We arrived on Saturday afternoon when the park was at its busiest, finding a parking space took a while, but eventually we spotted one. When we have Ace with us, it’s really useful to park in one of the parent and child spaces so I can easily get down the side of the car to help him out, but he wasn’t with us today so any space would do. Navigating the car park with a young child is made easier by the zebra crossings and there are also designated lanes for bikes, so everyone knows where they should be.
The reason for this trip was because we had been invited to check out what’s in the shops for Autumn/Winter 2018, which was exciting but a little daunting for me as I am a huge fan of ‘summer brights’ and often feel drab in darker, more wintery colours (apart from a LBD, who feels drab in a LBD?). I needn’t have worried though, because what Honey and I found across the stores was actually a sea of colour! Sure there was some terracotta and mustard in the mix (both lovely, classic Autumn colours, they’re just not normally what I look for), but overwhelmingly, the trends seemed to be all about colour.
Boots is my favourite, child friendly place to shop on the park. There are parent and child spaces right out side the doors, tiny trollies to keep little ones occupied while you shop, plus a baby room for those emergency feeding or changing moments. There are also loads of fab offers in store if you’re part of the Boots Parenting Club (which is free to join online and gives you benefits such as free gifts, extra points on kids items and money off vouchers). For the grown ups, there are some fab new nail and lip colours hitting the shelves and the current trend for face masks doesn’t seem to be diminishing, which is great news for people like me who like to pamper themselves at home when the budget doesn’t stretch to anything more professional!
In Sports Direct, the great choice of colourful, practical outerwear caught my eye. Proper outdoor clothing is a must for our family. Honey and Ace love to go out in most weather conditions (Ace isn’t overly keen on snow) and the school run needs doing whether it’s pouring with rain or not, so being able to buy great quality, outdoor brands at reasonable prices is ideal. I also loved their range of colourful footwear, I am definitely motivated by pretty things, so a cute pair of trainers I’ve found in there will be the perfect ‘carrot’ to dangle to encourage me to exercise more often!
Finally, in Next, we loved their fun twists on animal print, their rainbow themed kids range and their colourful adult styles too. Perennial favourites, dinosaurs and unicorns continue to play a big part in the children’s and homeware departments, much to Honey’s delight. We also loved that after a tiring couple of hours shopping, we could relax with a juice and a babychino at their in store cafe, Patisserie Valerie.
To summarise, The Gallagher Shopping Park is a great, family friendly shopping destination. From the parent and child spaces, walkways and zebra crossings in the car park, to the super useful baby rooms and toilets in Boots and Next, they have tried hard to make life just that little bit easier. On top of that if you need to get back home for the school run or only have half an hour to shop before a toddler meltdown ensues, Gallagher Shopping Park’s Click and Collect service can help make sure you get what you came for. Oh, and one last thing, how useful is it to have a supermarket on site too? With Sainsbury’s across the road from the main park and another supermarket due to open in the old Whole Foods building, you can even do the weekly shop while you’re there!
So, I’m off to do an online shop for some of the rainbow clothing we didn’t purchase yesterday but if you fancy seeing some of the other bits we liked the look of while we were shopping, why not have a browse of our Pinterest board to give you some inspiration? Happy shopping everyone!
*Although this blog post is a paid collaboration with The Gallagher Shopping Park, all images, thoughts and opinions within are my own.
Honey wears… Leopard print dress by Next
Mummy and Honey wear… Autumn/Winter brights by Next and Sports Direct
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