This Co-op is a good sized local shop rather than a supermarket…read more It is more dated in appearance than the new co-op stores which seem to be popping up all over Manchester city centre, with a faded blue shop front which has probably seen better days. Inside there is actually an impressive selection of food and beverages on sale with fresh fruit and veg, chilled and frozen goods, sweets, treats and a particularly well stocked baking section. Staff are friendly and the prices beat some of the local newsagents, particularly for basics like bread, milk and veggies.

Co-op Food - Didsbury is a decent sized convenience store, on Wilmslow Road, serving Didsbury…read moreVillage. The store setup is pretty easy to follow, and much better than other Co-Op stores outside of Manchester city centre, you have fruit and vegetables as you go into the store, followed by the to-go food and drink area, this features a Costa Express coffee machine. I like how the checkout areas feature both self-service and manned checkouts, meaning you have the option of either. I always prefer self-service checkouts, but I know many people, especially older folks prefer the personal touch, so I'm glad there is the option, especially with many Co-Op stores outside the city centre again, only tending to have manned checkouts. The selection in store is pretty good, I was able to get almost all the items I came in for. They do tend to use doors on the fridges here, I find this a little annoying, I prefer as few common touch points as possible. The staff in the store seemed nice enough, and apologised when they were unable to find a specific brand of crisps which I was looking for, and helped advise larger stores nearby which may stock them. 4*

Pretty much your average convenience store, located in the Moho Building on Ellesmere Street,…read moreMorrisons Daily takes up the old McColls unit, with little changing from its' McColls days, with Morrisons taking over the McColls brand. The store has a decent range of essentials, including a Costa coffee machine which is handy, surrounded by a bunch of new build apartments, it is in a useful area on the edge of the city centre. The staff seem friendly enough, apologising when I mentioned I was unable to find the items I had come in for, stock levels could be better, but remain mostly adequate. 3* - I prefer the Co-Op nearby but this isn't a bad alternative.

After having breakfast and stopping at a couple stores at Middlebrook Retail Park, we headed over…read moreto Tesco to see what they offer. Since the Tesco in Swindon has a huge selection of American items, I thought that this store might offer the same. I am planning to make a Thanksgiving dinner and need some American items to ensure authenticity :). There is a large car park, however, if there is a football game on, you may want to stay away from this area due to traffic. The store is huge and was quite busy on Saturday afternoon. There are ATMs outside of the store, as well as a dry cleaning service. Walking inside the store actually made me feel like I was in a Wal-Mart Supercenter. It is huge! There is a cafe, salon, electronics section, beauty counter like those in a department store, bakery, and a health store. We continued straight on and went through the toys, home goods, and electronic sections. If you head to the right you'll eventually find the food section. Of course we did get a bit sidetracked and ended up getting a slow cooker since it was on sale (we will be returning it as when we plugged it in, it blew the fuse for everything in our apartment). I also got to look at Christmas decorations and saw a nice laptop for a reasonable price to replace my iBook dinosaur. Eventually we got over to the food section. The problem with me trying to do a shop in a new store is that I get distracted trying to look at everything on offer. Unfortunately this is not compatible with Mr. Snarky and I should have sent him back over to the electronics. What I like about the store, is that while it is very busy, it is very spacious so it doesn't feel like sardines in a can and making shopping a little easier. While they do offer a lot and all of the usual items, I was a bit disappointed with their World Foods Area. The first was the rice aisle which consisted mainly of Basmati rice with a couple bags of glutinous rice. For a 'World Foods' section, they should have more selection of rice and as a result I didn't get the rice that I was looking for. They do offer a lot of European foods, but the selection from other countries is not as large, including the American section. I did get the pumpkin for my pumpkin pie and pumpkin roll, but the other items that I was looking for and stocked by the Tesco in Swindon were not available. I did like that they have a 'Free From' section for those with intolerances or allergies... and it seems fairly extensive. Check out was a bit slow, but no massive queues. Besides self-checkout, they do have the scan-as-you-shop scheme as well. It is a nice store, though, very clean, well stocked, and has almost everything you could want.

One of the best Tesco stores in the country now that it's had a recent huge overhaul and extension…read more The new 'World Foods' area is particularly impressive. It also has a cafe, a salon, a Timpson dry cleaner/key cutter, and a petrol station, as well as an on-site recycle centre. As it is quite a large and busy store, there can be quite a problem with queuing at the tills, and due to being a 24 hour store, late night shopping can see many internal lights turned off, as well as lots of cages of stock all over the place down most aisles, making access tricky. NOTE: On Bolton Wanderers match days, there is a three hour limit to be parked in their car park, after which, you can receive a £70 fine.

