Merchandise from the football club Manchester United is popular with some tourists. There is a dedicated superstore in the stadium at Old Trafford.
Manchester City FC also has its own dedicated retail outlet at the City of Manchester Stadium in Sportcity, as well as in on Market Street.
Afflecks Palace in the Northern Quarter is "an emporium of eclecticism, a totem of indie commerce," and a shopping arcade in a five story Victorian building, featuring a range of 50+ independent stalls catering to a young alternative crowd. It's a lot of fun: strange costumes, lots of goths, punks, and teenagers. Saved from closing in April 2008, it is now simply known as Afflecks.
The Northern Quarter is Manchester's answer to Soho, and there is a mishmash of stores which sell music, art, and clothing. More and more bars and cafes are opening too. At night look out for the illuminated, public art attraction on top of the Church Street car park.It was put up in 1999 at a cost of £35,000, but the lights went out for some five years until a deal was struck in July 2010, by the city council, with the NCP carpark company who will pay the bill for the 40ft (c. 12m) light tower. It is lit from 9pm to 1am.
Every Christmas time, continental style Christmas markets take place in Albert Square, in St. Ann's Square, and along both New Cathedral Street and Brazennose Street. You can buy all the usual continental and British Christmas curios as well as various foodstuffs. Good fun and very atmospheric at night when it's all lit up.
Also at Christmas, into the new year, there are open air skating rinks in Spinningfields as well as a snow slide and other attractions at Piccadilly Gardens. There is also a winterbar at the Spinningfields location.
The small but perfectly stocked food section of Harvey Nichols has a particularly fine wine department. Wines range from relatively inexpensive to the highest levels, e.g Chateau Latour, vertical ranges of Petrus, Vega Sicilia, etc. They are still remarkably good value in context, e.g. 1990 Krug Clos de Mesnil 1990, arguably the greatest Champagne ever made and incomparably finer than the footballer's wildly overrated Crystal is about £150.00 cheaper than usually quoted elsewhere.
Of late, there is a flower market at the Market Street corner of Piccadilly Gardens Thursday through Saturday from 10AM-6PM. Some food stalls and craft stalls can be found there too.
Also hunt out the Craft and Design Centre, in the old Smithfield Market Building, in The Northern Quarter. The complex is full of artist studio space and boutiques, as well as a cafe.
There are regular events in Albert Square, St Ann's Square and on New Cathedral Street, all year around, where you can buy art, listen to music and sample foods from far and wide.
If catering for yourself, there are several Sainsbury's Local stores located around the city centre (at Oxford Road, Mosley Street, Quay Street, Bridge Street, Piccadilly Station). Tesco Metro supermarkets can be found on Market Street (the largest supermarket in the centre), on Piccadilly and on Quay Street, which is near the aforementioned Sainsbury's and Granada TV. M&S food outlets are located within the M&S store next to Selfridges and there are also M&S Simply Food stores at Piccadilly Gardens and within Piccadilly Station. You will find increasingly popular Coop food stores near both Victoria, by the movement's headquarters, opposite the Arndale Market, at Piccadilly Gardens and just outside Piccadilly station. For more upmarket food products, Harvey Nichols has a deli and foodhall as does Selfridges. The city centre's first'Waitrose store opened near The Avenue development, with another expected to open in Piccadilly Gardens in the near future. At the other end of the spectrum there are the Arndale Market and a large Aldi store in the Arndale Centre, which is, in common with most UK outlets, much more upmarket than the stores in Germany. This is also accessible from Market Street. There is also a Lidl and a Tesco on Oxford Road near Manchester Royal Infirmary.
For something a little bit different, the newly refurbished Manchester Arndale Market features many food stalls, including a rather large fish store and a butchers. Chinatown has many specialist shops and the landmark Wing Yip superstore on Oldham Road in the Northern Quarter is excellent for everything oriental.
There are various other mini-markets and late night stores around the city centre and in Piccadilly station. There are 3 24 hour Spar's, one in Piccadilly gardens, one on Piccadilly station approach and the third opposite the BBC Studios on Oxford Road. Just out of the centre are a large Sainsbury's, in Regent Retail Park, Salford, an Asda store in Hulme, a Tesco Extra Hypermarket in Cheetham Hill.
Not of particular interest maybe, but it is worth knowing where the main public toilets are about town! Clean conveniences can be found at Piccadilly station (less reliable ones are to be found at Victoria) and there are a few pods around the centre (one is on the corner of John Dalton Street and Deansgate). There are pay toilets in the basement and on the top floor of The Triangle Centre, Exchange Square. You can also find FREE toilets in The Arndale Centre and at the following locations;
Kendals House of Fraser, Deansgate, (basement, 3rd, and 6th floors).
Selfridges,Exchange Square. (basement ,in the corner, near the alcohol section).
M&S, St Mary's Gate. (basement, near the food hall).
Harvey Nichols, New Cathedral Street (Near the food hall, bar, and restaurant).
Debenhams, Market Street. (Near cafe, top sales floor).
Royal Exchange Theatre, St. Ann's Square. (by bars and restaurant — not available to public during performances).
Town Hall. (entrance opposite Beluga restaurant, on Mount Street, just off Albert Square).
From summer 2010 the City Council is working with retailers who are to display a sticker in their window offering free use of their toilet facilities.
Most museums and galleries include free toilets. There is nothing stopping you popping into any busy pub to use their conveniences! At busy times you would hardly be noticed.
Free copies of The Manchester Evening News are given out, around the city and available at the airport, on Thursday and Friday, as well as inside and outside some selected newsagents in town. There is a charge of 47 Pence for the other days of the week including Saturday's edition. This is very good for listings, especially on a Friday, with the City Life pull out section. The free Metro newspaper is handed out in the mornings. This too has some listings.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Manchester
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Manchester - updated May 2024
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Manchester Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
