What’s your favourite/least favourite shop(s)?…

[Ammi]

…as a 2025 Christmas thread has already been made and the shopping season is on its way…what’s your favourite shop that you like to browse or buy in…/…either in the high street in person or online is fine too…and what is your ‘weakness’ in terms of buying/that item(s) the you just can’t resist …?…another hat/another blazer/another hole punch or stapler etc…?…and what shop(s) do you least like to go in, that make you want to scream…?…

[Benjamin]

I avoid Primark at all costs. It’s like a cattle market and it stresses me out.

[Kate!]

Shops I love. Primark, Superdrug, Asda for clothing.

Shops I dislike. None.

[Crimson Dynamo]

Shops I dislike

Lush

[Dogeatdog]

I can’t stand Primark, it’s just chaos I don’t know how people can spend more than 15 mins in there.

I did like House Of Fraser but the Bluewater one closed down, TK Maxx can sometimes be ok and I quite like Zara as well.

[Vanessa]

I like primark, but not the bigger ones. The one in my area is smaller, so not too crowded.
Also love Poundlad and shops similar for browsing. You can find some interesting stuff there.
For food shop I go to the Coop as it's local and good quality.

[Benjamin]

Shops I dislike

Lush

Oh yeah, the overpowering smell just from the outside puts me off.

[Ammi]

I can’t stand Primark, it’s just chaos I don’t know how people can spend more than 15 mins in there.

I did like House Of Fraser but the Bluewater one closed down, TK Maxx can sometimes be ok and I quite like Zara as well.

…yeah, House of Fraser here is just Frasers now and it just isn’t somewhere that I tend to go anymore…TK Maxx for me has always just been a hellhole of confusion…:laugh:…Zara is ok, it’s pretty good tbh but again it can be a hellhole at sale times…

[Niamh.]

I avoid Primark at all costs. It’s like a cattle market and it stresses me out.

Especially around Christmas time

[Crimson Dynamo]

Oh yeah, the overpowering smell just from the outside puts me off.

That and the fact its run by crazy activists who support harming children

[Ammi]

…unless I’m buying online I love small boutique/type shops for clothing…I’m not much a fan of any of the bigger chain clothing shops…

[Redway]

I’ve always had a bit of time for Blue Inc. It’s just that it’s sparse these days. Rare to find a store that’s not been closed.

[Ammi]

…Sports Direct or actually any/many sport clothing shops are awful…why do they build their shelving 750 feet high so you can’t reach anything and then just leave you there without anyone to help get something down…and I would never ask for anything to be handed down anyway and risk the life of an employee and then say…oh no, I don’t like it actually, now that it’s close up….it can go back up there…

[Benjamin]

…unless I’m buying online I love small boutique/type shops for clothing…I’m not much a fan of any of the bigger chain clothing shops…

Love boutique shops. Also love book shops (not WH smith style, proper book shops), boutique home stores and cute little cafes to have a coffee during shopping.

[Ammi]

Love boutique shops. Also love book shops (not WH smith style, proper book shops), boutique home stores and cute little cafes to have a coffee during shopping.

…oh yeah, book shops is one I love also…not just to browse the books but as you say, to have a coffee in there and browse the people who are browsing the books…:love:…

[Mystic Mock]

Shops I dislike.

Any clothing shop really.:laugh:

Even Sports Direct isn't a fun place to shop imo.

The best was Gamestation back in the day, but now it's probably A Supermarket like Asda or Morrison's imo.

[Redway]

Shops I dislike.

Any clothing shop really.:laugh:

Even Sports Direct isn't a fun place to shop imo.

The best was Gamestation back in the day, but now it's probably A Supermarket like Asda or Morrison's imo.

Sports-Direct was a good place to shop in, like, 2003.

[AnnieK]

Shops I dislike

Lush

100% agree on this. I get the worst headache just stood outside the place

[Redway]

I don’t mind Tesco but it’s a bit generic/overly common for my fuller liking.

[caprimint]

The goat Asda of course :pipe:

[Benjamin]

I love a good garden centre at Christmas too.