Slightly tucked away in Green Quarter, this Co-op Food store is one of the small numbers of…read morelocations to support the Pay in aisle app, the store is close to Victoria Station and the company's HQ and is in the perfect location for nearby flats. The store is pretty modern, it has a decent selection of most items, while I feel their to-go food and beverage selection including drinks isn't as good as other stores nearby such as opposite Victoria Station, Spinningfields and Piccadilly, it still is a pretty good store and they have a good range of essentials and more, even a coffee machine. The staff seemed friendly enough, they were quickly on hand to remove unloading barriers which were placed in the way before I could even ask them too. A really useful store for the surrounding flats and Green Quarter area and the store seems to be slicker and have a nicer selection in most areas compared to the nearby station opposite Victoria. 4*

A small co-op food with a decent selection of quick and easy snacks, and a good selection of fresh…read moregoodies as well. Located on the ground floor of Cypress Place, this is a go-to place for quick foods for anyone living in the Green Quarter. The shop is kept brightly lit and clean, and staff are friendly. It's never going to be a one-stop shop for everything you need to stock in your kitchen, but it's got plenty to fill in the gaps with any essentials you might run out of. The main negative with this shop is the relatively high prices - it's significantly more expensive than other shops, but it's just a matter of convenience versus having to walk to town to pick up some snacks or milk and save a quid or two.

This is a large Co-Op Food store, it opened in May 2022, in the former Booths unit at Media City. I…read morelike this store as it is new, modern and one of the biggest Co-Op Food stores with easy access to the city centre. The store is clean, modern and well laid out, and the selection is pretty good in most areas. I did find the selection of to-go food and pre-bottled beverages to be disappointing, but the selection of groceries including dairy, general cupboard items, toiletries and alcohol was very good for a convenience store. There are a few machines in the store too, offering coffee, freshly squeezed orange juice, slushies and even a station to fill up your water bottle. The checkout area was spacious and had manned and self-service checkouts. I would have liked to see a mobile scanning and payment system, Co-Op seems to be behind the likes of Sainsbury's and Marka and Spencer on that front. Prices are a little high but not much more than the average Co-Op or any convenience store for that matter. Students can get 10% off through TOTUM which is handy, and having a Co-Op loyalty card also gets you some nice offers too. Other facilities offered by the store include parcel collection for various other retailers such as John Lewis and Amazon. They also have a DPD Pick Update point which is quite handy. 4*- A very good store with lots of positives, and a welcomed addition to Media City, even if it does come at the expense of the old Booths store that I loved.

This shop used to be just an off -license but now it is so much more! It is run by a lovely Indian…read morecouple and to call it a market is certainly correct! It sells everything from newspapers to teabags, sweets to ravioli and this is the type of shop- like in Little Britain- where you could go in and ask for the June 1986 copy of "The Angler's Rod" magazine and they would produce it for you! Gorse Hill Mini market sells the best range of spices in Stretford and for half the price of the larger supermarkets. I would have to say that the selection of wines and spirits is not very comprehensive, but there is an impressive line in Mr Freeze ice pops to cool you down in Summer time. Exceptionally friendly staff, very cheap prices and open late and on bank Holidays, this store is a life saver. The only difficulty is negotiating your way past the long chest freezer which has been inconveniently placed in the middle of this narrow shop. However, who minds a little lack of Feng Shui when you can pick up one of Gorse Hill Mini Market's fantastic bargains?

Not much to say except that it's a large convenient store with weekly offers. The energy saving…read morelights and high shelves make it quite a dark shopping experience. But like a proper corner shop, there's an array of "10p" crisps (not actually 10p anymore) including Space Invaders and Tangy Toms. The guy behind the counter is friendly and does a good job sorting out all their postal orders that get sent here for customers to collect. There's a parking lay by outside but the road is a bit bumpy so watch out for puddles when it rains!

Tesco Express on Parker Street is located at Clayton Square, opposite the old Tesco Metro branch at…read moreSt John's. Although this is smaller than the former unit across the way, I feel this store is easier to get in and around quicker, due to the more compact size, with the usual "Express" store layout. The prices were slightly higher than a usual store, at the end of the day you pay for convenience, some of the prices were just over 10% more compared to a regular Tesco store, a little annoying, but given the fact most people visiting here are only going to pick up a couple of items, it isn't too bad. I couldn't find all the items I was looking for, the selection in store was fine overall, but could be better, even for a store of its' size. I did have an issue using the self-service machine, where it would constantly ask me to remove the last item, and it never seemed to recognise the weight of the item being scanned, meaning I had to ask for staff approval after scanning every item. It is still a pretty new store, the layout and appearance of the store is nice enough and they do have a Costa Express coffee machine. The staff in the store seemed friendly enough, they were a little short-staffed but where isn't right now? 3* - OK, it doesn't really offer anything better than many of the nearby convenience stores but the store is fine and I would return.