Good little branch of Oxfam. A staff member there told us they'd had to drop prices, I guess due to…read morecharity shop competition! Which is not bad for the consumer I got a Caithness glass clock and a (new) carved puzzle box for real bargain prices. Lovely range of stuff, including new stuff, like the box, fairtrade coffee and chocolate, etc. Lovely staff: they even found me a presentation box to put the clock in.

This branch of Oxfam is in the Boroughfields shopping centre area of Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire…read more There is a pay and display car park at the back of the shopping precinct, although the precinct itself, which Oxfam is on is a pedestrianised area. Oxfam can be found opposite to another charity shop, the British Heart foundation shop. If you are a fan of charity shops (which I am), there are quite a few of them in Wootton Bassett, all within easy walking distance of each other. Oxfam is well laid out and you can often get a bargain in there. They sell some new goods as well as secondhand goods.

I love that you can follow the progression of this Bristol store by old shop signs at increasingly…read morebigger stores up Stapleton Road, up to its current destination in Fishponds Trading Estate. It is difficult to describe - basically a homeware shop with a bunch of oddities on top - think pictures of Jesus standing beneath holographic waterfalls. Apart from the sheer fun of going round here, during the heatwave five years ago this was the only shop in Bristol still to stock fans. Genius.

Rajanis is the stuff of legend for the cheap and cheerful. Only if you're prepared to trawl through…read morea warehouse of junk, tat and odds and ends to find what you're after. And if what you're after is a job lot of chairs, or a mop or a big bag of mixed sweets. I'm doing it an injustice. Wholesale is the right name for it (despite selling to the average person off the street too). They stock a whole host, floor-to-ceiling - gifts, cards, stationary, candles, ornaments, mirrors, luggage, beauty and cleaning products, household goods, crockery, catering supplies, DIY products, pet supplies, gardening goods and furniture, curtains, towels, cushions, blinds, bedding, toys and electrical goods. All at warehouse discount, bargain basement, super-duper low prices. The Xmas decoration section itself is breath-taking - you could decorate an entire village with what they have here - tinsel, baubels, trees and lights a go-go. Rajanis also has a café on site, a cashpoint, delivery service and pensioner discounts on a Thursday. Phew... it's like an entire new city of stuff.

Unfortunately this store has now closed down, hoever there has been rumours that factory outlet…read morestore for House of fraser is opening in its place. Lets keep our fingers crossed.

A lovely card and stationery shop which is located next to the House of Fraser. Vast range of card…read moreand wrapping papers. Excellent for stationery gifts with many very trendy matching items - diaries, notebooks, pens etc. Great for school kids stuff. Also some good bags. Good for Christmas stocking fillers.

Scene: A damp and dreary November morning. Bristol…read more Mission: Find a bikini for impromptu holiday in the sun. Jenni's reaction: Panic. Sheer panic. Having not actually gone on holiday for the last three years, I'd seem to have misplaced all my bikinis and so I was set the unenviable personal challenge of trying to find swimwear, in England, on the run up to Christmas. House of Fraser laughed and H&M asked, "You want a bikini in November?" Things weren't looking good. And then I remembered Debenhams. Lovely Debenhams. The place I used to consider "quite classy" as a child, and where I used to go with my Nan to try on perfumes. I hadn't been into Debenhams for over a year and it hadn't changed one iota. It was a little bit like stepping back into my childhood; smiling made-up ladies behind the counter, unflattering lighting, mums and their children looking for sensible shoes. I approached the nearest shop assistant and looked pleadingly into her eyes. Swimwear? "Let me show you Madam," said the lovely woman as she led me to the first floor sale section. There, in the furthest corner of the store, four bikinis - 70% off. A bit behind the times, but very reliable!

To fully appreciate Debenhams take a trip to Primark first. After the barely controlled chaos (well…read morethat's a slight exaggeration) to the latter shop, Debenhams will feel like a paradise of tasteful muzak and neatly folded clothes. The staff are keen, sometimes overly so, to help you out. The quality is always good - the suits in particular are lovely. Excellent ranges up on the upper floors in the home and electricals departments. Unfortunately this all comes with some hefty prices. Although the new Harvey Nichols has probably taken the crown for Bristol's most expensive department store Debenhams comes a strong second. This is probably why it's so empty of customers, and makes the rock-bottom prices of next door Primark all the more attractive. Give everything in there a 30% discount and I would be in there like a shot, at the moment Debenhams offers good stuff in a pleasant setting but is just a bit too pricey.

This is one of my favourit stores and has everything you should need! They even sell food now. They…read morehave introduced the baskets that have handles to pull along the ground. This is really useful and you enjoy shopping here! The staff are friendly and helpful and always have a smile. They are really good at changing the stock around dependent on the season. In Spring and Summer they have a full garden and out door section. This is changed over to a Christmas section in the Winter. They have some fantastic sales reducing items by 75%.

This is a brilliant store has everything you need from cleaning materials, decorating, food, xmas…read moredecs and gifts!! and very good prices!

3.5 stars. This location is ok. They don't have the biggest clothing section and the last few times…read moreI've been to the food court they've been out of items. I went for specific clothing and food items today and the food was out of stock and the clothing isn't available at this location (which I should have checked before but was going by anyway). They pricing on the sushi shelf also didn't match what I paid for. It was £1.10 more expensive!

