shopping!

In the early 1980s, Next retail opened a store in Hull and created such a buzz even the most apathetic Hull shopper was caught up in the excitement. Princess Quay then opened some time later and became the Hull woman’s retail place of worship and now St Stephens has become the place to go to first if you want to unburden yourself of your hard earned money; mainly because of the car parking or quick walk from the Interchange. It’s certainly my first place of call as there are many good high street shops located inside but for me it’s more for convenience and a ‘quick’ shop for something I know I want. However, for a more exciting experience and to buy something special I’m afraid to say I go to Leeds, York or even further afield from Hull. Leeds is the nearest big shopping paradise; the retail capital of Yorkshire. This is because the whole shopping experience for me is more enjoyable and to purchase something from Leeds carries with it a sense of style and exclusivity. Even for the most hardened shopper like myself, there are more shops than even I can visit in one day alone and its for this reason it is known as the “Knightsbridge of the North”.
Many women are also shopping away from Hull because train costs are relatively cheap (a train ticket to Leeds being the same price as say, two average priced taxis within Hull) and it’s only an hour journey into the very centre. Many shops are flagship stores and many mirror London’s shopping experience up here in the North. It’s not just Leeds but also Meadowhall and York; as a child I was taken by my parents to York for my summer clothes so it isn’t a new phenomenon for the discerning shopper of Hull to venture out of the city.
Having said this, I do feel that Hull is now becoming more of a shopping ‘experience’ and with it an emerging coffee culture and so it should have; we have a beautiful city and all overlooked by the Marina and historic buildings. There are parts of Hull, say Newland Avenue, that are unrecognisable when I drove down there a couple of weeks ago and the small independent boutiques were little jewels in a street lined with coffee bars and restaurants; I was surprised and proud that Hull had this to offer.
I ventured to Leeds a couple of weeks ago with my mum and the train was full of women going for that little piece of shopping heaven but it is nice to come back to my home in Hull to sample the delights that our city has to offer; albeit on a smaller scale, there are still little boutiques sitting alongside the big, known stores that offer a good ‘shop’. A flagship store or collection is just what Hull needs but I do think we are on the right track.

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