Student Life

Shopping

Clothes hanging on a clothes rail

Manchester is home to hundreds of high-quality shops, from independent boutiques and bargain stores to the famous household names.

Even if you just feel like a spot of window shopping, there is plenty of choice throughout the city.

Online shopping might be more prevalent, but there is no substitute for experiencing the sights and sounds of Manchester while you mooch around the shops.

Retail therapy doesn’t come better than heading into the heart of the city centre to take in the likes of Harvey Nichols and Selfridges & Co. It’s also well worth making your way down King Street, where you will find high quality brands including Hermes, Gant, Diesel, Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren.

For a unique twist on shopping, look no further than the Northern Quarter. Why not get started at five-floor indoor market Afflecks, mixing the weird and wonderful, before moving on to Piccadilly Records and Vinyl Exchange to peruse some rare records. If comics, design guides and graphic novels are your cup of tea, don’t miss Forbidden Planet International and its colourful collection.

Market Street is the place to be if you’re keen stock upon all the essentials and make the most of the student discounts on offer, with easy access to the Arndale Centre next door. A trip to the Trafford Centre offers up the opportunity to look around the second-biggest shopping centre in the UK.

If you need to watch the pennies, there are plenty of choices – Primark can be found at the top of Market Street and there is an Aldi in the Arndale Centre. Bargains can also be discovered in Oxfam Emporium and Pop Boutique in the Northern Quarter if vintage threads are your thing, or you can pop to Chorlton and Withington for excellent charity book shops. If you don’t mind haggling, Longsight Market boasts a variety of goods and food products.

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