Debenhams is one of your typical lower-end department stores, which certainly isn't as high-end as…read moreSelfridges, Harrods and House of Fraser for example, but still slightly nicer and more higher-end than TKmaxx, as I'm aware other than Harrods they all have stores in Birmingham city center. Debenhams are still a large store with 178 stores in The UK, Ireland and Denmark and were founded back in 1778. This branch of Debenhams is located in the Bullring mall, with enterences from both street and mall level, it is a decent sized store too. The lifts here were pretty slow, and they didn't show much signal of it working, and although it was, I didn't know it was in use, so I nearly just walked away, which was disappointing It is quite a large store with a Brow Bar, Salon and Cafe and quite a few floors as well. I didn't have any close encounters with staff to comment on, they seemed okay, just average. The signposts for what is on which floor in the store could be better advertised, this store is okay but it is nothing more than that, the building its-self isn't as nice as other department stores mentioned, and in a way it has a less high-end feel, which makes it a little less special in a way, especially to tourists and potential shoppers.

Debenhams used to be one of my favourite stores as it houses everything but lately I haven't really…read moreour purchased many things as often as I used to. Last month I came in as I had a 5% off voucher on multiple purchases so I bought underwear on one floor, then on another day some clothes for a wedding. When I got home I inspected the receipt and worked out though it said 5% off, nothing was actually deducted! I took one dress back as I didn't wear it for a wedding and mentioned there was nothing deducted! She said it's not on all concessions ... Something the other two cashiers didn't say when scanning the clothes! I've given them four stars as I do go to the beauty department to buy skin and hair care. I do ask for samples and majority will give them .., more so with a purchase! I like to walk away with something extra!! Lol They have a beauty points card which is useful and worth collecting points. You get money off when you earn enough.

Birmingham has so many large, impressive, modern, stunning department stores and is actually one of…read morethe few cities to have the 6 major British department stores (Selfridges, John Lewis, Harvey Nichols, Debenhams, Marks and Spencer and of course HOF), alongside the likes of London and Manchester, although the latter does not have all six in the city centre. I did find this store to be a little old and uninspiring - it just seemed to lack in terms of overall feel compared to the three newer department stores in the city: John Lewis, Harvey Nichols and Selfridges. The staff didn't seem too friendly either, I also found getting in and out of the store to also summarise the store being pretty old. Again, the product selection is OK in the store and there are some decent brands, but this certainly can't compare to Selfridges in the Bullring in particular. It is certainly in need of the proposed revamp of over £100 million which has been suggested just to bring it in line with the other department stores in the city as this store just can't compare to them. 2*

What a disappointment! I used to frequent Rackhams, as it used to be, and it was always an…read moreenjoyable experience when i used to work in Birmingham, if expensive. With such good memories, I made the 60 mile journey with my daughter to buy a prom dress at House of Fraser. The lack of stock was fairly shocking, but the lack of any staff at tills or willing to serve even when we stood at one while two staff members had a chat a short distance away was worse. The 'luxury washrooms' were in a shocking state. I'll let the photos speak for themselves. Really sad to see this store has plummeted to the depths. A sorry experience.

Turn left onto memory lane.....I was back in the Oasis market the other day and my god it has not…read morechanged a bit! The last time I was in here I was buying flared chord trousers and band posters......but today it was all change and i was having t shirts printed for a dj set.....with the wonderful diva face of Mariah Carey...obviously. T shirt printing is only £8 if you take a T-shirt with you which I think its a stupidly good price and the quality was excellent. I felt fabulous and glamorous wearing it so thank you T shirt printing lady! Inside the market you can also get a load of hippy stuff, jewellery, bongs and smoking paraphernalia, band merch and other random treasures and delights. This is a place for the more alternative amongst us really but not exclusively. If you haven't been go and have a look as its an untouched and unchanged part of the city that is quickly becoming modernised everywhere you look. Never change Oasis market...never change.

