Lovely men's authentic vintage, collectors post cards from World War One and two, up cycled…read morefurniture and vintage cameras. I can always find a bargain that's worth the money and looks fabulous in my home! Best vintage store in Cardiff by far and all reasonably priced

From the owner: Penny Lane Vintage has relocated to the Wellfield Road Arcade, Penylan, Roath, an area only a…read morecouple of miles from city centre, where you can enjoy independent shops, fine dining and coffee shops and then a stroll through parkland to Roath Park lake. Penny Lane only stocks personally hand picked quality vintage clothing and accessories for ladies and gents, vintage costume jewellery, memorabilia, homewares, collectables and furniture. New treasures arriving everyday.

This is a real little jewel this shop. Recently opened and the innovative folk who put it all…read moretogether have to be given giant pats on the back. It is a drawing card from start to finish. From it's colourful, bright window display and equally colourful interior. The décor theme is true American Graffiti - think Happy days, The Fonz and you'll get my drift - with posters, prints, ice cream sundae stands, all dressing up the place and creating that 'New' once over. The zappy 1950's, 1960's music bouncing off the walls, giving you a truly, marvellous spring in your step comes from an American styled jukebox that takes pride of place at the back of the store. This is, theoretically, a second-hand clothing and accessory shop, but with a difference. In fact, it is a YMCA charity store, but you wouldn't guess it in an instant, so the staff and associated people's altruism is commendable as this place is given true love, with astounding attention to detail. There is no musty smell billowing out of the once worn fabric, in fact, there is no stale odour emanating out of any pour of the building, something that you almost always find when browsing through a 'pre-owned' clothing shop. There is no feeling that the items have any negative aspect to them whatsoever, from being a 'reject' - someone's bad buy - 'had-it's-day', or.......formerly much loved but owner sadly said, Adieu! This place is bright and happy, and it's cheerfulness rubs off onto the staff and the browsing/buying public. All the items are donations from well intentioned people and are checked and cleaned at the association's recycling centre in Cardiff Bay before going on sale and they only stock good quality clothes and accessories - so no rubbish. I do so hope this shop survives as it is trendy and hip and it is a really positive place, but you know the fickle public out there, and in these tough times, they almost want it given away. The items are indeed good quality and priced like any charity store with items going around £5 - £8 or much less. Albany Road does have quite a number of charity stores, but this one certainly sets the benchmark.

i Claudius is a vintage clothing and fancy dress shop, so you can go there to pick up a pair of…read morebell-bottomed flares, a full body bee costume, or accessories such as masks and wigs. When I last walked past the shop, the mannequin outside appeared to be a cross between a terrorist and a clown, with a sign strung around its neck saying 'Make peace not war'. Inside the window the mannequins were modelling a range of the shop's animal costumes. The staff are on the ball, and offer an alterations service if items on display don't fit you - but they can be a bit pushy at times. The shop's emphasis definitely seems to be on fancy dress over vintage, nowadays, whereas in the past (I think) it was the other way around.

Fantastic. First of all; a good fancy dress shop is hard to come by these days, and secondly; this…read moreis a brilliant one. I must offer a warning to start with; the models outside are terrifying. Honestly. They change from time to time, depending on the mood of the shop owner, but were sinister, nasty, horrifying models the last time I went. A peculiar, pale butler holding a tray with a model of a heart on it stood on the right hand side. On the left there was a freakish monster, all guts and entrails, that looked like a cross between Frankenstein's monster and Predator. I found it worrying that kids weren't at all bothered by these terrifying objects while I needed medical attention. If you do make it inside, the shop is brilliant. Not going for such a mainstream audience, the costumes are original and novel here. The Wolf costume particularly impressed me. This is what costume shops should be, quirky and original with a dose of the weird.

This is a great shop to have a rummage through, and you're likely to find something incredible…read moreevery time. Because this is vintage clothing, you often have to spend quite some time in this shop to find what you're looking for. This is sometime a bit frustrating when you've found something that you love, only to realise that they don't have it in your size. This isn't a high street store where they have everything neatly lined up and labelled; you have to really work at shopping in this store! And, of course, the staff have to be very helpful because of this. And they are. If they've spent 20 minutes searching with you for something, you feel terribly guilty if you then turn around and say you might give it a miss. The only issue with this place are the the high prices, as have been mentioned time and again by the frustrated shopper of Cardiff and the lovely other yelpers.

