Hiya, i'm a college Student doing an AS Geography project on access to retail facilities along Abbeydale Road. If you either live around Abbeydale Road or visit the shops regularly could you please give me your opinions on the shops. E.g. are there enough shops? Can you buy a variety of products? How could the shops be improved? How far do you travel to the shops? If any new shops were to be opened what would you like them to sell and why? Etc. If you live on either Albany Road, Steade Road, Chippinghouse Road, St Ronans Road or Sellers Street could you please state which as I have wrote about these streets in my project. Thanks for any replies.

Its ok as long as you like Antiques and Junk shops :D
Bardwells is the best shop on there, loads of electrical / electronic stuff at reasonable prices....

I don't live near Abbeydale Road but I have travelled in the past to shops on Abbeydale road. I find that there is an excellent variation and some rather unique shops. The only problem I find is that the shops are scattered over different parts of Abbeydale road which could sometimes mean walking long distance as I have had to do so in the past with heavy items.

Originally posted by mega_monty
Its ok as long as you like Antiques and Junk shops :D
Bardwells is the best shop on there, loads of electrical / electronic stuff at reasonable prices....

I was just going to mention Bardwells. It is an excellent shop, one which I use very often.

Thanks, big help

i lived on abbeydale road last year, opposite bardwells - which is a very good shop.. i think the shopping is quite limited to antique shops although london road is good for resturants and its not far to town.

There are lots of delicatessans on Abbeydale Road including some good ethnic ones and a brilliant Italian ,you can also buy a sari from the khubsurat and others and there are some trendy secondhand fashion shops, new fashion shops,glass shops , mirror and framing shops , pet shops ,motor bike spares ,hire shops , diy shops ,kitchen shops ,paint and wallpaper shop ,bridal wear , aerial shop ,print shop ,greengrocer,militaria shop . railway shop ,curtain shop ,barbers,security shop , art gallery ,computer shops , new Indian alabaster stuff , new Indian furniture ,new English furniture ,oriental carpets, jewellry stores , TV shop ,off licences 2 pubs ,2 car spares ,windows ,post offices , camera shop, carpet shop ,2 chemists ,handicraft shop ,2 bookies ,Prince Nasseem's gym ( not a shop but I think it sounds good ) ,newsagents ,supermarkets sandwich shops galore and my antique shop .Now have I forgotten anyone ?

but half the shops are very specialist, and not regular convienience stores. there are two newsagents and a spar near to chippinghouse road but everything else seems to be very specialist stuff, or takeaways which personally i don't use every night.

also, does anyone else feel uncomfortable going into some of the shops? sometimes i feel like i'm walking into someone's living room and invading, and sometimes the service is awful.. apart from in bardwells :)

Originally posted by HarrietStar
also, does anyone else feel uncomfortable going into some of the shops? sometimes i feel like i'm walking into someone's living room and invading, and sometimes the service is awful.. apart from in bardwells :)

Yes I know exactly what you mean, the only shop that I feel comfortable walking into is indeed Bardwells, but having said that I have been going there since I was 5 year old, lol. Infact its the only shop I go in on Abbeydale Road.

I quite like antiques and collectable stuff, but some shops do look really dodgy and always a watchful eye is cast upon you, puts you off before you start. Some of the few Convenience food shops I'd certainly wouldnt buy from, I used to work at a warehouse that supplied shops like those and we had really dodgy people buying from us.

Thanks peeps, got to write about improvements to area aswell so will be a good help with what you've wrote. Thankx

we went into acorn antiques as we had our eye on a sign saying 'jukebox' and wanted to know more. We went in and the shop owner was on the phone. he didn't even acknowledge us or say 'be with you in a minute' he just carried on chatting to his mate. We left after a few minutes, felt completely unwelcome, he probably lost a sale.

This Bardwells place sounds like a must.
Where abouts on Abbeydale Road is it (what landmarks is it close to) and what do they sell?

Nomme

Bardwells is an institution, Its been there as long as I can remember, it sells everything electronic, from crocodile clips to PC's. the staff are extremly knowledgable and helpful. The place can be found on the flat bit of abbeydale rd, nr St Ronans Rd on this map.

Top tip - avoid Sat am - full of anoraks buying Semiconductors, Disk Drives, Capacitors, Connectors, Crystals, Oscillators, Inductors, Chokes, Coils, Ferrites, Relays, Switches, Resistors, Resistor Networks, Varistors and whatever else takes their fancy.

Ps I once did buy a top gadget from there, it was leading edge technology at the time, I had piped music allover the house, under the bath etc

I seem to remember some old goat in acorn antiques eyeing me up like I was wearing a balaclava and a stripey jumper. Not a welcoming shop.

Originally posted by Funky Dave
I seem to remember some old goat in acorn antiques eyeing me up like I was wearing a balaclava and a stripey jumper. Not a welcoming shop.
I have an antique shop on Abbeydale road but it wasn't me who thought you were Burglar Bill .Were you trying to sell him something ?

I have lived just off abbeydale road for most of my life. I love it. The shops change and life moves on.