If you've ever been into line dancing, skating, surfing, dressing up, hippies, goths or bands at…read moreany point, you'll probably have been for a visit to the oasis markets. It's spread over a few floors, which are all inside. Most of the stalls are set into each corner of the place. There's loads of stuff in here, most or nearly all of it now new stuff. There used to be a couple of vintage stalls in here but think they have moved on now. There are a couple of women's fashion stalls selling stuff like punky fish, big flares and little tops. There's a couple of Levi holders with lovely phat flares and skinny jeans, really good prices too. There's smoking paraphenalia and some kinky stalls selling fetish stuff. On the ground floor there are a couple of shoe stalls, perfect for probably the best and widest choice of Doc Marten's in Brum, these are pretty pricey though. Head downstairs for the surf stalls that sell; animal, roxy (quiksilver) mambo etc, there's a good choice of clothing and there is often a sale on. Not many accessories here, but good for rucksacks. If none of this takes your fancy you can get a tatoo or pierced while you visit. Always worth a look even if it's a little bit out of the main hub now the Bullring's been built.

A unique concept Harvey Nichols store located in Birmingham's The Mailbox complex - Birmingham is a…read morecity with some fantastic department stores including a Selfridges store which is probably even better than their flagship London - Oxford Street location, but perhaps one of the unsung heroes of the Birmingham department store game is this one. Located over multiple floors, the store is spacious, it feels modern and cool like it has recently been refurbished. They have a nice food selection including a bar and brasserie with a decent menu, although it is a little expensive this has to be expected to a degree as it is more of a high-end store. I do feel to match the high-end nature of the place, the staff could have stood out more and perhaps they could have had more staff members in all areas of the store as coming in on a higher level can sometimes leave someone confused or getting lost, but the store, in general, is pretty decent to navigate for the key areas which are labelled anyway. One of my favourite Harvey Nichol's stores with good facilities and a good location, it stands out also due to its' modern features - but issues with the layout and service hold it back to just a four-star rating and a pretty awesome place to mark my 500th review of 2019.

High end shopping at its finest with what looks like a beautiful setting to eat and drink. Harvey…read moreNichols Birmingham is a shop/restaurant that oozes luxury. This is not a place that I would consider to be 'very me' but after looking around I would be tempted to go and eat here. I hear good things about the food and most importantly hear that there are always good discounts on groupon and other discount site. Ling....(Yelp Discount Queen) if you hear of any maybe we should pay this place a visit ;) I literally loved some of the spring/summer looks on the mannequins. There was a heavily patterned bomber jacket that I would consider not going out for a month to own.......pricy but a lot of the stuff is SO nice that you could be persuaded to part with a large proportion of your monthly wage to own them.....the temptation was real haha. Even though I will not be rushing back here I love that Birmingham caters to the people that want ultra high end and cutting edge brands. Maybe one day one of those jackets will be mine.......one day!

Marks and Spencer's Birmingham New Street location styled as M&S Simply Food is in a good location,…read moreclose to the ticket gates within Birmingham's main train station. I do think it is strange this store doesn't have the option to scan and pay for items on your phone as you shop, which is now on offer at the majority of Marks and Spencer stores, especially considering this is a travel location and people will want to be in and out very quickly. The checkout area is good if you're able to use self-service machines, they seem to have switched to mostly all self-service, which could be difficult for those who prefer the personal touch. The store is open until 10 pm which is great if you're more of a night owl than an early bird like myself. I was forced to come here for my food items as the main store in the city centre, closes much earlier now. I was able to get the items I was coming in for, I did notice a reduced selection of to-go food and drink - although this could be because it was later in the evening when I visited, and I do appreciate many businesses have been suffering from supply issues right now. This isn't a bad location, but I would only visit in future if I was in a rush before getting a train, or if the other branch was closed. 3*

Marks and Spencer has found its niche amongst the high street department store brands with an…read moreincreasing focus on high-quality food products. To this end, M&S is deploying more and more of their 'Simply Food' outlets in retail parks, malls, and transportation stations across the UK. This particular outlet it located at the corner of the New Street Station red lounge, outside of the ticket barrier facing the main concourse. Think of it as the 'greatest hits' collection of the M&S brand. Inside you'll find all matter of takeaway items for the busy train commuter, whether you're looking for a grab and go lunch or need some items for a quick re-heat dinner. In addition, the store stocks a small selection of breads and pastries, dairy items, and a full wall of wine, beer, and liquors. As with most of their stores in train stations/airports, this Simply Food is slightly more expensive that the supermarkets located in their department stores. With only a few tills open at any given time, the queue still moves quickly. This store is also one of the few places in the station with proper climate control, so it's a great refuge on a hot summer day to mill about and grab a cold drink. Discounts are usually made toward the end of the day, where you can grab takeaway sandwiches, baguettes, sushi, and even tacos at rock bottom prices. And of course, there's always Percy Pig -- need I say more?

