It's a central location. It's bright and airy. The client rest rooms are superbly maintained as is…read morethe entire place. The staff are a friendly bunch. It has Dunnes clothing and other non food household stuff. It has a Lidl and ample pay to park spaces. Oh and it has a Primark that I've stood outside. There's a 3 shop, a travel agent, a Subway which I've never been in. A Costa and a £1 shop. They've made provision for the unique with a chap making delicious sweet and savoury crepes and they are darn good. There's a BurgerKing which to me tops Mc Donald's all day long for burger & fries (do try the vegan). There's a new Australian chain with overpriced coffee. There's more besides. It's worth a visit but the downside is pay parking. Folks ain't looking something for nothing but if I sit in at the new Australian chain or BK I should get 2 hours free parking on proof if a receipt. They have EV car charging installed too.

Some people are wise and if they need Christmas decorations will buy them after Christmas when…read moresales are on. This was my reason for visiting Alexanders of Markethill today. Not for myself I might add, as I don't even bother putting up a Christmas tree, however a friend wanted to stock up for next year. Alexanders of Markethill is a large, beautiful household items store over two floors with an upstairs cafe. Throughout the year it sells a range of dinnerware, cookware, home accessories and offers an interior design service. Coming up to Christmas more than half the shop is taken over with Christmas stock including trees, decorations and artisan foods. It's fantastic to walk around and the Christmas items are stunning - some of the best I've seen. However, even with a sale on, I still think it quite expensive. For example my friend purchased a Christmas wreath and a decorative thingymajiggy for across the top of her fireplace - even in the sale this totalled over £110.00! I would never spend such money on a couple of Christmas decorations no matter how beautiful. Anyhow, if you've money to burn you'll love it. My favourite items were a couple of reindeer made out of what looked like papier-mâché newspaper cuttings - to be honest I'd be inclined to have a go at making them myself rather than buy them. Therefore for me, a trip to Alexanders would be more of an inspirational field trip, however for others it's a great place to pick up some fabulous, festive items. Unfortunately I didn't try the cafe but it was busy which I take as a good sign, so I will definitely return to try the cafe and have another browse. I might even be tempted to purchase some wine glasses or pots and pans on my next visit...

Just a little review update here, after receiving a message via YELP from a fellow 'patron' about…read moremy prior review of Alexanders, stating that " All companies are fighting hard to stay afloat in the current financial climate but comments like this can result in local family run businesses disappearing from our province altogether" well I just felt I needed to clarify my review, I have been into Alexanders many times over the years and I base my reviews on my experiences on the day, service, price and all other things we YELPERS should do. Now certainly Alexanders is an impressive store, in fact there are 2 stores in Markethill, one selling furniture and the other household items which includes the cafe on the 1st floor, in all my visits I could honestly say I have never found a bargain, the stock is overpriced, but yet I still visit the store, as I prefer to shop with local traders where possible, but my pocketbook is not bottomless so value for money always wins out! I stand by my original review, the cafe is expensive and the few times I have eaten in it were not great. Alexanders need to drop their prices a bit and buy bigger tea pots.

I have orders a few rugs from The Rug House. I am happy with every order. The quality of the rugs…read morewere brilliant. I also got underlay for a rug that would not stay in place and the rug has not moved at all. I am very pleased with it. The customer service I received was great. I placed an order and recieved it two days later. I would recommend it to friends and family. Quality, service and price was fantastic. Will buy again.

Avoid this company, they sell rubbish and they will NOT give you your money back no matter what…read morethey claim. The rug supplied was absolutey apalling quality and the Rug House refused to provide a refund.

They rock, they have the largest selection of costumes I have ever seen. Very professional and…read moreGlenda is the Biz!

It is amazing. It has such a huge range of costumes and you get to try them on. The way the staff…read moretreat you is great, always asking if you need a hand and the prices can be really good! They hire costumes and sell costumes, wort a look.

Just bought white goods in the Expert Electrical shop upstairs…read more 10% cheaper than Harvey Norman, & over 15% than Power City. I actually don't know how they can compete with these larger outlets, but in fairness they really do. I've bought loads of white goods over the years, in Dublin mainly, but this was the first time that anyone insisted that they gave me a walk through of all the products features. Furthermore, he takes the code from inside the unit & registers the guarantee for you! Found the chap insightful & helpful. Couldn't recommend the store highly enough.

Oh it's a funny old world. This is day three of M&S not able to take contactless payments UK wide…read more Credit cards (chip & pin) or cash will still do rightly. I rely on contactless as I don't carry money nor a credit card. They now have a staff member at the door advising that contactless remains useless as the other day I only found out at the till having already shopped. Maybe Mr Putin has free time to meddle now that Game Of Trump players are doing his Ukraine grabbing work for him on Day 99. Maybe it's Kim interfering for profit. He called the 47th a doddard when 45th. Even maybe it's the Chinese. Oh just wait for their silicone valley to launch. It won't be pretty for California. Oh and while I'm trying to buy bananas unsuccessfully the only true remaining leader of the free world has up and died. His funeral this Saturday will be sad. Then it's over to an electorate of 120, potassium chlorate, lactose and chloroform resin. As I said funny old world.

Nope. I just don't like it. Centrally located and ample…read moreparking out the back, but they are like parking Nazi's, you dare not park in here, buy your stuff and nip to the bank or butchers when you are there, they wont let you park for longer than your purchase time in their store. That is all fine and good, but when you are paying £40 every 2 or 3 weeks to them they could allow you 5 minutes surely? Its called customer relations guys, ever heard of it? A decent enough selection of stuff, but Pet Connection offers much more, and a pleasant demeanour to go along with it, I now drive the extra mile or so up the road and give my business to a place that appreciates it!

Very, very central (so parking around hill street area obviously takes a little foresight). Can pop…read morein to do a few messages on the way to the local bank, cafes and load of other local shops without having to drag yourself miles out of town. Friendly helpful staff and a wide product range.

Xtra-vison does exactly as it says on the tin - you can rent dvd's here!…read more They have everything you want - new releases, international, thriller, comedy...you name it, they have it. The don't necessarily supply the more obscure films - you would nee d to go to a specialised dvd place for that. But if you want something main stream, then this is the place to go. The staff are helpful - one guy in particular, although he was rather outraged when I told him I wasn't a fan of the Coen brothers. He eventually got over it and recommended about 100 other films to me....and I eventually decided on one! The also sell cd's, computer games (which you can also rent), camera's, ipods, technical equipment and junk food like coke, sweets, popcorn and ice-cream.

this is the only video rental shop in blackrock but definitely holds its own against other xtra…read morevisions and video rental shops. the shop is laid out very well with a pretty extension collection of new and old films. and they often have good sales on dvds and games to buy and ex rental dvds and games, as well as mobile phones, cds and snacks. i would not buy my phone from xtra vision or my music because there are better deals around, but its worth stopping in to check on movies for sale, bargains can be found for a fiver or less if you lucky the price of renting new releases is very high, over 5 euro. its almost the same price to buy a film. they often have good deals on ben and jerrys ice cream, a must when film watching! definitely one of the better xtra vision branches, but with high rental places its better to buy than rent