All Your Shopping (more!) In One Place
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Recommendation added: 22/05/2006 22:40
By: dewberry (YSUK rating +816)dewberry has been thanked 15 times for this contribution
"My favourite place to shop at the moment is the One Stop shopping centre in Perry Barr, Birmingham. Located on the major Walsall Road it's easily accessible by car or bus, and has a train station directly opposite the main entrance to the shopping area.
The car park is spacious with room for plenty of cars, including a large proportion of disabled parking bays. Manoeuvring around the car park is also easy thanks to the wide parking spaces and a successful one-way system means there's very little congestion. Parking is also free, which is a bonus as more and more shopping centres are starting to introduce pay & display machines in their car parks.
Any shop you could possibly want is here. Apart from Woolworths, which I find kind of odd as Woolies generally has the monopoly on the best store space inside shopping centres in Birmingham, at least.
For general shopping, there's a huge Asda which is located directly off the car park. Despite being inside a shopping centre this isn't one of your smaller 'express' supermarkets, it's a fully fledged high street Asda including the entire George clothing range. Prices are on a par with other Asda stores, which again is unusual for a shopping centre located supermarket.
The clothes shopping at the One Stop is fantastic. My particular favourite is a Next Outlet Centre. This store is absolutely crammed full of Next stock, which for one reason or another has been reduced in price. And I mean hugely reduced. For example, last week I bought suedette trousers, 2 summer tops, a pair of sandals and a handbag costing me £19.50 when I got home I checked the labels and my shopping had a combined value of £78 with the trousers being the best bargain at £6 reduced from 40 quid! The children's clothes selection is also brilliant, they stock all the trendy kids Next clothes as well as a good amount of underwear, socks etc. This selection is even better price wise than the adult's clothes and most items are under £3. Next Outlet also appeals to the jumble sale lover in me, as clothes tend to be haphazard around the shop and you really have to dig through the racks to find the gems the thrill of finding a pair of pair of expensive boots in your size for a fiver is a real adrenaline buzz!
Another clothes shop worth a mention is the massive Sports World, which is without doubt the biggest store at the One Stop. It's on two levels and, like Next, is stuffed so tightly with stock that it's virtually impossible for two people to pass in an aisle! Sports World stocks all the major sporting brands, although seems to have a particular penchant for Lonsdale clothing. Prices are fantastic; trainers in all sizes are generally reduced to between £8 and £15 regardless of name or style, tracksuit bottoms are priced around the £7 mark and t-shirts cost £2 - £3. My partner regularly stocks up his wardrobe in here, and the selection of children's clothes is also brilliantly priced with a good range of Nike, Adidas etc. lines.
Other clothes shops at the One Stop include Peacocks, Ethel Austin, JJB and Bonne Marche. For some reason all of these shops seem to have perpetual sales, although I'm not complaining as I've had some pretty good bargains from practically every clothes shop at the One Stop!
All of these stores are located directly facing the car park, but when you step inside the indoor section of the shopping centre you'll really start to get a feel for how big the One Stop really is. The shops are an interesting and well thought out selection; there's a large Boots store and also a cut price cosmetics place, there's a shop which sells greetings cards and a Claire's Accessories, a T Mobile shop and a Poundland. Whatever shop you can think of, there's an example of it at the One Stop. As with the clothes shops, prices are extremely reasonable and on a par (if not cheaper) than their high street counterparts.
Dotted along the wide aisles in the shopping centre are various stall traders, selling anything from sweets to craft supplies depending on what day you visit. The sweet stall is particularly good, selling such forgotten goodies as pineapple rock and cola cubes.
After all that shopping, I bet you're thinking about grabbing a seat and some lunch. The choice is pretty good at the One Stop; a large McDonalds, KFC, Burger King, Subway and a typical market 'caff'. All restaurants are clean with plenty of seating and full disabled access. The Burger King at the One Stop seems to have more promotions and special offers than high street BK's, meaning it's often the cheapest place to eat at the One Stop when I have the kids with me.
The upper floor of the One Stop houses an Argos, Game and a couple of banks and building societies. Again, the offers in Game seem much better here than I've seen in their other shops - which is quite the trend in this shopping centre!
One other shop which, in my opinion, is definitely worth a mention is the tiny newsagents which is tucked neatly into a corner of the One Stop. This is the place to buy your magazine, fags and can of pop. Honestly, this is a great little shop and the guy who runs it has made every possible use of space including stacking boxes of crisps next to the till on the narrow counter!
There's much, much more here at the One Stop, so if you're ever able to come shopping to Birmingham forget the overpriced and overhyped Bull Ring and head to Perry Barr. You'll find a bargain, get all your shopping in one place and be able to park your car for free! What more do you want!?
Getting to the One Stop is easy. Get into Birmingham City Centre then follow the signs to Sutton Coldfield and Erdington, this route will take you through the line of three underpasses in Birmingham. When you leave the third underpass bear to the left along A453 Birchfield Road, follow this road and within a couple of miles you'll see the signs pointing towards to car park at the back of the One Stop.
Public transport is equally simple to navigate, as most WM buses heading through North Birmingham will detour into the One Stop to offload and pick up passengers. I know the 107 from Birmingham to Sutton Coldfield definitely stops there so I'd recommend this one, which you can catch outside Lloyd House police building in the City Centre. The train from Birmingham New Street to Lichfield will drop you at Perry Barr train station, which is a quick walk through a well lit subway through to the One Stop.
One Shop Shopping Centre
2 Walsall Road
Perry Barr
Birmingham
B42 1AA"
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