What shops do you love going into?

[Limth]

I don't mean shops you like because they're products are good quality, or because they're reliable for certain things, or because their customer service is great.

I mean what shops do you go in and think "Yes, I love it in here".

For me its Iceland Food Warehouse. Our local one is massive, really clean, really well-stocked and I always find completely random oven-able beige goods.
I could genuinely browse for hours.

We also have Boyes in my local high street. It's like a mini department store that sells basically everything you could think of. It's like stepping back in time. I absolutely adore it.

We don't have one in our part of the UK but when visiting across the Atlantic I just love going into Costco. Could spend all day in there. I also love browsing in kitchen shops as does dh.

TK Maxx (Homesense), John Lewis, WHSmith, occasionally Home Bargains if it's a larger store, the Chinese, Turkish and Polish supermarkets, and charity shops!

Occasionally, Costco, Holland&Barett, Lego Shop. 😊

Anthropologie
book shops
Cartier-always so welcoming especially to my dog
celine- shop heaven

The lindt chocolate shop. Because you can be cheeky and ask for a sample.

(I've only been in once because I don't go to shops very often at all)

I love the orderliness of John Lewis. M&S and its cluttered, haphazard aisles could learn a thing or two.

There's a gift shop in town that's just in an old town house, with lots of little rooms and a rickety staircase. It's fab.

And I do love a Boyes. They sell so many different things and still have a really useful haberdashery in most of their stores which is so rare, now.

I love shops that smell heavenly; Floris, the V&A shop, Harrods’ food Hall, Fortnums and Paxton & Whitfield.

Country village antique shops 🤤- antiquax, slaver.

Our local TK is dismal. Drooping rails of plasticky knitwear and crappy vinyl ankle boots c2018.

I used to love going to the big department stores on Oxford St when I lived in London. I don't know why, but it made me feel peaceful and calm. In my city we have no department stores left, which is so sad. I do love going round charity shops tho! I miss shopping as a leisure activity, it's so rubbish now.

I have a number of shops which I treat as 'museums/galleries' as a pp said. Yes to Liberty, any good department store inc JL, a naice garden centre that has spread into homeware etc. I live in the Lake District so yes, we have a Booths and Lakeland and endless gift shops but not the facilities of a city. However not one of those shops where you feel you are being assessed as not the right sort!

Tk-max, Homesense ,Dunelm,John Lewis and Costco I personally prefer shopping in stores because I want to actually see a product before purchasing it.

I love Robert Dyas! And like lots of people have said, TK Maxx. It's lovely to be there when it's just opened so that you have it mostly to yourself (horrible later in the day when it's always so crowded though)

Waterstones.

(Would also like a thread to discuss most hated shops to go in.)

I came here to say Burford Garden Centre. So delightfully mumsnet that it’s already had several mentions on page one.

Chatsworth Farm shop
Forever England (I want everything in here)
Any independent fabric/sewing/knitting shop

Oliver Bonas, Foyles/Waterstones, Avoca, fancy food shops like Fortnums or local delis... St Pancras Station is basically heaven as it ticks a number of these options!

THE cutest shop in the world - Upside Down in York. All kinds of eclectic homeware; weird and wonderful fabrics, cards, furniture - I could spend hours browsing in there, and it smells nice too. If they sold coffee and cake I would never leave.

Home Bargains 😁

For their pre-covid prices, their fab sweets selection, cheap treats, I buy lots of my toiletries there too

I am sad and I know it

For me, it’s charity shops. I love them! I find them so relaxing to mooch around, and I see my visits to them as a form of therapy. My Mum is exactly the same, so I can see where I get it from 😁.

TKMaxx, Waitrose, John Lewis and Marks .

I totally agree with the Burford Garden Centre love! Their prices are ridiculous but I love going for the café and a bit of aspirational window shopping 🤣

Sostrene Grene is also high up on my list.

I adore a Costco trip if I can pick a quiet time. Ane free food and drink samples! But I try to limit how often I go as I always seem to spend about £200 every time I step in there!

And possibly controversial, but I love going to IKEA. Early when the restaurant first opens and it's early browsing so I can get breakfast for about £2 all freshly cooked and then spend hours browsing in there.

Same. I love Home Bargains Especially the Christmas section. .

Anthropologie - I just love it. Beautiful things, unusual things, nicely decorated.

Now that my shopping is 99% online it’s a much shorter list than it would have been 15 years ago, when walking into the Conran shop in the Michelin Building was peak wish fulfilment.

Now … Firstly, the first floor of the Toast shop in Oxford. For considerably more than a decade, when I lived at the other end of the country and was only in the city intermittently, I’ve felt a wave of homecoming and relief when I trudged up the staircase. Now I’ve moved house, and can walk to it.

Secondly, probably the same little stationery shop mentioned by @AHFBridport above. I dare not go in because I’m sure to leave with about £50 worth of Christmas cards I’ll never get round to sending anyone - but it’s the sensory stimulation that makes it epic.

Finally, the Margaret Howell shop next door to the Wigmore Hall - particularly the area towards the back with the mid-century furniture and sludgy coloured blankets and intellectual pottery. I just never want to leave.

I wish I could love a charity shop, my mum and sister find so much in them but I just don't have the patience. I go in with the best of intentions then walk straight out.

&Other Stories and Cos as they are well merchandised and I feel inspired re outfits even if I’m not buying.
A good department store - more abroad than here now due to the demise of many of ours, still love Liberty and the better John Lewis stores.
A French hyper market, love selecting all the different foods - also love their food markets too.
Independent shops I’ve not explored before in new towns or cities