Your favourite physical shops.

[CornwallFox]

22 hours ago, SkidsFox said:

M&S continue to do great things in their food selection.

Used to be very wary of Primark but if anything their quality has improved. Great value.

Sainsburys - take advantage of some great Nectar deals.

Robert Dyas 

Dunelm 

Greggs - only in "emergencies" mind.

I can't fathom who uses the Gregg's on the outskirts of Newquay. I mean surely they aren't selling any Greggs pasties there. Mind you, I actually watched somebody purchase a Ginsters pasty in Treliske hospital the other day,  every aspect of which horrified me, including the fact it was even possible. 

 

My favourite shop as a nineties teen was HMV. I still occasionally go in when in Leicester and it's a bit sad what it's become really. 

 

I'm a complete foodie so anywhere that sells posh and overpriced food works for me. 

Edited yesterday at 15:09 by CornwallFox

[Parafox]

7 minutes ago, CornwallFox said:

I can't fathom who uses the Gregg's on the outskirts of Newquay. I mean surely they aren't selling any Greggs pasties there. Mind you, I actually watched somebody purchase a Ginsters pasty in Treliske hospital the other day,  every aspect of which horrified me, including the fact it was even possible. 

 

My favourite shop as a nineties teen was HMV. I still occasionally go in when in Leicester and it's a bit sad what it's become really. 

 

I'm a complete foodie so anywhere that sells posh and overpriced food works for me. 

Especially when there are so many "award winning" pastie shops all over Cornwall. 

 

They must have more "award winners" than we've got Turkish barbers.

 

I do like a nice, proper Cornish pastie tbf.

[THEfox]

Cover Story is class. 

[Unabomber]

Selfridges and walking shops 

[Trav Le Bleu]

When I was a youth favourite shops were Voodoo, Rockaboom Records, Ainsley's and Irish.

 

Haven't been into city for ages though, all my favourite shops are outside of Leicester and even Leicestershire.

 

Kibworth Antiques

Wistow Deli

Wistow Gallery 

Ferrar's Frames, Ferrar's Gallery and the Gardeners Bothy at Staunton Harold

Off The Tracks in Louth

The Cheese Shop in Louth

Woodhall Spa Bakery (amazing stuff!)

Black Dragon Games in Melton Mowbrey

 

 

 

[Chiltern Fox]

Pret a manger, John Lewis (past alumni), boots.

[LCFCJohn]

On 23/10/2026 at 22:06, SemperEadem said:

Leicester is lucky to have a John Lewis still. Sheffield lost it here a few years ago and it was a hammer blow.

Massive loss. Used to love their scones in the cafe there. We never used it ourselves (born in the 90’s and that) but Debenhams going at the same time roughly had a massive effect. That and parking prices and the city council being absolute morons with their needless bus gates and one way systems has completely killed the city. Why wouldn’t you go to Meadowhall or Crystal Peaks instead?

 

Yes I am still reeling from the latest bus gate added last month just down from where Debenhams was that screws up the drive to work 

 

On the shops though, M&S have definitely picked up the baton from John Lewis on that one. My 3 year old is obsessed with their cheese sandwich!

[Dr Marco]

HMV

M&S

Rough Trade (London)

Resident (Brighton)

[Mint23]

Now I’m a middle aged man the only shops I ever go to are either John Lewis, M&S, a good foodie shop of any variety or a record shop - Rockaboom is going to be a sad loss but Vinyl Shakedown in Burbage is very, very good. 
The loss of small independent shops in the uk is sad but Leicester is really bad.  The silver arcade is a shadow of its former self.

[DJW1]

Birds Bakeries, Georges Tradition Fish & Chips and Waterstones are all chains that I like.

In the early 80s, Nick Nacks, in central London, was the place to go for trendy gear.  Olympus Sports on Oxford Street and Lillywhites at Piccadilly Circus were good as well.

[bovril]

Was in Morrison's cafe this morning and thought about Parafox's "last supermarket before death" comment. To be honest I can't confirm if all the people sitting at the table were still "before death" or after. 

