I have a massive (household) shopping list. Where would you buy the following items?

[SunshineSpring]

I move back to the UK (yippee!) in 2 weeks. Ive not been to the UK in 5 years. Where would you buy the following items (medium sized city in the north). And what brand/item would you buy? I'm assuming I wont get finance, so will be cash/credit card transactions....

*King sized bed
*Childs single bed
*bedding for above

• 2 kids bikes - age 7 and 9, sold our beloved iala bikes but 2 new isla bikes are coming in rather £££ *wireless printer *cake tins, baking sheets, roasting tins (ovenware) *reusable shopping bags - this is such a no go out here, I'm actually prevented from taking reusable bags into some shops- you have to leave everything with security before you enter...

I will also need a car. What do you all drive? - not tiny. Ideally 5 doors. I had an Astra before. Didnt like it much, but that sort of thing.

Cheers! My to do list is so long, I fear I'm going to make some snap purchases that aren't fully researched, and will get it wrong.

I got bedsfrom dreams,went to try mattresses and the beds were delivered an assembled next day.
Car,decide what you may want before you move and lookup local suppliers and make appointments.
Kids bikes.Wait and make sure it is somewhere they can cycle safely,they will have lots of new things to get to grips with.
Other things,a shop in Ike's fotlr basics.
Make to lists,one for things you need and can't do without get these from IKEA.And another if all other things,see if you like them in Ike's or wait until you see just the thing.I have a dinner service that I needed quickly,it was inexpensive and refuses to die(only 2 side plates down in 3 years).

Agree with missmoan about printers, though there will be the same ones available as in your country, most likely. You can get printers for £40 but a complete set of replacement inks might be £30 more than the ones for the £100 printer, which soon adds up (or they might be the same price but half the capacity)

Re: IKEA and funny bed sizes - they standardised their beds to British sizes some years ago.

Have a look at bikeclub

You can get nearly all of that from Argos, they're delivery times are good too.

My Ikea mattress (hokkassen) is amazing, and definitely standard uk sizing.
Sainsbury’s for pots and bedding (waterproof sheet is the best from there amongst other things)

Dying to know where you’re moving from!

Would echo NOT Halfords for kids bikes, esp if you were used to Islas.

Either Islabike 2nd hand selling group on Facebook/eBay
Frog bikes - again they have 2nd hand groups on FB/and come up on eBay, although are cheaper new than Islas, and very very good.
OR while you settle back in rent Frogs from The Bike Club, and you can keep your eye out for a good Islas in the right size when you have a bit more time on your hands!

Have you only been gone 5 years? Or is it much longer than that?

Been gone 5 years, and in that time M&S has closed on my high street, Debenhams is scheduled to close. The hotel has gone bust, toysRus has gone. HMV has gone. The bike shop has closed. And this is just from reading the local papers. Sounds like we have just been hit hard, and actually most stuff us still going as normal.
IKEA delivering is a new one on me. The frog bike info is useful (and I think the bike club it is!).
Thank you for all the suggestions. Sounds like I need to get the credit card warmed up, and order some beds!
Cheers!

Dunelm for everything but bikes, printer and beds.
Dreams or Bensons for beds
Halfords, Decathlon or Facebook selling for bikes
Curry's for printer

Car- I have a Renault Captur and I love the bloody thing. It's very economical but a good size and they have some pretty good finance deals just now... or the Kadjar is slightly bigger I think?

Or just a thought in beds-if time and delivery are of the essence...we ordered our bed frame online from made.com and DD's from wayfair-(hers came with a mattress) both delivered in a week. We got a Simba mattress for us which was delivered really quick as well-and comes weirdly in a box-dead easy to get out and it sort of self inflates. It's a brilliant mattress. Not sure if they do singles or not though...

King sized bed - IKEA
Childs single bed - IKEA
bedding for above - IKEA

2 kids bikes - age 7 and 9, sold our beloved iala bikes but 2 new isla bikes are coming in rather £££ - AMAZON
wireless printer - AMAZON

cake tins, baking sheets, roasting tins (ovenware) -ALL MAJOR SUPERMARKETS, IKEA WHILE DOING BED SHOP, JOHN LEWIS, M&S. AMAZON, TK MAXX

*reusable shopping bags - YOU CAN STILL BUY CARRIER BAGS AT SUPERMARKET FOR 5p AND REUSE THEM. ALL SUPERMARKETS ALSO SELL HEAVIER DUTY "bags for life". IF YOU LIKE DISNEY AND HARRY POTTER - POUNDLAND!