This Marks and Spencer store is A-OK, it may fall behind branches in other major cities but it is…read morestill a good store and a great addition to Birmingham city centre. The store could definitely do with a refurbishment as it does look really old/dated, especially when compared to their stunning newer stores however the product range in the Food Hall was okay, it did seem to be split into two sections, so I did find the layout to be a little difficult at first. The staff members did seem friendly and on hand to help when required. There were many items out of stock, which I wanted to buy, for example, the dairy section overall was pretty depleted so I had to settle for a different type of milk, to take back to my hotel room. The store does close a little early at the moment, I do feel opening for an extra hour in the evening would be beneficial as 7 pm for a large store with a food offering in a major city centre seems early to me. 3* - A fine Marks and Spencer store, but falls behind compared to other branches.

Breakfast Review:…read more They don't offer a Full English, which is what I judge breakfasts by, so I asked them for what they thought was the closest. They suggested the breakfast bloomer. It sounded quite nice. Bloomer, eggs, vine roasted tomato and bacon. Lovely. I can't tell you how disappointed I was when it arrived. It was a single piece of bread with what I can only describe as a slice of bloomer with egg mayonnaise on it 4 cherry tomatoes (with the stalks on) and 2 pieces of streaky bacon. It was reasonably tasty, but it was a single slice of toast that cost me £3.95. If you are going to offer something like a breakfast, I suggest you do it properly! This was not good.

The Bullring was built around a Church, St Martin's in the Bullring…read more It's named after Martin Lewis who is the patron Saint of shoppers, He used to show shoppers how to make great savings on their purchases in Medieval times. Ok so that might not be true. But with recent facts about Birmingham being confused by Fox News. The bullring opened in September 2003 (I know I was working there!) It's mainly a high street fashion shopping destination but there are lots of little food units to explore round the three floors. Built into what was a sloping hill each of the floors have street level exits which can cause lots of confusion on your first visit. But fear not. There are touch screen maps around the centre to help you explore. It's huge glass roofs help natural light flow through each of the floors and you can walk from here to Birmingham New Street Station without going outside if you follow the walkways. Mornings are usually quieter than the rest of the day so if you are in a rush get there for 10am on a week day!

I see this place as more of a necessity, I don't really like going here but you have to so you can…read moreget to the majority of the shops in Birmingham city centre. Don't get me wrong, the place in comparison to other shopping centres is almost beautiful, big open skylight, actually quite clean and toilets on almost every level. But half the time the escalators are broken, the last one being a total of nearly 4 months (and having to fight through H&M if you wanted to go down to the ground level). The elevators are ridiculously slow, and usually monopolized by the owners of tiny humans in prams... which is fair enough as they would struggle with the stairs. The morale of this story is - take the stairs. Other than that gripe its generally not a bad place, just really busy. You can cut through the bullring to quickly get to any other part of town and because the whole building is sheltered its convenient for shopping in the bad weather.

Excellent, excellent! No wonder everyone goes to Selfridges!! This place is awesome! This was my…read moresecond time coming here; the first time This time I came here for skin care products. You don't need to go to any other store to get what you need! It's four stories and is massive, it's pretty much a mall in itself. It has a relaxing, cool vibe with dim lighting! People there are very nice and have excellent service! They always have what you need and if they are out of stock, they restock quickly and will tell when they will restock. I was looking for Kiehl's and unlike most lazy sales people, the woman I asked was very attentive and actually walked me over there to sight of Kiehl's. This was very much appreciated. You really are supposed to walk them all the way over to the area, but since she was by herself, makes sense. She was very kind and helpful. Great customer service!! Once I got to Kiehl's it had a nice set up with a large range of products! They had the items I needed unlike the useless Kiehl's store in Grand Central. Don't go to the Kiehl's at Grand Central. They are rude and they don't good stock of their products, even though they are the official store. Do not go there! (It's located at Grand Central, but go straight to the Kiehl's at Selfridges! You will have a great experience at the Kiehl's in Selfridges! :)) Back to the awesome Kiehl's at Selfridges!! They are very kind and the two women there were very friendly, inviting, attentive, answered my questions, knew what they were talking about and were so helpful! I was able to get the product I needed. It was in a larger size, but I'm glad they had it and I bought it! Even though the smaller one was out of stock, they were very honest and told me when they would restock. She was very descriptive and thorough which I really appreciated and invited me to come back next week to get the other product I needed, which they would have in the smaller size. They even set me up the Selfridges mailing list! Excellent! I will happily be shopping here more! So friendly and excellent customer service!! Go to Selfridges, go to the Kiehl's there, go to every floor and company they have there! They have everything and have excellent service!! Plus you get to leave with a cute yellow bag!! :)

