The Co-op is a fresh, innovative, new store concept "Co-op" to go which is a twist on its current…read morefood stores, being located just outside Piccadilly Station the location is ideal for this concept. It is located fairly close to Greggs and Leon in the old Little Waitrose unit, it opened recently to replace. When hearing about the closure of this store and being taken over by Co-op, I honestly was disappointed being a fan of the Waitrose brand and I knew that they'd have to do something pretty special to at least match the store, much to my delight and surprise they've perhaps surpassed it and done even better. The store is really modern, it's one of those nice stores with writing in modern letters above key areas such as hot food, coffee and water, some of which are my favourite parts of the store with a small hot food section and a coffee machine next to it from Seattle's Best Coffee, a subsidiary of Starbucks meaning you can grab a coffee if you're in a rush ahead of getting your train without having to go in any other stores or coffee shop. Another cool, modern feature is the "water", as well as selling pretty cheap bottled water there's a card machine which lets you pay using contactless methods to make a small donation to water charities and you can even fill up your own water bottle for free, which is a feature I really like. The selection of to go foods once again was good which included a gluten-free sandwich, however sadly it was on seeded bread which I didn't like, this is something most big brands tend to do which is frustrating for gluten-free as I'd much prefer regular gluten-free white bread. There is a small free-from section which is pretty much generic of the store of this size and nothing too impressive The selection of to go drinks was okay, it would have been nicer to see a bigger selection of certain drinks however such as more flavours of Coca Cola including Diet and Zero brands, and Lipton Iced Tea. A large range of modern, self-service cash machines which are also well suited to the "to go" environment also help this store. I think this store deserves a four-star rating as it is cool, exciting modern and certainly fills the big boots it has done by succeeding Little Waitrose in its unit, a modern store which has adapted and decided its-self to its' location being one mainly used by railway passengers at Piccadilly so the focus on to go, food beverage (including free water) and the checkout process etc is , with prices being quite reasonable compared to elsewhere within such close proximity to the station so I feel this innovative Co-op store deserves a four-star rating.

A slightly crowded little Sainsbury's not far from Manchester Piccadilly. There's another inside…read morethe station (which I found a little more pleasant) --- so the main attraction here is that you don't have to deal with entering the actual train station. I didn't find a cider that grabbed me, I did get a passable apple, they had a few sandwiches but nothing I'd put against Pret. (Sainsbury's calls this location "Manchester Station Approach Local" in their store locator.)

This branch of Sainsbury's is a relatively new store, located a few minutes walk away from…read morePiccadilly Train Station, considering the train station also has a branch of Sainsbury's, it's surprising for them to have one here too, considering it is so close, but with a glass exterior, this is the nicer and modern of the two branches. The store has a decent range of most things, at a competitive price rate, hence making it cheaper than purchasing drinks and snacks etc from the station, the product range I also find to be better here despite the stores being a similar size, for example they sell beverages such as Carabao in multiple flavours, which can be hard to find in the UK at times. The store seemed slightly understaffed on my visit, but the member of staff I did speak with, seemed friendly and helpful. There was a small staffed till as well as numerous scan-it yourself tills. The store is entered through a ramp or step, which can be slightly awkward at busy periods however this is a nice store, which is close to Piccadilly Station but not so close you'd have to pay your typical overpriced train station prices, relatively modern, hence warranting a three-star rating.

This Spar is open 24 hours a day, making it just a normal Spar shop during daylight hours, and then…read moresuddenly a pit of drunken idiots and lads buying crates of beer at 3 in the morning. Ok, I admit it, a couple of times that has been me. Generally this isn't the most fresh looking convenience store and the front entrance looks jaded and dirty. There's a photocopier at the back which has been helpful to me on a couple of occasions. Apart from that and the aforementioned late-night beer run, this shop isn't the best.

As the closest shop to the 192, it serves the base purpose of providing beer/cigarettes before…read moreheading home. Otherwise, it serves no other purpose. Like most Spar convenience stores, the range/quality/price of other goods is appalling. But want do you want or expect of a 24hr shop? Need I say more?

They are selling fake cigarettes from under the counter, the man took out the cigarettes from…read morethe cabinet behind him, then looks like he swapped it from under the counter, flimzy box and packaging, cigarettes harsh on throat and feels flimsy also, but charged as if selling me originals

This newsagents is on Piccadilly, and sells a few international newspapers outside which I always a…read morefind to be a nice touch. It reminds me of being on holiday in France and trying to find an English newspaper to read up on the football. They have loads and loads of magazines in here, all the major titles as well as seemingly most of the obscure ones as well. And for what we all use newsagents most for, they have a truly excellent selection of sweets, chocolates, crisps and cigarettes.