I've continued to avoid Starbucks for my coffee since I was charged 5 pence for a plastic cup of…read moretap water in Starbucks, Portsmouth, England. As we tour this 'green and pleasant land' we suss out M&S cafes for coffee. They are our trusted go to brand at home. The staff - just like here in this store in Bath centre - are mega polite, the cafe tables are kept clean (not Starbucks greatest strength) the coffee is darn good, there's always toilets and if you are there after 3pm there's a coffee and cake deal running now with any coffee and a slice of cake £3. I got a slice of delicious Victoria sponge with my cappuccino and they cheerfully served up iced tap water that was not only free but it was plentiful too. The coffee and cake deal after 3pm is cheaper than a tall cappuccino in Starbucks too. We noticed too that M&S is now selling other brands like Clarke's, Smiggle and Jaeger. There are two fundamental truths in business - the only constant is change and customers make pay days. Go M&S.

The other main store at Cribbs at the other end from John Lewis is a two-storey M&S with the food…read morehall, mens and xmas bumpf downstairs and the women's section upstairs. The selection is OK, but has dwindled in recent years from their more expensive or exclusive ranges back to their staple Per Una and cashmere jumpers choices. Their shoes remain, mystifyingly, some of the kinkiest in the Mall bar Kurt Geiger so even if thought of shopping in M&S makes you think of your grandmother's twin set and pearls then brave it and check out the shoes. Staff are always helpful in here, especially good as its such a big store, and will help you find things or fetch you different sizes of clothes whilst you stay in the changing room.

The M&S Deli serves reasonable food, largely because the cooking is automated. For instance, the…read moremanager explained to us that the pasta is cooked automatically by a special machine, so why we had undercooked pasta was inexplicable. Yet, it was undercooked. However, my penne and pesto was lovely and was just what I was looking for. We were told we would have to wait till 12 noon before ordering lunch (it was 11.55am), but it still arrived at about 12.25 anyway. This underlines the real reason we wouldn't return to M&S Deli: the food is reasonably tasty and reasonably priced, and the wine is good because it's straight off the M&S shelves, but the service is terrible! We were there for an hour, which was way longer than we expected. This was because of poor all-round service. While we were there, we heard at least three other complaints, with one couple actually leaving. I'm sure this isn't the sort of 'experience' M&S wants to encourage. Our waiter wasn't polite, wasn't attentive, was blasé and had dirty fingernails (yet still handled the raw Parmesan cheese). Get the staff sorted and the rest will follow.

Not really sure if it is just me, but I feel like the store is always in a bit of a mess when I…read morecome in for a browse. It has the feel of the House of Fraiser outlet store down the road, but no outlet prices. It is quite easy to find, although Mr. Snarky had trouble finding the parking garage that is connected to Debenhams. Most of the time I stop in to get things for Mr. Snarky, not myself. They usually have a good selection of polo shirts as well as sweaters and they are usually on a buy one, get one half off deal. The store is spread over multiple floors, although it doesn't seem quite as large as some of the other Debenhams I have been to. They do have a nice lingerie/bra section and you can have a bra fitting if you find you are one of the many women wearing the wrong size bra. Sorry I saw a sign in store about 70% of women wearing the wrong size bra... Anyway, there is a cafe, travel money office, in addition to the usual departments. Some departments are a bit smaller than others, for example the shoe department is quite small, so there may not be quite the selection you are looking for. On most visits I have received pretty good service, specifically in the Men's Department, but on the most recent visit service wasn't great, in fact I was so disappointed, that I just made a note of the information from the shoe I was looking at and looked it up online. I have been looking for shoes for the wedding (not long now) and haven't been having much luck. Debenhams was the last store before heading to the bus stop, so I stopped in thinking I probably wouldn't find what I want. I noticed that they had a display of shoes with a sign that read 'Bridal Debut' and there were some promising candidates. After looking through the display, I found a pair that looked like it would not only match the colour of the dress, but also the vintage feel of the dress. I noticed they only had two sizes in the shoe, so I tried on the 5 and sometimes the 5 works, sometimes it doesn't. I managed to get my foot into the 5, but walking wouldn't really be possible in them. There was a sales associate sitting on one of the benches doing something with sales tags. To be honest, I didn't realize she was a staff member until another customer asked her a question. I took another look around to make sure that there wasn't a 6 on the display before asking, but still couldn't find one. So I walked over and asked her if they would have a size 6 and she said that there were no other sizes in the stock room. I remember on one of my past visits that they used to have a kiosk where you could scan the item and order the size you need, so I asked about ordering or even just locating the size at another store and she said that wasn't possible. I got the distinct feeling that I was interrupting her and that she wasn't going to do anything to help. So I went back to the display and used the free in-store wifi to look up the shoe and see if it could be ordered. And it was the second shoe to appear on the shoe page and not only can it be ordered, but it can be ordered to collect the next day in store. It was really disappointing because I usually have a good experience here and am able to find what I am looking for. According to the Debenhams website they do have an in-store ordering service, so I don't know if the website is out of date or if the employee just didn't know about the service, but something to keep in mind if you can't find the size you are looking for.

This is a huge store on three floors with an impressive array of goods for sale…read more The top floor houses The Pierre, homeware goods and childrens clothes. The first floor is entirely womans wear with loads of mini store selling their clothes here, Jane Norman and Oasis but two of them. Unfortunetly due to there being limited space for each vendor, the full array of clothes each store would sell individually is not always available. On the ground foor, are the cosmetics, mens wear, accessories and the general gifts. Great store for finding special gifts. Fantastic deals, like 25% off days etc. There is a cafe on the first floor and hair salon and wedding section on the top floor.