What to see and do in Manchester UK

[PA2UK]

Originally Posted by swisswife

I guess but I was born in Manc and lived in the UK until I was 35 so I guess I'm used to it

I just hate the big shipping centers that carry the same shops, Gap, Miss Selfridge, Top Shop, River Island, Wallis, HMV, etc etc. You could teleport yourself from the Trafford Centre to Bluewater and not notice !!

Most of those shops can be found on the high street as well though. And I've never been to Bluewater but I highly doubt it could be confused with the Trafford Centre - like I mentioned before, the Trafford Centre is elaborately decorated. The food court is designed as a cruise ship and the rest of the mall is decorated with marble and romanesque statues. I really doubt there's any mall quite like it. Looking at pictures of Bluewater, both the exterior architecture and the interior design look very different. Sure, most of the shops will probably be the same but that's capitalism for you, nothing to do with indoor malls since you find the same shops on the high street too, in my experience.

[swisswife]

Originally Posted by PA2UK

Most of those shops can be found on the high street as well though. And I've never been to Bluewater but I highly doubt it could be confused with the Trafford Centre - like I mentioned before, the Trafford Centre is elaborately decorated. The food court is designed as a cruise ship and the rest of the mall is decorated with marble and romanesque statues. I really doubt there's any mall quite like it. Looking at pictures of Bluewater, both the exterior architecture and the interior design look very different. Sure, most of the shops will probably be the same but that's capitalism for you, nothing to do with indoor malls since you find the same shops on the high street too, in my experience.

I understand what you say about the architecture being different - but my comment was more a reflection on the same shops in both.
Yes I agree most of those stores are also on the high street in most town/city centers but there is a better mix usually because of the restrictive architecture of the rental spaces available.
City centre Manc shopping has a mix of designer who have their own store that you won't find in shopping centers (unless they are represented in the department stores) but places like Chester, York, Brighton, Lincoln, Glasgow and Harrogate still have smaller indie owned shops which I used to enjoy when I was there. Dublin and most of Ireland has a much higher number of indie stores and it makes shopping there much more fun IMHO but thats also one of the reasons I love shopping in Italy.
Chester is a great example because of the building restrictions on the 2 story buildings. Most big brands aren't interested in renting them because they are internally too restrictive so there isn't the same competition for space that drives up the rental prices in the big cities which forcer out the smaller retailer. The same is true for a lot of the old 'market towns' too.

I used to work in the wholesale side of the fashion industry representing brands in the UK and whilst getting a brand into somewhere like HOF or John Lewis was a cash winner spending my working day up and down the country visiting department stores in shopping centers was depressing. I guess I look at things differently than most people.