Best Shopping Centre ?

jenniewb

dawnfuller wrote: »

Please tell me of other shopping malls in your area and most of all why you rate them!!!!

Just me being a shopaholic.....

OK, I live in South East London but travel all over London, heres my experience of the shopping malls around me (and remember, its MY personal experience- if you disagree please don't be offended, its ok to have a different opinion!)

Bromley, The Glades: Shops are varied, from the cheap/tacky card and bookshops to Karen Millen, Whittards, Lush, French Connection and the middle ground Virgin, Oasis, River Island Faith, M&S (nice biggish one) and Debernhams. Also has a great Boots. Outside on the high Street there are even more stores, a big big Topshop, an Office, BHS, Primark, TK Maxx, Habitat, JD sports... The Glades is a good place to shop in, its clean, tidy and there are not too many chavs in the week. But it does shut really mega early, (I am used to being able to shop till late). Not many unique stores though, think infact they are all chain stores. 8/10

Lewisham- Keep farfar away. The stores are basicly either sports stores or discount stores. Its M&S needs help! its such a mess- though I would imagine it starts off tidy- until the customers arrive. Many customers in Lewisham will throw stuff around, in the floor, the wrong department... and dutch courage is needed here. Having never shoplifted in my life, I always leave Lewisham feeling so sorry for the "shoplifting crimes" I have committed: Security guards are on such high alert that you will feel guilt just walking around. They said it was getting better, they gave it a revamp. So now its not so filthy, but the ethos remains the same. Its a playground for the many schools surrounding Lewisham. After 4pm visit at your own peril. Never tried at the weekend, not brave enough! 2/10

Bluewater: you can walk for miles and miles here- I like this center, it is round, you don't have to double up on yourself. The stores are so big too- massive boots, massive m&s, massive House of Fraiser... big enough to accidentally see someone you shouldn't (shopping for them) and be able to avoid them. All day. The stores are open till around 7pm? and the buses run from just outside the center. Its all sheltered. Great place to visit, clean, tidy, but all just chain stores. Can be a full days treck though- its a long way via either bus or train- needs prethinking and preplanning! 9/10

Some other Shopping Malls around London I have been to are:
Brent Cross (5/10) (Needs new...uh,,just about everything!)
Lakeside(7/10) (Good but needs a facelift and new stores)
Croydon (6.5/10) (needs a clean! but two shopping centers and street)
Wimbledon(6/10)(too small!)
Woolwich(5/10) (excellent for £1 shops and bargains- 4 clearence stores, but not what I would call a nice pleasent experience- needs a clean, needs to lose the chuggers, chugging to the already poor!! and needs new stores that are not mobile phone related!)
Canary Wharf (7/10) two shopping centers, well looked after, but the shops are too small! higher end variety: SweatyBetty, Reisse, Whistles, Moltern Brown, Space NK, Gap etc, clean and tidy, bored looking security guards everywhere and many Prets!)
There are way more then these but this is what stands out in my mind!


Sorry- coulnd't resist answering this! am also a mega shopaholic- been out of shopping centers for over 2 months now (am not allowing myself to shop as I have no money) and am having massive withdrawal symptoms!!:rotfl:


West end- (10/10) sorry, know its not a shopping center, but it has it all and nothing beats it:
Oxford Street has the major chains (Topshop, Office, M&S, Zara, River Island..etc) and Selfridges.
Carnaby Street has the smaller chains: Puma store, Replay store, Diesel store, Lush, Libertys, Miss Sixty (is that still there? not sure)
Kingly Court has many little boutisue stores, all by new and up comming designers and is a great place to visit, even if you can't afford to buy anything!
Soho, great for bead shops and book shops -many book shops and near to China Town for food.
Knightsbridge, great for designer stores (as is Bond Street), stores like Armani, Versace, Harvey Nics, Harrods, Gucci.....
Kings Road, great mix of stores, starts off with Tiffani, Emma Hope, Whistles at the Peter Jones end and goes past Shellys, Oasis, M&S and onto unique antique and one off stores as ou get close to the town hall. Go even further down towards Fulham and there are charity shops along the way.
Foodwise? everything from Tescos, Pizza express and Mc Ds through to TGI fridays and the Ivy!

mollyboo

Spent a lovely day at Meadowhall (Sheffield) yesterday - were there about 6 hours and saw about half the shops. Free parking is a bonus.

Bullring (Birmingham) - don't like quite as much but it does have Selfridges. Parking quite expensive but if you get fed up of the centre the rest of Birmingham city centre is on the doorstep.

(This is my first post so be gentle!)

sallymids

Just had to mention Telford shopping centre which I love. Not big and impersonal but has everything you need. Debenhams, Primark, M&S, Woolies and all the other shops you would expect plus some smaller shops that you don't see everywhere - also there is another centre just 2 mins drive away with a big Tesco living, TX Maxx, Currys etc so everything you need in one area.

kerrydrobertson

me and the OH usually go down to either Metro Centre or Trafford Centre.
Have just recently been to Silverburn though and is good, free parking etc but there are a few stores missing i think that would be good there.

joyce63

I like Buchanan Galleries in Glasgow City Centre - it's not got everything but if you start your shopping up in Sauchiehall Street, you can take in a big TK Maxx, mid-size Primark and M&S, then walk into the Galleries which has a huge Next, as well as Gap, River Island, Miss Selfridge, Boots and H&M among others. Then you walk down Buchanan Street, taking in a big branch of Monsoon, Princes Square and Frasers, before hitting Argyle Street with its huge Primark and M&S.

I don't drive so don't visit many big shopping centres as most are hard to get to on public transport. I like Silverburn in this respect as there is a good express bus service serving it, but give me the high street anyday.

dawnfuller

I cant believe the choice of Shopping centres in England.
thankyou all for your answers

JoolzS

Shopping centres (malls) - I hate them all with a passion and avoid them if at all possible. They design them so that the escalators are as difficult to get to, and take you past as many shops, as possible. If there are screaming kids then the screams are magnified. They hide the stairs which makes it difficult for me to get from one level to another (I'm scared of escalators).

If I want to pop into town to buy something then that's what I want to do - I don't want to be forced around layers upon layers of shops that I'm not remotely interested in just to get to the one shop I intended to go to. I have hated my city centre (Southampton) ever since they opened the West Quay Shopping Centre. It's now difficult to shop and even more difficult to park.

Julie