Few places can match Manchester’s incredible retail experience. Anything is possible from browsing white label records and vintage clothing in the Northern Quarter, to personal shoppers and designer labels at Harvey Nichols. You can wander round the monthly farmers’ market, or have a manicure in Triangle, and everything in between.
The city separates into four main shopping areas; Market Street and Manchester Arndale – home to mid-range high street stores; New Cathedral Street and Exchange Square – where Selfridges, Harvey Nichols and Triangle reside; St. Ann’s Square and Deansgate – a mix of upmarket designer shops and mid to top range high street and designer names; and last but not least, the Northern Quarter – independent boutiques, vintage ware, record shops and of course, the famous Afflecks Palace.
One of the great advantages of Manchester is it’s size. You can walk everywhere, but if your legs start to feel the strain, Metrolink trams and the free Metroshuttle have the city covered.
Manchester Trafford Centre
Opened in September 1998, this enormous new shopping and leisure complex has already been designated the "Temple to Consumerism", and is the largest centre of its kind to date in Europe. Peel Holdings' Trafford Centre occupies a former wasteland site of 300 acres in the Dumplington district on the outskirts of Trafford Park; it took 27 months to build, employed over 3000 building workers and cost some £600 million to complete.
Although it contains all the major high street department stores and chains - (Debenhams, Boots Chemists, Burtons, The Body Shop, Dorothy Perkins, W.H.Smith, Top Shop, British Home Stores, etc), it is much more than a shopping centre. Its gigantic dining hall, "The Orient", has innumerable fast food franchises and restaurants, (including a speciality Chinese street), in a dramatically theatrical ocean liner setting with swimming pool and performance stage with a large film/TV screen.
Even when shops close in late evening, the leisure facilities centred around the Orient , which also contain the UCI 20 Screen Megaplex Cinema, continue on until 12midnight.
There's plenty to get you in the shopping spirit this Autumn/Winter, with all the new season collections now in store at The Trafford Centre.
