The rise in express supermarket branches opening around the country, as well as supermarkets now…read moreselling a wide range of magazines and newspapers, has resulted in a decrease in popularity for local newsagents for whom sweets, drinks and magazines are all their business, as opposed to just one strand of their overall business. As a result, there are fewer newsagents around these days, and those that are still going are generally rather underwhelming. However, every so often you come across a newsagent much like K & C Douglas in Crosby. This reasonably sized newsagent offers a very good selection of sweets and drinks (we're talking a wide range of confectionery here, not just a few Snickers and Chomps) all at prices that are no worse than elsewhere (sweets aren't cheap anywhere these days). K & C Douglas also offers a very good selection of magazines in their shop, providing the usual glossies for the ladies as well as more specialist publications for those of you with more unusual hobbies and interests (Angling Weekly? Powerslam Wresting Magazine? Come on down).

I like this guy--he's smart. He sets up shop right outside the train station! I assume, of course,…read morethat he has permission to do so. This is basically a tiny little newsagents, right next to the Blundellsands and Crosby train station. Very convenient for grabbing a newspaper, a bottle of Coke, or a chocolate bar before or after you get on the train.

I have been a fan of this bookshop since I was little when the well thumbed children's books were…read morestrewn about the worn carpet, surrounded by tumbling stacks of other genres piled throughout the dishevelled store .That, of course, was then. Having moved to premises just around the corner, Pritchard's is now housed in a shiny new store which remains relatively tidy. The staff are familiar with their large stock and can pinpoint your required text in seconds- or not as the case may be; texts that are out of stock can be ordered in as I learned recently having reserved a substantial tome of Victorian poetry: fun times. With the competition of internet based stores and the numerous faceless chain stores, I think it's fantastic to see an independently owned locsl bookshop succeeding.

Elliot I couldn't agree more - I love the smell of new books! I didn't know the old store so I…read morecannot comment. I do however, like the Crosby store although the Formby seems to have more going on, more book signings etc. Whenever I have used Pritchards I have always found them really good for getting books in, that they don't have on the shelf. If you order before 4pm they pretty much guarantee it in for the next day. Pritchards have a good range of books - arts, medicine, law, sport etc. I have mainly bought language books from them and have ordered a few in, which arrived just on time for my course.