Until this branch of Lakeland opened, I had to travel to Shrewsbury or Worcester to get my…read morehousehold essentials. Quelle beast! I say "essentials" but actually I mean: "random household gimmicks that suckers like me can't resist". It is a crazy shop, selling things like banana guards, mushroom bags and non-slip cupboard liners. You can even buy travel plugs, for when your hotel room sink is somewhat lacking. Mad stuff aside; they also sell some incredibly useful odds and ends, especially when it comes to home baking paraphernalia. The Solihull branch is the only one in the Birmingham area, making it something of a novelty. The Lakeland brand is built on solid quality customer service. They will never quibble when it comes to refunds or faulty items. The staff know the stock inside out. The Solihull store is spread over two floors - with kitchen-orientated stock on the ground floor and general home wares and gifts on the top.

This store stocks lots of cooking equipment and helpful things for around the house. I shop here…read morefor Pudsey bear cake cases, Christmas gingerbread making kits and other Christmas makes to get children involved in cooking. It is not the cheapest but I have some roasters and a microwave steamer that I have had for ages so the quality is great! On a negative side I got some measuring spoons that broke within the first week!

This is a fairly large store but seems a bit cramped because it can be a bit jam packed with goods…read more Saying that they do stock some lovely items and have bought a fair few cushions, glasses, cups and other household goods. The prices and the staff are both good. Queue can get a bit long at times, but the till staff get it down as fast as they can.

This store is really useful for presents as it sells such a variety of things at bargain prices…read more You can find everything from cushions to earrings and waste paper bins in here. I spend ages in here browsing and end up spending loads! It does get very busy near Christmas but is central to Mell Square.

Masseys in the centre of Swadlincote is a hardware store, but primarily this branch is a cookshop…read more This shop has been here for as long as I can remember. It is an Aladdins Cave of quality cookware and hardware items, every part of it is packed with items like baking tins, kettles, toasters, oven thermometers, tins of paint, to name but a few. If you're struggling to find something and don't want to venture into a city, Masseys is the place, you will more than likely find what you're looking for! The staff are knowledgeable and helpful too, all the more impressive when you consider how many items are sold here.

There's a high chance you've seen this place but never actually acknowledged it. That's because…read moreit's next to the world famous rag market but the decor is so dull that the shop doesn't stand out much from the grey outdoors. Don't let the dull look fool you, you can get some great bargains here. Admittedly I'm not a fan of the clothes but you can get good quality electronics, tools and general things for the house here. On the store front they say they are "number one for tools" but I don't think that's true because there are other places where you can get a much larger range. The shop has an open from and is small, which might explain why half of it is outside. The shop could really do with some decent decor, anything to make it more visually appealing. As you can probably tell from the picture, everything is really cheap here. To be honest I thought there would be something wrong with the products after buying a few things for my house I'm surprised to say they are fine!

Dicount 2000 is the first stall that most of you will come across when entering the Rag Market…read more It's a huge household goods stall in the front left corner of the market and you won't miss it. A huge range of items are available to purchase here and the prices are pretty good. Although you won't recognise all of the brands there is no doubt that the quality is still high. I had a good look at the cookware and woks on sale and they seem very sturdy. Here are just some of the items you can buy here: Toilet seats £5.99 Rat/mouse traps Non stick pans (not recommended for use with the rats or mice!) £10-£12 (large) Mugs from £1 Plates and bowls from £1 Ash trays £1 Coffee grinders £15 Extension plugs £2.50 Alarm clocks £1 Woks from £3.99 Flasks Knives Cookie cutters...etc. Discount 2000 also accept credit cards, which is handy.

My wife thought she'd take advantage of the "kids eat free" over Easter. Advertised to be worth…read more£4.90. She arrived at about 13:30, to find they had run out of any hot food, and there was a solitary motley sandwich, and small yogurt pot that might satisfy a 3 year old. I suppose their "get out of gaol free card" is: subject to availability. This sort of thing does more damage to a company's reputation than not offering something for free. I suppose the old maxim still holds true: "There's no such thing as a free lunch." :-)

Debenhams does not appear to have maintained its brand image the same way as other department…read morestores, and subsequently suffers. At it's peak it was a proper department store with concessions selling musical instruments, computers, and all of the other things you would associate. It now carries perfumes and cosmetics, clothing, and a small homeware section. The perfum section competes poorly with the likes of Superdrug and the Perfume Shop, and the homeware section contains such a limited range of goods that the local Tesco eclipses it in usefulness. The restaurant is merely average, with no outstanding features.

Home Bargains has a great range of cheap toys, home, beauty, food and drink items. It's one of the…read morebetter bargain shops with many branded products at cut price. It's worth checking regularly as new stock's always coming in but beware, it's easy to get carried away! Staff don't act as if they want to be there, but that doesn't matter when there's amazing bargains to be had!

now these are true to there name ,you get plenty of bargains on household goods at this placeread more

This Poundland store has recently opened in Sutton Coldfield much to the dismay of many locals that…read morefeel it is to cheap for their town. I, however, think it is a great shop and many bargains can be found. I went in on the opening day and was randomly picked by a strange man with a microphone who presented me with a £10 poundland voucher! I bought a leather ipod case (selling for £15 in Argos), some padded envelopes, chocolate, batteries to name a few, certainly got my moneys worth. Plenty of CDs & DVDs to choose from too, not exactly the latest hollywood blockbusters, but some good choices nonetheless.

there was so much uproar about a poundland coming to sutton coldfield, but since it opened just…read morerecently it is always packed. it is such value for money, you can get almost everything there. my daughter loves the craft items from there, whilst i have been buying xmas decorations. you can get sweets/chocolates/home items,baby stuff, theres so much option. i dont understand why it wasnt wanted there, i think its bought more shoppers to the gracechurch. this particular store is clean and you are easily able to go down the aisles even with a pushchair, which is rare for shops nowadays.

Selfridges is still one of the most iconic buildings in Birmingham, it has managed to stay ahead of…read morethe times since being built as part of the bullring when it launched. It still remains my favourite department store in the city and stocks everything you could want from amazing food and drink through to homeware, fashion and cosmetics. The highlight for me is the food hall on the ground floor, I think you would be hard pushed to find anywhere with the diversity and range of things you can try and buy in one place. I could easily spend a whole afternoon looking at the many weird and wonderful items that fill every countertop and display cabinet in the open and modern feeling space. One thing to note is that this place only stocks the very best of everything they sell, so don't go here expecting the cheapest products in Brum. However you can get a bargain from time to time in the many sales they put on throughout the year. In my opinion Selfridges keep pushing the boundary in terms of what people expect from a department store. Forward thinking, well designed and and always changing to keep thing fresh!

Big shop, excellent range, superb quality! Special kudos for the ground floor…read more I wish I had a lot more money so i could come and shop here more often!