Welcome to the glamorous, sexy, high-flying world of office supplies! If you love arguing over…read morewhether the 5 Star, 80gsm copier paper is crisper or more absorbent than its nearest competitor, or you're one of those people who prefers post-its instead of wallpaper for your office decor, and enjoys painting pages with highlighters, then you're going to love this place! Personally I find it all very boring - I want paper that will have stuff on it when I click 'print' and it comes out of the printer. That's about the extent of my interest in it. I also find it annoying to have to look through a catalogue of types of paper to order the stuff. Luckily enough, this place has a delivery service. It therefore has computer records of orders. A swift phone call that includes the sentence, "what did I order the last time", resolves all issues and avoids a conversation so boring that I almost want to watch those events in gymnastics where participants wave a ribbon around or contort while holding a ball (there's more merit in having "Watching TV" as an Olympic event). UBE seems to be a bit more expensive than going to a large discount store, but they deliver supplies, and have a good service. They also supply chairs, printers, photocopiers, etc.

Finchmere office supplies is an office equipment store. Now I don't have an office and have no…read moredesire to kit it out, but I do have a little desk station that sits in the corner collecting lots of dust. I've no idea, looking back, as to why I thought I'd ever need it! Being the lazy sod I am, I went here because it's close just to see if they would cater for more than just big offices. They did and I bought all sorts of now, very pointless things, like a dangerously expensive pen holder and paper trays. The staff were nice guys, didn't try to pester me into getting anything I didn't want.

Anyone who has been to University knows how much printing you need to do. Firstly there is all…read morethose lecture notes, because lets face it you probably were not at the lecture itself. Then In third year it is the dreaded dissertation. Around 300 pages of ink. When completing my assignments I was constantly running out of ink, sometimes at the most inconvenient times, right before the deadlines. Being a skint student I could not afford to pay for replacement ink cartridges at £25-£30 a pop or print. So I went to cartridge world, this saved me so much beer money over the course of University. It is simple, they just fill up your old cartridge with ink and your are sent on your way without damaging your bank balance or in my student days overdraft. I am a big fan of this place and the guys who work here are always really helpful.

For many years I'd often wondered how big name IT companies can justify the frankly insane prices…read morethey charge for replacement ink cartridges (HP are the notable offenders here - on a side note their software and compatibility with varying operating systems is infuriating on a new level) I had been buying off brand cartridges for a long time since stores like Tesco began distributing their own range but Cartridge World is also a fantastic way of saving money and getting your ink without feeling heartily depressed with self loathing at spending over £30 on something you'd find in a biro. It's simple. Call down with your old cartridge and they hand you a refilled model, charging a fraction of the manufacturers retail cost. Couldn't be simpler. There isn't anything particularly interesting or flashy about it but it does the job.

Just back from Windsor Photoprints. 3 dissertations to be printed and bound. I was in and out…read morewithin an hour. They printed it on lovely paper and I would highly recommend.

From the owner: Plan printing specialists. Fast turnaround times. Colour & black white printing. 20% Student…read morediscount on stationery & art supplies.

Tiger is really just a modern 'junk shop'. It's a bright, light, contemporary space filled with…read morecheap, mass produced, predominately plastic 'Made in China' tat (yes, even though it's a Danish store). I think of it as being like a car boot sale full of random items including candles, nail files, beads, cheap craft and art materials, games, toys, coffee, spices, makeup brushes, napkins, sweets, yoga mats, hand wash, notebooks, novelty knick-knacks, pots, pans and picture frames. Despite the fact that Tiger peddle a pile of rubbish, I quite enjoy a good riffle through it. Since everything's so cheap I tend to lose my mind and am tempted to buy all I see. Thankfully, sense intervenes just in the knick of time, so I always manage to leave the shop empty handed. However, when I next need napkins, candles or a new yoga mat I might consider heading straight to Tiger. I envisage it as being a useful shop to pick up Christmas stocking fillers or novelty items to bulk out 'proper' birthday gifts - for people I don't like or for when I can't be bothered putting any effort or thought into gift buying. Much to my shame I must admit I do like Tiger, in spite of my better judgement. Thus is the seductive and dangerous appeal of such shops. After all, surely we need more plastic and rubbish in the world....or do we...

This is my type of shop! I wanted to buy everything and walking around gave me so many ideas for…read moreevents! Tiger really has everything - it's sort of like little snippets of life, that as quite a strange thing to say but what I mean is that it's not a shop selling specific products, it sells a little bit of everything. I saw craft items like canvases and paints, as well household gym equipment. It even had a gourmet food section. If you're planning a party visit Tiger. It's the perfect place to pick up novelty items like quirky straws and party games. Cost wise it's not expensive - the price tags are weird though - they try and encourage you to buy multiple items by pricing things as 4 for £2 for example. Even for singular items the tag says '1 for £10'. Strange. A few people have compared this to Ikea - I can see the resemblance - it oozes Scandinavian coolness. I loved it - was really quiet when I went in so I got to have a good nosey around.

When I last went into Egg IT recently I was in search of a netbook case but they only had Hello…read moreKitty ones which weren't really my style. As ever the staff were helpful when I then asked about computer repairs and health checks which they also do, informing me that it could take about a week for them to look at a laptop should I decide to bring it in. The fact that they're busy is probably a positive sign of popularity. They also said that you don't need high spec expensive computer equipment which is the sort of sensible thing I like to hear. A few years ago I bought a printer from Egg IT which is still going strong. Egg IT would appear to be still going strong too which is encouraging because it's good to have a small, friendly local business nearby for computing needs and equipment.