label Lab LACOSTE CN Levi's Linea Lyle and Scott New & Lingwood Original Penguin Paul Smith Jeans Paul Smith London Peter Werth Polo Ralph Lauren Polo Ralph Lauren Golf PRETTY GREEN CN Pringle PS By Paul Smith SIMON CARTER Sloggi Ted Baker Tommy Hilfiger Tommy Sport Turner & Sanderson Overall, this department store is okay, although it just feels like something is missing, a bit of class, that added sparkle, and it isn't the nicest places to shop, and I would much prefer John Lewis, a similar nearby department store which even has an Opticians, and friendlier staff, so sadly I feel HOF deserves two stars and as Ofsted would say "Requires Improvement".

I absolutely love the James Howell & Co. building that is presently the home of House of Fraser in…read moreCardiff. It is just utterly beautiful and displays a number of different styles that chart the rise of its once formidable position as an independent Welsh store, founded by a homegrown entrepreneur. Occupying a prominent position on St Mary Street, it does a lot to maintain appearances amid the decaying grandeur and decadence of this once fashionable and up-market strip. The original structure was built in the late 19th Century, and lends the place its unmistakable ornate façade that sits proudly, in gorgeous symmetry on St Marys Street. In the 1920s a large and well-proportioned neoclassical extension was built reaching to the end of the portion of St Mary's Street that meets Heol-y-Cawl. A unique result of this extension was that Bethany Chapel was absorbed into the design of the building, with its fascia being incorporated into the interior of the new building. Further extensions were added throughout the 1930s, 1950s and 1960s, bridging the gap between the more ornate Victorian style of architecture, and the ground-breaking, Modernist movement, with is minimalist style, of the '60's. Howells Department Store was originally a family run business, but was sold out in the 1950s to Welsh banker Sir Julian Hodge, who subsequently sold the store to Mohammed Al-Fayed, the then owner of House of Fraser, ultimately causing the loss of its Welsh independent business status. It was then sold onto the Icelandic investment company, Baugur, at the end of 2006, around the time when Iceland decided it was time to buy up the rest of the world, and, as we know now, to somewhat disastrous effect!

St David's is a very large shopping mall in the Cardiff city centre. It is easy to go in and…read morebecome disoriented while searching for a specific shop, or just wandering about. Everything one is searching for can be found here. If you're hungry, no problem! There are plenty of places to eat and drink, the toilets are clean, and there are shops available for every price range.

St David's is a large mall in the centre of Cardiff, I was quite a regular here, coming here…read moreevery-day on my weekend in Cardiff, mainly because of the large selection of shops to browse, and even places to grab something for eat to drink and it being just minutes away on foot from the Hilton hotel, which I stayed at throughout my trip to the welsh capital. This mall is huge, it is split into two parts including a bridge to a large John Lewis store, which is over 4 floors in this mall, with two having direct enterences into both floors of the mall, although just being attached by a bridge in some aspects, it is its' own place, so it is able to have more floors than the mall itself and is one of the anchor stores for the mall. The mall did open in 1991, but does feel more modern than that, apart from a few aspects, such as the lifts which are well hidden down a passageway which doesn't seem very nice, and does feel one of the older parts of the mall, which is very different, in a negative way compared to what other malls do, such as Manchester Arndale and The Trafford Centre which both have nice, glass lifts in the middle of the wall, making it seem welcoming and not the opposite. There are 203 stores here, with a whopping 5 anchor tenants, which include a large Primark store, which is also over 4 floors as I recall, John Lewis as previously mentioned, a large Debenhams store, at the other side to John Lewis as well as Marks and Spencer, and Boots. An interesting fact is that the John Lewis located here, is the largest branch the company have outside of London and was the first ever branch to open in Wales, back in 2009. Its' also worth noting, that both floors are quite big, with the upper floor being a little smaller, however the upper floor seems to be filled with larger stores such as H&M, Apple and Paperchase, to name just a few. These stores just seen huge stores, you wouldn't normally expect to find in a mall. This mall is really nice, and is huge and is really nice to go with the Cardiff high street, I can't help but notice a supermarket of some kind would fit into to this store such as a Waitrose store, which is owned by John Lewis to join the anchors of this mall however I sadly feel I can't go over 2 stars, with two big issues stopping me, such as the mall being split into two parts making it confusing, and hard to navigate around even after multiple visits, another big issue is the problem with the lifts, not seeming nice and seeming one of the old things about this mall, there is a small food-court on both floors called "East-side" with many cuisine types, but this doesn't really stand out and is just average its-self.