Manchester Souvenirs & News have had locations popping up all over the city of late as the…read morenewsagents' chain look to expand - this is probably one of my favourite stores they have in the city, and I do like it much more than their newer locations at Arndale Centre Exchange Square, Shudehill and Deansgate, as well as their other location at the other side of Piccadilly Gardens. Refurbished of late to include a Post Office, this is one of the latest opening Post Offices in the area which is open from 6 in the morning to 6 in the evening throughout the week, opening a couple of hours later on Sunday and 8 - 8 on Saturday. The Post Office inside this newsagents is all the more important especially with the Town Hall's refurbishment meaning the Post Office there is out of action for now, and this one does seem a little quieter with less queuing compared to the other Post Office in their other store at Piccadilly Plaza. Despite being located in an older building on Mosley Street, close to Primark and Metrolink services, the inside of the store is pretty modern including multiple friendly staff working the store and Post Office checkouts as well as a pretty decent drinks/news selection, although I do find the prices to be a tad higher compared to nearby. 4* - A very innovative idea to add a Post Office into this store after the Town Hall's closer for refurbishment was announced which meant there would still be a Post Office on Mosley Street, while still being a useful store in a good and central location too.

I don't know when it started but there seems to be a bit of an on-going turf war between Govind's…read moreNewsagents and their neighbour newsagent Metro Convenience Store. To the best of my knowledge there's been no fist fights or smashed windows involved, just a competition over which business can offer customers the lowest prices. So far, Govind's News seems to be winning with 2p for photocopies and Half Price on all the daily and weekends tabloids and broadsheets. Handily, they also sell beer, milk, bread, soup, crisps, baked beans, spaghetti hoops, toilet roll and chocolate bars - making it a bit of a one-stop shop for students and locals on a budget.

This place has recently changed its name from Govind's to Govin News Agents. Where did the 'd'…read moredisappear to? I really don't understand. Is it a typo? Absolutely similar to Metro Convenience Store next door, Govin seems to have slightly less stock, with a basic slection of bread, eggs, milk and the like. It gets a point for offering photocopying at an incredibly cheap 2p per page. If you're a student with a handing-in deadline and you fancy beating the library queues and saving a few pennies whilst you're at it, Govin is the place to go. Govin News Agents, just like Metro, also sells odd items. Coloured drinking straws? A football? People must be buying this stuff I guess...

Shudehill Convenience Store is located on Shudehill, it is basically next to Shudehill, Shudehill /…read moreMayes St (Stop Nm) bus stop and around a minute or two on foot away from Shudehill, one of the main bus stations in the city to get around Greater Manchester. As suggested by the slightly unoriginal name, Shudehill Convenience Store it is a convenience style newsagents store, one of the many stores of its' type in Manchester city centre which includes one of four in the Shudehill area, including a Manchester Souvenirs and News and Spar across the way, and Arden News inside Shudehill Bus Station. Sadly, compared to the trio of extremely nearby neighbours this store ranks the worst. The store seems a bit confusing and hit and miss, and appears to do too many things at once, after entering the store through a step it is kind of cluttered to navigate as there is the main counter which includes MyHermes drop-offs, another counter which appears to be for mobile phones and/or cigarettes and then the rest of the shop floor. The overall look and feel of the store isn't fantastic, and in the case of essentials, the selection is kind of limited. The service didn't seem great, with staff not standing out as friendly. Once again, I'm struggling to see the need for this store with so many similar rivals nearby, on a plus side this is the only MyHermes drop off store in the Shudehill area with the Spar store across the way not offering the service, but this once again is seen as less as a bonus with many other stores nearby who offer the service just a short walk away. Due to a poor, confusing and cheap overall feel and the store not offering something you can't get just a stone's throw away and overall being quite disappointing from selection to staff and everything in-between, I sadly feel a one-star rating is in order here.