Probably Cardiff's best city centre retro / vintage store, Hobo's is a vibrant little shop that…read morecrams a lot into its tiny and rather cramped space. The shop mainly sells clothing and accessories spanning the decades since the 60s, although in the window display you'll also some odd gifts and novelties such as greetings cards, purses and even bathtime rubber ducks with bizarre designs - including one with a Rubik's cube theme. From second hand jeans, old leather jackets, and retro t-shirts to brightly patterned summer skirts and dresses, they have a really good clothing range and seem to update and add to their stock fairly frequently. You can also pick up retro style sunglasses, old belts, hats and other accessories. As is the case with most vintage stores, the prices aren't cheap - but for those of your who are students, Hobo's offers a helpful 10% discount.

As a student I went to many charity shops on the look out for books for my obsession with reading…read more The shop has a lot of interesting second hand stuff and I would have a browse to see if there was a bargain. Unfortunately it's hit or miss whether you'll find something you want, or you may go in and end up getting something you rather didn't buy. Either way it for a good cause so has more intrinsic value when you buy from here.

This is by far the best charity shop in Cardiff. The friendly staff welcome you into their…read moreAladdin's cave of goodies and gifts. The walls tower with books and games, and outfits and handbags hang from the ceiling. There is always something new and interesting to find... and if you can't find it? You feel relaxed enough to ask. And gather round, lend me you ears if you want to hear the best part. I will only say it once as it is a secret I keep close to my heart.... If you ask nicely and use the code word "upstairs" there lies a hidden room with all the magical treasures a young fancy-dresser or vintage queen could ask for. Words cannot describe how you have not, and never will, truly experience my love for Cardiff without this adventure. Reasonable Prices Good Cause My Best Buy: a vintage badminton racket for £3. Top that... I dare you!

Fabulous shop/Wonderful photos.....I must visit…read more The owner should take a look at thebestofcardiff.co.uk/cardiff

I visited the Pumping Station with my wife yesterday as she wanted to purchase a vintage outfit for…read morea wedding. There was the most amazing display of hats - I believe the biggest selection of vintage hats in Wales over 800 - and the quality was superb. She purchased a fantastic 1930s outfit plus hat and bag and gloves - all in superb condition and was able to view a similar outfit in the most amazing original fashion books from a French fashion house of the 1930s which contained the hand drawn designs of that period with hundreds of original fabric samples. I have never seen anything like it. She found it difficult to resist so many items, but I managed to restrain her - eventually!! The selection of 1930 wedding dresses and veils was amazing too. There were many other antique shops all under one roof plus a cafe. Highly recommended for an absorbing day out. It is great to to able to park easily too.

This is super new shop and a very welcome addition to the shops of Penarth. Forever Vintage has a…read moresimply huge collection of some stunning vintage fashions from many different periods. It is a real treasure trove of a shop with two little back rooms simply bursting with fabulous stock. Acessories are also available like hats and gloves and shoes all of which are beautifully presented. The staff are friendly and polite and happy for you to browse and the prices are reasonable.There is an enormous collection of wedding dresses and I believe they run some sort of vintage clothing exchange system too. A fabulous shop!

