Earlestown historic market is 700 years old with over 150 stalls - so make sure that you have some…read moretime if you want to properly look around. Located in the centre of Earlestown there are regular train and bus services and its easily accessible from both the A580 and M6. I wasn't spoilt for choice with an enormity of local and fresh produce and products from local traders including: Cakes/confectionary, Fresh Meat and auction, Plants and Flowers, Tools and Hardware, Bedding, Sportswear, Ladies/mens/childrens clothing, Electrical goods, Household products, Bread, Pies, eggs, CD's & books, Furniture, Jewellery and Repairs, Pet food/toys/accessories, Greetings cards, Footwear, Wool, Watches, Protective clothing, bags, Fishmonger, Carpets, Fruit & Veg, phone accessories, cosmetics and more. It was the cakes and fishmongers that did it for me! The prices are pretty good and its nice not to be in a supermarket. The market takes place every Friday throughout the year from 9.00am to 17.00pm.

Earlestown market runs three days of the week and each day its there is absolutely different…read more The Monday and Friday market is the one that sells new items, clothing, shoes, foods, household things etc. Friday is the better day as there seems to be more stalls with more variety. Also on a friday you get all the extra food stalls mainly consisting of fruit and veg, then there is also the big meat trailor where you can definately pick up some good deals - however they don't seem to sell meats in small quantities even so still very good. Monday seems to be half the size of a friday - still worth a look if your local maybe not if you have to travel far - it really is pot luck on a monday. Saturday there is absolutely everything there that nobody would want unless you where looking for something in particular, however, this is the busiest day for the market so be warned - if you have no patience don't go its packed and everybody walks around at snail pace. It really handy to get too as the local train and bus stations are within walking distance.

Marks and Spencer at Ravenhead Retail Park in Saint Helens is a fairly new store, it opened in…read more2019, and the store still has a nice feel to it, feeling relatively modern. As a retail park location, it carries the benefit of having free parking right outside the store, which makes it easy to get your groceries and the rest of your shopping home. I was disappointed with the Cafe here, while I did enjoy the views of the car park (much nicer than it sounds!), the availability of menu items could have been better, I was told they wouldn't have cheese for the jacket potato after ordering, so I had to opt for just tuna instead. I don't understand how they could run out of something so basic, surely it would have made sense to get the cheese from their Food Hall area? I was disappointed with my jacket potato in general, I think they tried to overload it with tuna to make up for the lack of cheese, once I actually got to the potato, it was dry and unseasoned... I would have also preferred a side salad compared to slaw, as the slaw was hard and was a little dry/bland too... Disappointing. I was also a little disappointed with the selection in the Food Hall, a couple of items which I wanted to purchase were out of stock, I also picked up an apple juice drink which was open and I ended up spilling it on my hand, I get this could have just been a troublesome customer but after politely letting the staff know, they seemed disinterested. A useful store to have in Saint Helens in a convenient location, the store still has a nice feel to it but could be so much better. 3*

This is a large Marks and Spencer store, located inside Gemini Retail Park, in Warrington. The…read morestore is over two floors and features most of the usual facilities you'd expect from Marks and Spencer including a cafe, toilets and a currency exchange. The store has two floors with escalators and elevators going between both levels. Sadly the store does not have either an Optician or Collect by Car facility. The store was fairly clean, modern and easy to navigate, the Food Hall was particularly large with a good selection, featuring a nice range of dairy and free from products, the in-store bakery was a disappointment though, the area was tiny and the stock was minimal. The Christmas range was particularly impressive, with a good selection of luxury chocolates and shortbreads as a gift, I did visit in November 2022, so this is a seasonal thing, but well worth a look in ahead of the holidays. The staff seemed friendly enough and the checkout experience was made simple by the Marks and Spencer app, where you can scan and bag items as you go around the store, and then pay on your phone before leaving. It has its' own part of the retail park, meaning it has its' own dedicated parking lot, so there shouldn't be too much of a kerfuffle in finding a space, and you don't have to worry about a long walk back to your car with heavy shopping. 4*

This really is a huge store and is full of just about everything you could possibly want, mostly at…read morevery reasonable prices. I did find that you have to really look for bargains, though, as there doesn't seem to be any structure to the displays. I must admit that I went here in the second week of December, on a Saturday - maybe not the ideal time, but then again, the shop was open! Another slight gripe I had was that we had to ask an assistant where the menswear was, as, on entry, all any of us could see was pink, women's clothing on all sides! As far as I, and my clients, could see, there were no obvious signs. Having said all that, we were all impressed with the service and pleasantly surprised to find M&S still haven't adjusted the prices for the lower VAT - thus everything we bought was actually less than the ticket price.

I love this shop. You can buy your aunty that you don't see that often a cheap and cheerful card…read morethat still looks good, or you can buy your loves one something that looks really good and expensive, but still on the reasonable side when it comes to prices. staff are helpful and polite. Card Factory is brilliant as you could spend ages just browsing at their range of cards,gifts and especially their cuddly toys. Their is definately something in this shop to cover every occasion you may need a card or present for.

Now this is more like it! Compared to Church Square shopping centre this place is like a hive of…read moreactivity! Theres plenty of shops in this centre. Superdrug, Hmv, Partners, Thorntons, Boots, Bhs, Game, Gamestation and many more little shops dotted around. Theres also a cafe in the middle of the centre too which is ideal if your tired after all that shopping! Nice and clean and always busy. Great place to shop.

This particular Wizzard Cards & Gifts shop in St. Helen's sells a terrific variety of bits and…read morepieces which are ideal for small presents and special celebratory occasions. In addition to offering a selection of ornaments, scary and cute looking toys as well as holographic artwork, they also have a small fancy dress section towards the rear of the shop and sell a range of cheeky adult toys. So, if you pop into Wizzard, you might be in for more than what you bargained for after a wonderous browse! Expect a contrasting variety of cards and gifts from the innocent and cute to the downwright naughty and scary! Overall, the shop has friendly staff as they kindly helped me look for the card I was searching for and at affordable prices, you can't really go wrong.

This has to be the ultimate gift shop! If you need a present…read morefor someone, special or otherwise, you are most likely to find something here. they have gifts from mugs to t-shirts to jewellery.the list seems to be endless, but probably isn't. They even have the cards, tags and wrapping paper to finish off your present.

This is great, sells pretty much everything that you need. However, the only reason it didn't get 5…read morestars is because the isles move around quite regularly which find it hard to find the things you need. Also, some of the staff seem to be putting some of the products in the wrong parts! Apart from that, its good.