Support your independent bookshop. Knowledgeable staff. Great source of discounted children's…read morebooks. I always use Bookends to order books in. They get them for you the next day, and I can order in advance over the Internet and collect them and pay at the shop. They have a loyalty scheme, so you can collect stickers in exchange for a voucher which you can use at Bookends or at Bookcase (their sister shop which sells second hand books and classical music CDs).

This book shop is situated betwen the Town Hall and the Cathedral and from the outside looks quite…read moresmall but looks can be very deceiving! Once you go inside you will find lots of books about Carlisle and the local area as well as books that have just been published too. There is a wonderful children's section that has lots of different and discounted books to choose from. They have a great children's section too. They also sell calendars and notelets and address books and other things that make ideal presents for those people who are sometimes hard to buy for. This floor is just the tip of the iceburg. Downstairs there are three more rooms crammed with books. You could spend ages just browsing around. the staff are very knowledgeable and very helpful. They are also good at stepping back and letting you look without feeling pressured into buying. I always come here for my books as I feel it is important to support your local independent book shop.

i love waterstones so much, the staff are so kind and the book selection is HUGE. the vibe of the…read moreshop is so cozy and really enjoyable. will be coming more often.

This is now a Waterstone's. Standard high street bookshop. Where this wins is the layout. Spacious…read moreairy store over 2 floors, with the bonus of Costa's cafe on the 2nd floor. Escalator or a lift to the 2nd floor, so it scores better than other shops for accessibility. Standard type of stock and lots of 3 for 2 offers. Not much else though.

The layout of this lovely shop positively encourages you to forget the time and browse to your…read moreheart's content. Spread across four floors of a listed Georgian building (formerly the headquarters of England's first and only nationalised brewery), the shop stocks secondhand, rare and antiquarian books along with classic CDs and sheet music. It may look a little ramshackle but it is in fact all systematically set out if you know what you are looking for you should have no trouble finding it; if you are not looking for anything in particular beware you may find yourself spending much more time (and money) than you intended to.

If you love books, and are looking for a book on Cumbria or something you have been looking for for…read moreages, come here. Ranges over several floors. Children's books are downstairs, along with LPs and a treasure trove of second hand sheet music for every kind of instrument.

This store has a wide variety of products, split over two floors, and stocks most magazines, as…read morewell as stationary, CDs and DVDs, and now also has the main post office in Carlisle situated on the first floor. The staff are reasonably helpful, some more than others. It used to be quite easy to navigate around the store, but since the introduction of the post office, I have found the store to be rather disjointed and cluttered, and as a result don't shop in here as much as I did.

Smith's is on the up as a retailer. They now have a huge range of stationery. Good stock of…read moremagazines. Books on the 2nd floor often have special offers. However, the stairs will put off some, especially as it's where Carlisle's main Post Office is now. Get yourself a WH Smith clubcard, as they often have good special offers.

Really excellent, not just the Debenhams, as I am talking in depth and overall, of the Lanes…read moreShopping Centre, and the other stores, and in the the Scotch and English Streets. I loved this street and indoor shopping malls, as it is boasts a wide range of stores, which are suitable for me, and I have visited this shopping area nearly too often, and do enjoy browsing through, even they have a great car park area all over the carlisle area. Even there are many great restaurants, cafes, shops, bookstores, clothes stores, mobile phone stores, and everything else. I feels like I can be able to get everything in these streets. Once time my sister have came over to Carlisle to stay with me, and we went out for a day worth of shopping experience, and my sister originally thought it would be rubbish day, but she was amazed on how great the town are, and offers loads of things, and she was overly impressed with the location, and everything else, as it is quite near to the train station, bus stations, and even near to the car parks. She said that she would definitely come back there again. so after a month or so she came back with pocketful of cash! For a shopping experience, I would recommend you come during the good weather, as it is open roofed on the Scotch and English Streets. But if it is raining, and you can go in the glass roof topped mall in the Lanes Centre. It is very conveniently placed and totally near to everything else! Even near to the park, and near to the River Eden, and near to the nightlife as well!

This a great department store and I was so pleased when it arrived about ten years ago. It has a…read morefantastic range of womenswear including many designer lables such as Star by Julien Mcdonald and John Rocha. I totally love the Pineapple sportswear and Oasis is fantastic although the outlet is a little small with a limited amount of their clothing. They do a nice range of Wedding dresses which are a lot cheaper than the boutiques and you can buy them off the peg. I also really like their bridesmaid dresses which are great quality. The shop is spread over three floors which are all really accessible with the escalators and there are lifts aswell. The range of perfumes and beauty products is huge and there are often some great batgains on the box sets. I also really like the childrenswear and in particular the Junior J range by Jasper Conran. It seems to wash really well which is great when you have a toddler. The menswear is on the bottom floor and stocks a lot of designer labels and also some surprises such as Cragghoppers which I only noticed the other day. Their Homewares section is really big and again includes items from the designers, although it does seem to be quite expensive and you are paying for the name. The cafe is huge and overlooks the castle which is a really nice view. In store there is also a wedding list service and a free personal shopping service. There are also some toilets located next to the cafe which are always really clean.

Nine times out of ten I get my DS and PC games from this store. The staff are always helpful and it…read moreseems like it must be a great place to work because they always seem to be in a good and cheerful mood. If you're unfamiliar with Game they have a great trade-in policy. When you've finished playing any game that you bought (it doesn't have to be a game purchased from them) you can return it to the store for store credit. You can get up to £15 in-store credit for a top selling DS game. So if you trade in two games you can get one of the top sellers for free! Or, you can get a £15 game for free. If you'd prefer cash back you can get cash as well although I believe they don't give you as much as you'd get with just store credit. They've also got a Game customer card that you can purchase. It's well worth the price if you shop there often. You get credit on the card for every purchase you make that you can apply to future purchases. If you forget to bring your card they can look you up by your postcode and you can still get credit for the purchase. I almost always forget mine so I'm grateful for that!

I like this shop for the wide range of products they sell. They also do previously owned games…read morewhich are a bit cheaper and you can find games that aren't in the chart. I don't like visiting here at christmas as the shop is cramped and the queue stratches round the shop makin it difficult to look at the products. The loyalty card is good for making savings when you have collected enough to get a vouvcher.