I’d hire a couple of cars for a week and see if you like them. Then lease a car either brand new or you can lease 3 year old cars at a better price

Weird how people are insisting on John Lewis over Ikea for furniture and then recommending Halfords for bikes .

Anything sold by Halfords (or Argos, Smyths Etc) is utter shite, especially as the OP said they had Isla bikes before. Halfords bikes are terrible quality, over complicated and are often badly assembled - look online for photos with wheels or forks on backwards.

Whereas ikea are generally great quality and utterly bombproof. All our furniture comes from there and to be honest I wish some of it would fall apart so I could justify replacing it as tastes and requirements often change after 15 or 20 years. Most John Lewis furniture is also particleboard just like ikea, just far more expensive.

When I had to furnish a cottage in two weeks I found that the only shop which held stocks of furniture was Argos. They would deliver anything within a week whereas big furniture items took much longer for other providers to deliver, sometimes six weeks.

Don’t dismiss Argos either. I found some lovely stuff in amongst the ‘basics’. Also it is competitively priced.

If you don’t want to pay a fortune get onto Freecycle and see what is out there. I recently received a new mattress from a donor who bought one and didn’t like it. I pay back by offering my own items that I no longer need. Another source of cheap or free items is the Nextdoor website. Again, you can put in a request for what you need. When my DD’s cat was injured I asked for puppy cages and had one lent me and one sold to me for £20.

Not sure if this has been said, but if you move back in 2 weeks you need to order beds now. IKEA and John Lewis let you choose delivery date online and the first available slot in 2-3 weeks isn't uncommon. Argos have some things for Fast Track same day delivery.

Another vote for Frog bikes. Just as good as Isla Bikes but cheaper. Halfords bikes are dreadful.

Frog looking more expensive than isla???? £440 for a beinn 26 or 27. £470 for the frog hybrid? What am I missing?

Looks like I can get mattresses quite quickly. The bed frame, I can deal without for a few weeks.

So, you all pretty much use the plastic bags for life from the supermarkets? No pretty fabric things?? I'm not going to look out of place pulling out a tesco plastic bag to put my JL bakeware in??

Oxfam sells nice canvas shoppers. Honestly, they are everywhere!

People use all sorts of bags, no-one's going to notice or care. We have plastic bags for life from just about every supermarket and I'm just as likely to pull out a Waitrose bag in Lidl as I am a Sainsburys and an Aldi bag in Waitrose.

We also have some cloth bags and those that stuff into themselves and I'm more likely to use them for clothing or other non food purchases. I've bought these from Amazon or Ikea, or picked them up at trade shows and conferences.

Some people don't even bother to reuse their bags and they will just buy a load of new bags every time they go to the supermarket.

Others, if they forget the bags will use boxes from the shelves.

And just about every shop sells all sorts of reusable bags. You can't move for them.

Morrisons are currently experimenting with paper bags, but I can't see that ending well in the rain.

TK Maxx sell really good, strong bags for a £1 odd each which last forever.

I keep the bags I use for food shopping separate from those I use for clothes etc

i had this a few years ago
www.zpm.com/products/Butterflies-Cream-Red/Shopping-Bag-Set-in-Butterflies-Cream-and-Red.aspx

Online shopping is your friend.

I think everything on your list is available from Wilko online, including beds and bikes (though I don't know about the quality), and if you go through Topcashback you get 2% cashback.

IKEA delivery charges are steep! But it may be worth it because for most of it they give great value. Our beds worked out cheaper even with £35 delivery charge, and they are great quality.

M&S are also on Topcashback, and I think Debenhams is as well. Both deliver. The stuff delivered by supermarkets has changed a lot as well. Tesco's home stuff is sadly gone, but bedding is available from all the main supermarkets through grocery delivery and the quality is great. You could even get them as a place marker, and save up for something nicer later. They all have bakeware etc (Tescos have reduced their range, but there's quite a bit at Morrisons, Asda etc)

I'm biased against Argos (who also do online shopping) after some bad experiences, but if you think they will be fine then they have it all and will deliver.

The range that Amazon provide has grown massively in the last five years. I've had some bedding from their basics range, and it's fine.

I suggest you don't panic, go on Quidco or Topcashback, see what sites will deliver and make some comparisons.

Good luck. I hope it all goes well.