I'm surprised I'm only getting round to reviewing TK Maxx in Cardiff, having visited around a month…read moreago now in Mid-August but I'm pleased to make this a landmark review in my way, which is my 443rd this year of 1099th in total, finally beating my review total of what I conducted in 2015, just 270 days into 2016. Moving on to my review now, away from all personal statistics, this TK Maxx store is located in The Hayes in Cardiff, one of the welsh capital's main shopping streets, really close to the St David's shopping complex. This branch is set over 4 floors, but in some ways the layout is quite confusing, with the ground floor and a slightly raised level on the other side, accessed by a total different lift which is both quite unusual and confusing. It is worth noting that the Men's section is on the top or second floor, with home in the basement. As mentioned in other reviews, it is in a way like a "treasure hunt", with mainly one of every product in each size or at least very few, at least in the clothing, so if you see something you can only pray it is your size, which is really annoying. I class myself as a lazy shopper, I like things being done for me so I strongly dislike the format of TK Maxx, and the staff didn't seem too helpful either, and other than on the ground floor, they basically were so few in number. The store in general was quiet, it felt like a jumble sale due to the layout and didn't have a good vibe. It was also frustrating one of two lifts was out of order, which would cause a slight delay if you needed to use it. Another unusual practice used was that the store opened earlier than it should, I entered on a Sunday and I wanted to checkout and buy something, limited on time as I had a train to catch in a few hours, I was shocked when he said he couldn't serve me, probably due to the Sunday Trading hours (Big shout-out to the SNP who voted against Sunday trading hours being lifted in England despite being able to open when they want in Scotland) - This probably isn't the store's fault but there was no sign for this, and for someone who wants to get in and out of the shop, this was just a stupid policy to have, and with no prior warning was misleading. Sadly due to unusual practices of both this store and the brand in general, I sadly feel this store deserves a single one star.

I came here with my partner to get him a new and affordable winter coat as his had a huge tear in…read moreit. After browsing for 10 minutes, we managed to purchase a very warm wind-proof coat at a great price! ~ Atmosphere: TK Maxx is HUGE but despite its size, it's also very crowded. Granted, we did come during a weekend close to Christmas-time. Still, I can imagine TK Maxx being constantly crowded as I'm sure it's a very popular place to shop given both its location in the heart of Cardiff's city centre as well as the prices. ~ Variety: There's plenty of variety here in TK Maxx. Their section for mens coats was MASSIVE in itself and could amount to a small retail shop on its own! Combined with the fact that it has multiple stories, you'd probably be hard pressed to find something you *don't* like here. ~ Customer Service: Not bad at all. Despite how busy it was, it still didn't take too long to queue up and pay. The employees were decently friendly and efficient as well. --- TK Maxx definitely does the job if you're looking for fashion on a budget, without skimping on quality either. My partner loves his coat so much that it's hard to believe it only cost £50!

Only open between Thursday and Saturday, Jacob's Market (aka Jacob's Antiques) is a collection of…read morevery small specialist collectors' shops under one roof. Mostly it's second-hand stuff though there is also brand new furniture to be had. There's a certain novelty to it- such as the stuffed badgers in the entrance (will anyone ever buy those?) and the sci-fi stall upstairs with its sort-of-full-sized TARDIS. All kinds and eras of 'retro' are covered, old clothes (a bit dusty), old signs, old kitchen appliances, old military memorabilia (there's quite a bit of this and some of it's quite scary). It's worth a browse round, though I would say you could have done it all in less than 2 hours, it won't take all day. Prices vary but some things are not as cheap as you'd like them to be, as some sellers are adamant that there is an 'antique' value. The cafe is a small anteroom, seating about 20 people, where one person will knock up cooked brunches on demand using a little oven and grill. The prices are dirt-cheap and the portions very very generous, the only problem is that since it's cooked from scratch when you order you may have to wait a while, not too good if you've just popped there for lunch.

This indoor market sprawls across several floors in an old red brick building at West Canal Wharf,…read morenear Cardiff Central Station, and for the last couple of decades it has been creating a welcome distraction for Cardiff's lovers of antiques, vintage and novelty goods. It is a great place to spend a lazy few hours browsing around aimlessly. The 50 or so different stalls sell a huge array of different wares, including antiques and collectors' items, vintage household goods, second hand clothes and books, jewellery, and all sorts of other knick knacks. When you walk in through the entrance, for example, you're faced with some rather alarming and fusty-looking stuffed badgers; carry on and you might stumble across vintage Bakelite phones, military memorabilia, or leather jackets - while an exploration upstairs will offer you an encounter with a full-sized Dr Who tardis. Some stalls have more reasonable prices than others, but for vintage and antique items with a higher price tag you really need a bit of knowledge to know whether it's good value. The café, on the other hand, has very reasonably priced food and HUGE portions!