Selfridges is still one of the most iconic buildings in Birmingham, it has managed to stay ahead of…read morethe times since being built as part of the bullring when it launched. It still remains my favourite department store in the city and stocks everything you could want from amazing food and drink through to homeware, fashion and cosmetics. The highlight for me is the food hall on the ground floor, I think you would be hard pushed to find anywhere with the diversity and range of things you can try and buy in one place. I could easily spend a whole afternoon looking at the many weird and wonderful items that fill every countertop and display cabinet in the open and modern feeling space. One thing to note is that this place only stocks the very best of everything they sell, so don't go here expecting the cheapest products in Brum. However you can get a bargain from time to time in the many sales they put on throughout the year. In my opinion Selfridges keep pushing the boundary in terms of what people expect from a department store. Forward thinking, well designed and and always changing to keep thing fresh!

Poor old Five Ways Shopping Centre - built in the early 60s this was originally designed as a…read moretraffic-free piazza with ground floor retail spaces, an indoor market area, a car park on the second floor and the 10 storey Auchinleck House - a statue of Claude Auchinleck (a British army commander during World War II) still stands in the square but you won't be able to look at it these days as the whole space is awaiting demolition. To be honest Five Ways Shopping Centre has always had a slightly derelict feel - during the winter the design of the place meant that it acted as a veritable wind tunnel and for years it hosted a weird array of shops that always seemed a bit empty - although I do miss the greasy spoon caff that was here which was all Formica work tops and unknowingly kitschy shaped sauce bottles. The only thing it houses now are a Select n Save (more on that later), a Boots and load of sad looking empty shops - not somewhere I'd recommend spending too much time in as it can get really dark down there but worth a quick peek.

Grim. The fact that from above it looks like a giant coffin pretty much sums it up. The Five Ways…read moreShopping Centre is now almost completely abandoned, waiting for a natural disaster to come and wipe it off the earth. It sits sadly on a corner, a run down miserable old concrete block acting as a full stop to the overbearing neon and orange spray tan smell of Broad Street. I can't imagine a reason, that anyone would want to visit. There might be a little nostalgia, maybe your favourite newsagent was there... you was a massive fan of that particular Braggs bakery that was there in the late 80's? There was an urban legend that the architect who designed it made it in the shape of a coffin then jumped off the top, providing a suicide/funeral all in one. Maybe they could turn it into some kind of spooky theme park.

Grand Central is my favourite part about Birmingham New Street Station, it is a shopping centre…read morelocated above the train station, which connects into the Bullring (the city's main shopping centre), via a walkway. It can be a great to visit to kill some time before your train, or even to shop while in the city, plus the walkway acts as a cool way of getting to the train station and dogging the rain, of which we get more than our fair share of in the UK! Birmingham New Street Station - https://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/birmingham-new-street-station-birmingham-3 Bullring- https://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/bullring-birmingham Grand Central opened in September 2015, it still feels new and modern. The stunning balcony, lighting and architecture are nice to admire, and the perfect welcome into one of the country's greatest cities. I loved admiring the view in the dark autumn nights, while sat enjoying a coffee at Joe and the Juice. Grand Central's only flagship retailer was John Lewis, sadly this store has now closed down but there are still a couple of shops located here, which includes Tesco Express, Foyles and Whittard. The selection of food and beverage options is much better including Nando's, Tapas Revolution and Joe and the Juice. There's plenty of other options, including a Natwest bank! 4* - I do think the loss of John Lewis is going to hit Grand Central hard, it's sad to see such a huge empty unit in such a cool building, but it is a great place in the city which many tourists and locals alike are sure to visit, by choice or by chance.

Although not 100% finished, Grand Central really has the wow factor that Birmingham New Street…read morestation has previously lacked. The highlight for me has to the the huge and beautifully designed skylight, positioned right in the middle of the development. This has changed a formerly dark space, into a vibrant hub of cafes, restaurants and shops. Grand Central can only be a good thing for Birmingham, proving the perfect first impression for people arriving in the city.