I went to John Lewis Cardiff having bought some wallpaper online which was absolutely nothing like…read morethe picture. having this experience, I decided to go into John Lewis. The sales assistant Henry could not have been more helpful, charming and he ordered my samples online in store. Has made me want to go shopping again, It might be convenient to order online certainly not convenient when you try to return things that are not what they appear to be. Thank you great experience

John Lewis Cardiff 3th floor coffee shop. I was there few…read moreweeks ago in Cardiff. I went to the John Lewis 3th floor coffee shop 2 times. One day I had breakfast , another day I had lunch. The service was slowly, my latte was terrible. It's looks like they have staff , who never done before coffee . The staff are just hanging around there laughing. Tables were dirty. Looks like out of control there. I used to work in the catering business before! They provided really poor service! I am not going there anymore! I didn't expected form John Lewis!

there is a booger, in my drink glass. the prices are ridiculous, the selection is good, and i like…read morethe bald man. but there is a booger. the service is nice.

This is the best Marks and Spencer I've ever come across. Its located in a retail park so has its…read moreown car park. Its also very, very big. Set over two floors its quite possible to get lost while perusing the underwear section. The food section is of course my favourite bit and its really big and has so much choice I can even find what I want when they have their £10 meal deal offers on. It also has a great range of plants and flowers and gifts. You've gotta love M&S staff and these lot are very helpful and friendly and will even help lug your shopping to the car if you can't manage. Also its open till 10 during the week so you can do all your shopping after work.

With the arrival of John Lewis and the much needed improvements to House of Fraser I haven't really…read morevisited Debenhams much recently. I have noticed however that there's actually been quite a bit of refurbishment done to the place. To be honest though it merely seems like they've merely moved things around rather than drastically improved the place. Women's clothing (which includes brands such as Topshop, Jane Norman, and Miss Selfridge) is now upstairs, and they have extended the shoe, beauty and bags sections. I must admit the fact that they now stock GHD straightness did impress me, but aside from that, I wasn't particularly fussed. I wouldn't let my less than positive opinion put you off; this Debenhams is fine, and far superior to the one in Swansea. I also think that if you're on more of a budget it's a very good alternative to Cardiff's two other department stores.

Debenhams has certainly grown a lot with the arrival of St. Davids too and its own makeover…read more Previously it felt very crammed and confusing, now its just confusing. I think I'm right in saying they have just knocked through the upstairs which makes it longer and gives it an additional entrance in the new section. The shoe department is much better now and the whole new part seems much younger than the rest of the store. I personally like the beauty section in this store, and they even have a Clarin's Skin Spa is you fancy a bit of extra spoiling. Worth checking out are the designer at Debenhams like Betty Jackson and Julian MacDonald and I really like the Red Herring selection.

This store seems to be in a little bit of an odd location, off the Penarth beaten track, and…read moreprobably suffers because of it. If this clothes shop was on the main road, it would most likely be buzzing, but as it is, I've not seen all that many people frequent its premises. Sturff is a surf and outdoors clothing retailer, with a shop in Penarth and another in Monmouth. They sell all the familiar brands that you could ask for: Animal, Rip Curl, Weird Fish, Billabong, Quicksilver, Reef, Kangaroo Poo, Saltrock and O'Niell. The prices can be a tad extravagant, but this is the trend with these brands, and is to be expected. Although the range is actually pretty good, this is a very small shop that can tend to feel a little bit claustrophobic and amateur. But is you like this type of 'lifestyle clothing' it's a great place to check out.

With the large number of beaches within only a few miles of Cardiff and surrounding areas, Sturff…read moreprovides a number of essential products for surfing and other similar recreational activities. As well as practical goods like 'board wax', Sturfff is home to a wide selection of stylish garments for men, women and children. Whilst there are a number of shops in Central Cardiff likely to stock the same thing, Sturff possesses a more local and consumer friendly feel, with less intimidating volumes of stock and sizes. That's not to say the selection of clothes here is necessarily poorer, instead it is perhaps more true that Sturff selects its stock more carefully, providing a really nice range of products. Whilst it's fair to say Sturff isn't exactly brimming full of customers, even at the best of times, the friendly staff and nice selection of goods make this nice, authentic feeling retailer a good place to go.

Parking is fine, stall selection is amazing and if you love markets then this is the place to go…read moreall year round every Saturday and Sunday. There is a car boot on the one day and a market on the other - as far as i remember, the car boot is on the saturday! It would be great if other qypers could help out with details too? There's plenty of things t obrowse on boths days so well worth a visit if you like markets - on either day.

It's my first time coming to sell today and I have found people aggressive and very unfriendly…read more Don't think I'll come again.