This branch of Spar is a really small store on Queen Street in Cardiff city center, I came here…read morewith it being a 24 hour store to pick up some drinks to take back to my hotel. As mentioned even in the name of the store being an Express store, this store is really small, even considering the brand standards of Spar and that there branches seem tobl be small enough as it is. There were only two rows, one of which being the queue so it means at peak times you can be restricted from browsing due to having to queue at the same time as the store, this was inconvenient and in a way felt like you were being rushed out, due to a lack of things to look at and everything being really small and narrow. There were two members of staff on the till, they both seemed unwelcoming and not very friendly and didn't seem to be doing anything. To conclude, there are loads of similar places in Cardiff center, even close to my Hilton hotel so it would be worth taking a look at Tesco Express or Little Waitrose in lieu of this store, so sadly I feel it deserves a single one star.

No matter what you think of the Spar company, there's one thing you can't deny; Spar know how to do…read morebusiness. There's no doubt that our fair city is a lovely cosmopolitan shopalooza, but on top of this it is also a rapidly developing residential area, filled with a series of high rise apartment buildings where the executive earners of Cardiff are massing. Whilst the city could once have gotten away with the small town vibe it used to carry, Cardiff is no longer a place that can close its doors at 6pm every night; it has residents to think of. On top of this, you have the drunks who are attracted to any establishment still shining its lights at 5am, especially if they're selling Ginster's pasties to the masses. This is the market Spar have tapped into. Where Tesco and Sainsbury's close their doors at 8pm, Spar caters to everyone all night long. Admittedly, it's irksome having to shout orders through a waist high letterbox after 10pm, but it is a price people are willing to pay if that's the only place they're going to get a 4am cigarette refill.

Great local shop and an institution! Good people!read more

This Lifestyle Express outlet used to be S & S Newsagent before it was bought out. The name and…read moreownership may have changed, but that's about it. It's still a local off licence, newsagent and convenience store, regularly frequented by the locals from the surrounding residential area. It is perpetually inundated with kids, who all abandon their bikes and scoters on the pavement outside, re-emerging from their brief sojourn, brandishing ice pops and sweets. During daytime hours it's the liveliest corner of the street.

8 Till Late sells an assortment of basic food and grocery items as well as national and the full…read morerange of local newspapers, non-specialist magazines, pre packed foods, toiletries, baby care products, tobacco products and alcohol. It's also a payzone and top-up store, but it doesn't do the lottery, (although with trade along this stretch of road suffering more than most, it kind of does!) Service is always proficient, and pleasant enough. I prefer to shop here for my odds and sods than at the garage down the road. With all of the local newspapers and regular offers on the booze, there's a better range of product here than at the garage.

AVOID sending your parcels here to collect. I made the mistake of doing this, the shop keeper who…read morewas totally inept could not work the scanning machine and refused to give me my parcel even after showing ID and the required documents and bar code. Both shop assistants were rude and incompetent- would have been easier to pick up from the post office. Avoid like the plague send your parcel to a tech savy shop who understand why you used this service in the first place. If i could give minus 5 stars i would.

Premier Convenience Store is a family run business owned by Mr Kimat Singh, located on Carlisle…read moreStreet, just off Splott Road. Although they don't carry newspapers this is a well stocked corner shop in every other respect. They offer a good range of reasonably priced alcohol, tinned and chilled foods, confectionary and fresh food. They are also a Payzone outlet. This is a friendly little convenience store that is well used by the locals. (Desai Newsagents and General Store directly next door carries newspapers).

Yes, there's a big Tesco's in Barry, but my two favourite convenience stores are Londis and Co-op…read moreFood! Why? Well, there's a multitude of reasons... all of them an essential consideration when making ethical choices about where to shop. The first is that I can often buy things cheaper here than I can at Tesco's. I find it interesting that we have all bought into the fallacy that Supermarkets sell things cheaper. It's just not true in many instances! There's no denying that the massive supermarket chains indulged in a price war to kill off their smaller competitors, but when they felt that they had done as much damage as possible, they allowed their prices to steadily rise, allowing them to make more profit per customer. Perhaps what they didn't reckon with is that shops like Spar and Londis were going to preserve a lot more independently owned convenience stores than they thought. Not only is this competition essential to keep the larger stores in line, but it also means that local convenience stores have access to larger bulk buying discounts, thus often making them more able to undercut the big boys! Because Londis shops are all franchises, they can if they want, participate in national promotions, and offer discounted items for a period of three weeks. Not every Londis shop is the same. Being independently owned means that the proprietor of each shop can buy in stock that is culturally relevant to the local area in which they trade. This has to be seen as a distinct advantage Londis has over its larger rivals, but the main benefit to the local communities which they serve is that when locals shop at Londis they are making an investment in the future! A friend told me an interesting statistic the other day... apparently 80% of the money spent at supermarkets leaves the local economy whereas 80% of the money spent at independent stores remains within circulation locally, which is great if it's true! If high percentages of money leave a localised area, then impoverishment will eventually ensue. So, to retain 80% of the money you spend within the area in which you live means the opposite!

I'm a creature of habit and so when I've run out of beer, cat food or crisps, this provides them in…read moreabundance. It's not huge and it's mostly dedicated to crisps and snacks. There are some strange and wonderful things here. God knows where they get them from. The beer section is entirely chilled which is unbelievably good on a hot summers day and there is a nice selection of goodies.

The post office refused to accept the parcel because I've missed the last collection despite the…read morefact I have by law until 11:59PM to post it at any post office. 24 hours after the purchase of a postage label, that was purchased 10/02/2020 by click and drop. So I've had to buy a secondary postage label. The old man then started swearing at me and then tried to remove the secondary postage label that I bought and damage the parcel. I told him that what he was doing is a criminal offence and he then started swearing at me and throwing homophobic words. He threw the parcel on the floor and told me to get out of his shop. I have paid for the first tracking label ..... and tried to post it in time 4:55 PM. This is by far the worst experience I have ever encountered and this is not how I expect a Royal Mail officer to behave. He refused to hand over my parcel that contains a very fragile and expensive item.