Shopping in Northampton - good or bad idea? (Shopping Areas in Northampton)

Member Name: Robsonreviews

Product:	Shopping Areas in Northampton
Date:	03/03/09 (428 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: if you live here, its very close

Disadvantages: its way behind places like peterborough and milton keynes

Northampton & shopping....

Northampton offers 3 real areas of shopping for the general public:-

Town centre
Sixfields Retail Area
Riverside Retail Park

1) Town Centre:
Northants town centre has 2 shopping centre's, a market square & a main high street. The Grosvenor centre is the larger of the 2 shopping mall's and houses around 70 units, there are 2 big department stores and a S/M Sainsburys to boot. The rest of the units range from Boots to La Senza, you can sit down and eat at around 5-7 places or grab something on the go. The Grosvenor centre is also directly linked to the coach/bus station.

The Peacock place is the smaller of the 2 shopping mall's and is newer and fresher in comparrison, here you tend to find a slightly better retailer with names like NEXT & Laura Ashley lining the way. The peacock place also houses boutique like shops offering a little something differnt.

The market square has improved over the years in terms of cleanliness, the huge smelling compactor has been removed and the square is better maintaned overall. Most of the stalls sell worth while goods with fruit and veg, cut flowers and mobile phone unlocking stalls.

Abington street is the main drag of shops in the town centre, the street is totally for pedestrians and has a real mixed kettle of fish for your veiwing pleasure - M&S to Poundland.

2) Sixfeilds is close to the M1 and is a cluster of retail parks, resturants, football ground & supermarket all bowled up into one. Big names like NEXT & Mama & Pappas feature as shops with the likes of Frankie & Bennies offering something to eat. The cobblers play there football here too......
Bowling, a gym and a Homebase offer a little someting for all.

3) Riverside is on the ring road A45 and is a stand alone Retail Park covering a large area. Dominating the first part is car dealerships, I think roughly 4-6 feature here. A Mcdonalds and a KFC help to ease those hunger pains also, the shops are a good mixed bag with a CURRYS, SPORTS DIRECT, HOMEBASE, BLACKS & PETS AT HOME. There are also a few other places here also.

Overall I tend to use the retail parks when I can, they are better maintaned, cleaner and offer the better retailers, with easy access and free parking it quick and simple to get what you want. Northampton's town simply isnt doing enough to attract people to shop in the town, the borough council have been talking for years about possible improvments but nothing has materialised.

To sum up then, shopping here is ok but it's not going to be competing with similar places like Peterborough or Milton Keynes for a very long time.

Summary: shop else where when you can - I do!