Once upon a time, Cardiff was a great rolling hillside, ruled over by centaurs and talking badgers,…read moreand it was burrowed through with little arcades that sold nothing but sticky buns and barley sugar... Well, perhaps that's not entirely true, but the quaintness of Cardiff's remaining arcades is kind of like that. New shopping centres can take a hike, we like the old ones better. If Brighton has The Lanes, then we have Morgan Arcade. We are, after all, known as the City of Arcades. Right next to Royal Arcade is a narrow paved corridor, with a snake of sunlight through glass weaving above your head, as you travel through Victorian/Edwardian/nice architecture... This arcade is worth a visit even if you don't intend to do any shopping. Although, if you do, there are delicatessens, health, jewellers, shoes, fair-trade, art shops, stationers, sweet shops, chocolate shops, furniture shops and cafes...

Morgan Arcade is a Grade II listed building and one of Cardiff's most beautiful arcades, opened in…read more1896. With entrances on St. Mary Street and the pedestrianised Hayes area, parallel to the slightly busier Royal Arcade. It's home to the Camera Centre, where you can buy new and second hand kit, and get your camera repaired; Crumbs vegetarian café; Capital Books; and AT Computers for Apple Mac customers. There's also Isabella's for Welsh gifts and Murano glass jewellery; Neal's Yard Remedies for organic natural health and beauty products; Route One for skateboards and inline skates, clothing and accessories; and a couple of ladies' fashion boutiques such as Rouge and Seren. And now that Spillers Records - the oldest record shop in the world - has moved from its original location on The Hayes into Morgan Arcade, there's even more reason to venture to the arcade when you're out shopping. While you're there, look out for the original wooden shop fronts, and the Venetian windows up on the first-floor.

Brynawel Garden Centre is located on Sully Road near Penarth and also incorporates the Brynawel…read moreFuchsia Centre, a section containing a blast of pink and purple fuchsias alongside many varieties of geraniums. It started out life in 1976 as a family run nursery growing tomatoes and lettuce for the wholesale market, followed by spring and summer production of flowers for the same market. Over the years, it expanded into the garden centre it is today - aimed at domestic customers. They produce most of their own bedding plants and their main specialities are Fuchsias (more than 1000 varieties) and Pelargoniums (more than 200 varieties). The fuschia shop is said to attract people from far and wide, and is open from March to September. They also sell shrubs and trees, spring bulbs, fertilizers, pots and planters, hanging baskets, garden furniture, watering products, Wolf tools, and lots more - then at Christmas they also sell Christmas trees. Brynawel also offers free local delivery within Penarth, Barry, Dinas Powys, Sully and Wenvoe on Monday and Friday. If you lie outside those areas you can still get delivery, but they make a small charge. The garden centre is a Wolf tools main agent, so sells plenty of gardening equipment from hoes and rakes to battery hedge shears.

Loads of different plants to other garden centres and very well priced. It is a bit run down but…read morethe stock justifies it! The toilets are very run down but useable. Was quite quiet however a really nice garden centre. If the owner is reading this I highly suggest you set up social media to attract more people. I highly recommended you visit.

Great little local pharmacy they sell all the usual chemist supplies including some gift sets and…read morenovelty items, with a few special offers of various products. I often pick up any prescriptions from this store and have found the pharmacist helpful (she will ring her wholesaler to check when stocks are in if they are out) ive noticed they also do a range of pet medicine like flea treatments and worming tablets - I plan to compare the prices for these with what I usually pay at the vets next time these are required. Parking can be difficult as it is in a popular range of local shops but very handy if you live locally.

New Alamin Foods occupies the ground floor of a new build on the corner of Tudor Road and Clare…read moreStreet. This means that it's pretty easy to get to, as these are two of the major arterial roads feeding the city. But once you get there you'll find it difficult to park up within easy reach of the entrance. This is strictly a cash and carry, so retail customers cannot purchase goods from here, (unlike the China Supermarket just down the road, which offers both retail and wholesale options). Stocking all of the usual products that you see in corner shops across the city, there's an exotic flavour to many of the foodstuffs on the shelves, as well as all of the customary household products. Owned by husband and wife Mamum Sharkar and Sharmila Naz.

Formerly a Spar, this shop still has a bit of a Spar-like feel to it at the front of the store, but…read morewith an added range of halal meats and more exotic cooking ingredients towards the back. A lot of the ingredients are available in wholesale-size packages, for example you can buy a big 10Kg sack of rice for about 15-16 pounds, and some hefty lumps of frozen meat. I get the impression this shop may act as a supplier to some of the restaurants a few yards down the road. There are a few interesting things to try out but some of the ranges, like the cooking sauces, are a little disappointing- they'll stock imported sauces, with Urdu recipes on them, but the sauces aren't really better than your Tesco equivalent, nor are the prices any better that I could see.