There will be those that seek out the glamour of Harrod's, Liberty's and the department stores of London's Oxford Street, but others may prefer a smaller-scale location. Apart from several visits to the Meadowhall indoor shopping mall near Sheffield, my shopping experiences are confined to the south of England.

I occasionally enjoy a trip to West Quay in Southampton, and have bought furniture as well as clothes at the huge John Lewis department store there. Whilst there I also make a point of visiting the Apple Store and Waterstone's bookshop. However, for a more varied day of shopping, unless you are looking for large household appliances, I would suggest a visit to Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth.

Situated close to Portsmouth Harbour railway station and the Historic Dockyard, Gunwharf Quays is essentially a collection of factory outlet stores offering substantial discounts. For clothing, you can choose between Marks and Spencer's, Next, Gap, Monsoon and Fat Face among others. Tula has a selection of beautiful handbags: I recently paid GBP24 for a bag that was originally priced GBP75. You will also find shoe shops such as Hush Puppies, and underwear stores. CDs and DVDs are upstairs at HMV. Crabtree and Evelyn is mainly a source of high quality toiletries, but they also stock biscuits and jams. Just across from their store you can find a wide selection of speciality teas and coffees to buy at Whittard's. If you are looking for kitchenware or china such as Denby, these too are found at Gunwharf. For chocoholics there is a Cadbury outlet. Watch out for the ATMs that are situated beside Marks and Spencer's, as they will charge you for making a cash withdrawal.

If you want a break from your shopping, you can watch a film at Vue cinema, go bowling, visit the Aspex art gallery, or see the view from the top of the south coast's most famous landmark, the Spinnaker Tower. There are cafes such as Starbuck's and Nero's as well as a pub. And when the shops finally close, you can choose from a range of eateries: Pizza Express, Zizzi's, La Tasca, Santa Fe and Tootsie's are all situated right down on the waterfront, so you can relax, look out over the harbour, and perhaps see a rosy sunset into the bargain. If you still have some energy later on, you can go clubbing at Tiger Tiger or visit the Grosvenor Casino.

The public conveniences at Gunwharf Quays have recently been revamped: the taps do not need to be touched by hand, and the hand dryers collect the water whilst taking only ten seconds to dry your hands. Hand cream is provided as well as soap. On leaving, you can use the shoe shine appliance, but you may have to queue for this.

Gunwharf Quays is ideal for a family day out since there is plenty of entertainment to relieve the boredom of shopping, and the waterfront provides a particularly picturesque location. If, however, you really can't stand the crowds and are looking simply for boutiques, jewellers and antique shops, try The Lanes in Brighton. There is nothing that quite compares.

Learn more about this author, Liz Allen.
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