[Dogeatdog]

Oh I do like browsing in HMV too actually. It’s one of the few shops I can actually go in and not get a headache after 20 minutes.

[Benjamin]

Oh I do like browsing in HMV too actually. It’s one of the few shops I can actually go in and not get a headache after 20 minutes.

Oh that reminds me, love a good record shop too.

[Beso]

For clothes....Luke 77


For food...marks and spencers




For betting....Ladbrokes.

[Crimson Dynamo]

The goat Asda of course :pipe:

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[Mystic Mock]

Sports-Direct was a good place to shop in, like, 2003.

I like some of the clothes there.

But I find clothes shopping just to be an incredibly boring idea.

[caprimint]

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:oh:

The greatest supermarket of all time I'll have you know

[Benjamin]

:oh:

The greatest supermarket of all time I'll have you know


https://media.tenor.com/XVrS6GAwTuoAAAAM/moira-rose.gif

[Ammi]

…it’s quite something that IKEA hasn’t even had a toe-in as probably the most nightmare shop ever to walk around/browse…

[Benjamin]

…it’s quite something that IKEA hasn’t even had a toe-in as probably the most nightmare shop ever to walk around/browse…

I actually enjoy IKEA. But not on a weekend day, when it’s busy.

[Ammi]

I actually enjoy IKEA. But not on a weekend day, when it’s busy.

…I quite like the kitchen gadgets and bits toward the end of the ‘shopping experience’ but it’s like having to have a whole weekend break in there to get to those sections that I tend to browse…and then if I do buy anything…?…I’m so happy with my little bargain buy until I get to the checking out area and look at those crates and trolley loads and queues etc… and then look at my one or two little bits in hand…

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[Benjamin]

…I quite like the kitchen gadgets and bits toward the end of the ‘shopping experience’ but it’s like having to have a whole weekend break in there to get to those sections that I tend to browse…and then if I do buy anything…?…I’m so happy with my little bargain buy until I get to the checking out area and look at those crates and trolley loads and queues etc… and then look at my one or two little bits in hand…

https://media0.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExajg2MWJsNmZ5ejdrM201bDI2OTg0b2l 0NWFpbjk1bnJyMDNucW90dyZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfY nlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/3ohhwH3qgh0Dq5w3O8/giphy.gif

That’s why I tend to go on a week day mid afternoon. A lot quieter. :laugh:

[Ammi]

That’s why I tend to go on a week day mid afternoon. A lot quieter. :laugh:

…my nearest Ikea is probably around an hour and a half -ish away…maybe a bit more with traffic sometimes so it does tend to be a weekend break for me if I ever go…which is virtually never unless someone invites me to tag along with them …and then I can find myself saying yes while all of my senses are screaming no….

[Cherie]

…it’s quite something that IKEA hasn’t even had a toe-in as probably the most nightmare shop ever to walk around/browse…

Hate IKEA with a vengence, not been back since we tried to get a bed for our eldest as a child and he is now 28 :laugh:

[Ammi]

Hate IKEA with a vengence, not been back since we tried to get a bed for our eldest as a child and he is now 28 :laugh:


…and still sleeping in that bed by gum…!!!!!!!!!!…..


https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/gonatt-cot-with-drawer-white-90467089/

[Cherie]

…and still sleeping in that bed by gum…!!!!!!!!!!…..


https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/gonatt-cot-with-drawer-white-90467089/

Too right !

[Redway]

When it comes to food-shopping, all shops have their purpose, and I imagine people of dual relative cultures know that more than most. On the one hand, you’ve got to do your Italian, Chinese or Afro-Caribbean shopping somewhere-else but you’ve also got to reckon with the more international/Western market for everything-else. You need both your plantain and your shredded wheat. Your bog-roll and your ogiri-egusi. Your yellow garri and your milk. So dipping in and out of different shops is just the done thing, how it is, automatically. What I’ll say for myself is that I’d rather go to anywhere but Tesco. Again, I find them a bit generic and bland, even-though perfectly fine otherwise. I don’t dislike Tesco but I’d rather choose one of the more unique, less overly commercialised shops.