[Officer Doofy]

That sex shop on the really weird bit of the A1

[Parafox]

21 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

When I was a youth favourite shops were Voodoo, Rockaboom Records, Ainsley's and Irish.

 

Haven't been into city for ages though, all my favourite shops are outside of Leicester and even Leicestershire.

 

Kibworth Antiques

Wistow Deli

Wistow Gallery 

Ferrar's Frames, Ferrar's Gallery and the Gardeners Bothy at Staunton Harold

Off The Tracks in Louth

The Cheese Shop in Louth

Woodhall Spa Bakery (amazing stuff!)

Black Dragon Games in Melton Mowbrey

 

 

 

It's Ferrer's. 

 

Good though. And the café there is decent if you can get a seat

 

Wistow deli is so overpriced imo.

[Parafox]

10 hours ago, Mint23 said:

Now I’m a middle aged man the only shops I ever go to are either John Lewis, M&S, a good foodie shop of any variety or a record shop - Rockaboom is going to be a sad loss but Vinyl Shakedown in Burbage is very, very good. 
The loss of small independent shops in the uk is sad but Leicester is really bad.  The silver arcade is a shadow of its former self.

As a teenager I used to love the  Silver Arcade, mainly because you could pretend to be a concierge/lift operator on the original lifts they had there, complete with the handle that you used to select up or down to the floor you wanted:

 

 

And the lift doors:

 

Edited 2 hours ago by Parafox

[Stadt]

Lucky to have a Waitrose and the Bradley’s stores in Charnwood. In the late evenings the Waitrose pastries and baked items are heavily discounted - like down to 20p.

 

Curious Magpie and the pine shop in Mountsorrel are both worth pottering around too.

[Mint23]

19 minutes ago, Parafox said:

As a teenager I used to love the  Silver Arcade, mainly because you could pretend to be a concierge/lift operator on the original lifts they had there, complete with the handle that you used to select up or down to the floor you wanted:

 

 

And the lift doors:

 

Things of beauty!

[bovril]

9 minutes ago, Stadt said:

Lucky to have a Waitrose and the Bradley’s stores in Charnwood. In the late evenings the Waitrose pastries and baked items are heavily discounted - like down to 20p.

 

Curious Magpie and the pine shop in Mountsorrel are both worth pottering around too.

The whole 'overheard in Waitrose' stuff of the late 2000s and early 2010s was so stupid and damaging to supermarket discourse. Great range of quality produce and not even that much more expensive than most supermarkets. And spacious. M&S food is good but it's so dark and cold, it's like walking in a mortuary. And their products are so rich, like I like butter chicken but maybe not that level of butter. 

[Stadt]

1 hour ago, bovril said:

The whole 'overheard in Waitrose' stuff of the late 2000s and early 2010s was so stupid and damaging to supermarket discourse. Great range of quality produce and not even that much more expensive than most supermarkets. And spacious. M&S food is good but it's so dark and cold, it's like walking in a mortuary. And their products are so rich, like I like butter chicken but maybe not that level of butter. 

Yep, we swapped our Tesco delivery for Ocado and it was exactly the same on like for like items but the quality is better. As a nation there’s element of martyrdom to putting up with shit. Like coach 1 but 40% of they population.

Edited 54 minutes ago by Stadt

[foxile5]

I like record shops. But not the new 'isn't vinyl cool?' style record shops that stick plastic cover protectors on Fugees reprints and charge £30. The type of record shops that cater to people who like to actually play music rather than own the items. 

 

There's one in Manchester that's ace. I can't remember the name of it at present.

[bovril]

32 minutes ago, Stadt said:

Yep, we swapped our Tesco delivery for Ocado and it was exactly the same on like for like items but the quality is was better. As a nation there’s element of martyrdom to putting up with shit. Like coach 1 but 40% of they population.

Lots of people especially north of the humber base their identity around pretending not to like nice stuff because for fear of looking posh