There's a Tesco, Sainsbury's, Co-op popping up on every corner of the city centre and it doesn't…read morestop at one branch of the supermarket giants' one stop city centre shops. The domination and battle of the supermarket giants are ever present in the city centre, you can find like four mini Tescos around the vicinity of Deansgate and Piccadilly areas. A lot anyway. So here's to the Xpress on Whitworth Street West, one of a few cornershop types springing up in the city, to balance the equilibrium of the chain store masses and inject a little local to the often impersonable, daunting city centre. Xpress Local has recently opened up on my route to university. I've watched it been transformed from an empty space, learnt what it takes for a cash machine to be installed whilst thinking damn, this is where my late night snacking will take it's higher form. Xpress stocks all your basic groceries, milk, cheese, bread and acts as your off license too. I've used it for the range of bad snacks on offer, which has been bad for the healthy eating regime plus the purse. It annoyingly does not display prices on a lot of things which I thought was because it was opening mid-finish but this isn't the case. Annoyingly so, one late night purge, I watched my tube of pringles being scanned to reveal £1.99. I knew I should have purchased the half price ones in Tesco. Xpress is one of those places you just pop in and get the things you want or crave or when you're under time pressure. There may not be an extensive range of fresh or organic what nots but you can expect a pleasant none lengthy queue if you do find yourself in here.

Tesco's Church Street location might not be the best/largest convenience style store in the area,…read moreand I may prefer the Co-Op across the way, but this particular location isn't too bad, it is accessed through a small staircase and/or a lift which always seems to be out of order. They have a good selection of to-go food and drinks, fruit and vegetables and a small but satisfactory range of essentials, some prices are slightly higher than a regular Tesco store due to the convenience style location. Most of the staff seem friendly enough, there's a small number of self-serve checkouts which are useful if you're in a rush. If you have more time and you're looking for another Tesco nearby, the Tesco Metro location on Market Street is much larger/better, but this store isn't too bad. 3* - OK, not the best convenience store in the area for overall size/selection, it isn't even the best on its' street but it isn't that bad and is located inside a nice building just outside a bus stop.

Remember the nursery rhyme about the count sat in his counting house counting all his money?…read more That's what runs through my mind every time I hear about Tesco opening a new Metro or Express throughout the country. Allegedly, the company now have over 60 branches within a 15 mile radius of Manchester city centre and yet, they still decided to open another earlier this year in the city's independent area; the Northern Quarter. Having lived in the area myself for a couple of years, I know it was difficult to get everyday essentials like bin bags, toilet rolls and washing up liquid without a long walk. Personally, I'd still rather go for a long walk than put money in Tesco's pocket though. It's not just that they're prepared to stamp out independent retailers and farmers across the world in exchange for profit and market place domination, it's that their fresh vegetables, salad and bread don't taste that good either.

This Tesco Express (formerly Tesco Metro) location is over two floors on Market Street, on the…read morecorner going onto Brown Street, right opposite the Arndale. It is probably the largest convenience store in the city centre, stocking a range of essentials and a little bit more over two floors, you can get between the floors using an escalator, but there also is lift access (the lift is super slow though and has been for years!). There is a decent selection of to-go food and drinks, including a Costa Express coffee machine, you can also find the occasional item on the small yet useful hot food counter, but that does tend to go fast. The layout of the store is easy to follow, I personally dislike the two-floor format for a store like this, as it means having to spend more time going up/down escalators and searching around the store, this is the type of store you want to get in and out quickly, and being over two floors and a lack of supporting mobile payment similar to Sainsbury's and Marks and Spencer nearby, there are drawbacks. Most of the staff seem friendly and helpful, but there are a couple of bad apples. There are plenty of self-service checkouts, and a couple of manned checkouts too, there always seems to be a handful of machines either not in use or broken down, so there's always a wait at the checkout for some reason. The prices are much higher now than they were under the Tesco Metro brand, so you are paying a good bit more than you would in a regular Tesco store, which is annoying! 4* - A good and large store in the city centre, yet could be far better.

We all know by know that I'm not down with Tesco. I understand most corporations are intent on…read moremaking as much profit as possible regardless of other businesses. I think what distinguishes Tesco from their peers and contemporaries however, is the limits they're willing to go to get an extra slice of the cake. Speaking of which, the reason I loathe this Tesco Metro more than the company's other stores is for the truly bad produce. I've accompanied friends shopping here and can honestly say both the bakery and ready meal section are truly disappointing. As is the dairy and meat selection downstairs. On the positive side, the wine and liquor section appears well stocked and the fruit and veg appear fresh and reasonably priced. The worst thing about this particular Tesco Metro is the atmosphere and the dodgy characters. The staff always seem harassed and it's usually so busy it's impossible to walk round without feeling stressed or like you should be on guard.