I am a fan. This is the sort of store that used to be commonplace in uk and Ireland but alas now…read morerare. Almost a harrods without the pretentiousness. One can buy a doughnut for £1.50 or an espresso for less. I bought Stilton cheese the world's greatest in my view. Yes I had coffee with Stilton. I could have bought a 90 inch tv but Ryanair wouldn't carry it or a new iPhone or a £10,000 bottle of Hennessy (70cl). I could buy a Samsonite suitcase or fresh or frozen squid. So you get the picture and I guess they sell 10's of thousands of different products usually over 5 floors. If yiu ever go to Spain and where you are has this place it's worth a bit of time even for a coffee and snack. Their cafes and restaurants are usually top floor so the views are great. As for me I settled for £180 worth of caviar and a tin of goose liver foie gras with black truffle at £50 and both sat comfortably in my pocket.

El Corte Ingles is a department store with many different kind of products. The service is very…read moregood. They are very accommodating when it comes to the request to exchange a product. The quality also is very good. The customers just have to know that it is not the cheapest place to go shopping. On the other hand it has the convenience that many things can be bought in the same, air conditioned building. Also, there is a second El Corte Ingles just around the corner (in the Avenida Maissonnave 53, 03003 Alicante), just 3 walking minutes away. There, some departments are much bigger (e.g. suitcases or sunglases).

Another "Supermercado Chino" carrying all non-food stuff you can think of. Garden, home, hygiene…read moreitems, tools, small electric goods you name it! Thousands of products at affordable prices. Huge assortment. Dogs collars? 1000 styles. A screwdriver? 100 types. Batteries? Not hundreds of them but every size you may need is there. Etc, etc, etc. Curious how they manage all those supplies. There are one or two employees in the store, you'll have to find stuff yourself. Can be tricky. Don't come back to change anything if it breaks (yes, it will), as you'll spend more on fuel.

Decathlon is a French sporting goods retailer with some 850 stores in 22 countries. The store in La…read moreZenia (Orihuela Costa), Spain is huge and it offers a very wide range of sports clothing and equipment. The retailer owns and manages some 20 (!) brands of its own: Kalenji (running), Inesis (golf), Quechua (outdoors and camping) etc. Although they are all "store brands" you trust them a bit more as they are focused on different types of sports. They don't try to sell you dance leggings and fishing rods under the same brand name :) In most cases their own brands are in the inexpensive range with fair quality. In the upper price range Decathlon stocks well known brands like Nike, Adidas, Asics etc. If you are not really into a particular kind of sport - say you want to try fishing and you're not sure if you will like it - then Decathlon's store brands are a great way to start. Then, when (and if) you are able to tell the difference - you may want to switch to other brands. I guess this is their strategy and it serves them really well - their stores are very popular everywhere they open. I liked their golf section. They stock golf clubs, bags, balls, clothing, shoes, gloves, grips you name it! You can trade in your old clubs for new ones here. Golf shoes prices start from some 25 euros, there's a wide choice, both with spikes and without spikes. From Inesis to Adidas and Ecco. It rarely rains in this area but they carry rubber boots with golf spikes! :) Buying shoes online can be tricky (you better try shoes :) ) and Decathlon is a great solution. If you want to make a personalized gift to someone (or to yourself) - you can have your name/logo printed or engraved on a product from Decathlon in their customization workshop. The also repair stuff here - they will change your bike's tires for example. There's a loyalty program - you can register online or in store. They say you can "try products" in store having a card - does that mean you can play table tennis for as long as you want? Or did they refer to a golf simulator? Anyway, I signed up! There's only one reason why I try to avoid frequent visits - I can spend hours there every time I go :-)

My husband and I have just returned from the Decathlon at Zenia Boulevard…read more We are looking to purchase everything to do with body boarding, we asked a male member of staff if there was anyone in the store who know about the sport and could advise us. He said he didn't speak English and couldn't help. He didn't offer to find anyone to help us. We then went to what we thought was the customer service area. It was a disk with a large I above it. A female member of staff was dealing with another couple. We stood waiting our turn for 20 minutes.When it got to our turn, the girl told us to go to pay station 1, we explained we weren't trying to pay for anything, just needed advice, she told us she couldn't help us. We left the shop. We will get the advice and goods from Amazon.nThe time of this was around 3.30 today