From the outside, this Waterstones store stands out. Why? It's the biggest book store in South…read moreYorkshire, and is over two floors, from the outside you can see that it is located in an old building with outdoor stairs - considering it is in a shopping centre which is basically outside this is quite a funky, maverick approach. The store does feel pretty old-fashioned inside and it hasn't had any sort of refurb which a lot of the more central and mall locations have, such as the nearest other branch of Waterstones at Meadowhall, which despite being a little smaller is one of my favourite branches of Waterstones. Decent selection of books and the location is decent too being the only Waterstones branch in Sheffield centre, located in Orchard Square fairly close to Costa and Primark. Some unique features to decor mainly in the exterior, but in the interior, it is pretty dark, and a tad gothic, and reminds me a lot of one of my local branches at Manchester - Deansgate. 2* - Useful brand and a decent sized store but for me, it lacks that interior beauty juxtaposing old and new which many of the latest Waterstones stores do have.

I have been using Waterstones in Sheffield for many years, and have always found it to have the…read moremain qualities you would look for in a bookshop: friendly and helpful staff, and a good selection of books. The space is attractive and inviting, with plenty of space to browse and to enable good displays of the more popular books. In common with all bookshops it faces strong competition from Amazon, but does a decent job in providing an alternative: while it can never stock such a large selection or compete on price, it has advantages such as being able to browse at leisure, especially useful when you don't know exactly what you're looking for.

WHSmith's branch on Fargate in Sheffield is one of the larger stores in Sheffield centre, it's a…read morefairly cool branch. I came in here to take a quick look around, and possibly purchase a beverage. They were selling Fuzetea for £1 each which is a pretty average price at most retailers including Superdrug and the Co-operative Food, however, this (like most of their drink prices) worked out between 50-80% cheaper than at Boots which is basically at the other side of the square. The staff seemed nice enough, there was a small checkout area both a manned checkout and a few self-service tills which were pretty handy. I would have preferred to see a Post Office in this branch as Sheffield city centre doesn't have too many and feel it would be a much better location and be better suited to this store, compared to the Wilko store, as a bonus. WHSmith does already operate a vast amount of Post Offices in their stores across the network including in Liverpool, you can post things here with DHL but I find DHL to be much more expensive than virtually any other provider. The drink selection could have been improved by stocking other brands of Iced Tea, it seems to favour drinks from the Coca Cola company as a whole, also lacking choice from other brands which compete, which is a shame. 3* - Pretty average store, albeit one of my favourite stores in Sheffield's city centre (excluding Meadowhall)

This is on Fargate and has a good range of products, books, stationary, magazines etc…read more It can get very busy and have long queues at lunchtimes so avoid that if you can. The staff are usually very good and fairly knowledgable about the products and services they offer. You can order products online and save on the postage by having them delivered to the store which i think is great.

A good selection of Christian books, music and gifts for a good price. CLC is not too big but big…read moreenough to have a good range of products to choose from. They will also allow you to order things and to set up subscriptions for different things.

There are rumours that Jared, owner of OK Comics, hatched from an egg from atop a volcano. I cannot…read moreconfirm this, but I can say that a world without OK Comics would be a a world without joy. Everything a comic book lover needs is nestled in this cosy little store. Downstairs you have the latest releases (as I like to call it, the Wednesday Wall) plus back issues from some of the bigger publishers. You also have graphic novels, trades, and manga - often some of it at a discounted price. - perfect for people just getting into comics. Upstairs is like a comic museum. 50p back issues in classic cardboard boxes and even more trades to whet your whistle. This is a great place if you're looking for that one issue to complete a story arc. Back to Jared and co. The staff are some of the friendliest and most knowledgeable that you could ever come across. I've been in other comic book stores around the country (and world) and very few can compare to the awesomess of the OK staff. If you're a comic book fan, get your fleshy behind to OK Comics. If your interest in comics has been piqued by recent box office smashes, then let your legs escort you to OK. Is that enough gushing? You want something negative? Ok, well, I heard that at the stroke of midnight the comics in the store come alive and contribute to 60% of the grafitti in the city centre.

OK comics is a valuable addition to the independent shops in Thornton's arcade, providing a broad…read moremix of genres from the predictable sci-fi to a hardback Moomin book nestled in the window. The shop has a clean, light feel and is tidy and organised enabling enjoyable browsing through their many high quality comics and unusual books. The staff are friendly and welcoming, even if, like me, you are a bit clueless about the world of comics, having ventured in there looking for a present for my dad! This is a shop with a real sense of identity adding to the buzzing scene of quirky shops in Leeds'city centre, and having won the Leeds Guide retail legend award, it clearly offers a quality range of products and offers excellent customer service.