W H Smith

i am not amused with this shop it is difficult to get any wheelchair or pushchair around.

Like a portal into the past, this W H Smiths is part of a bastion of former commercial giants holding out against the dominion of the Bull Ring. With several entrances dotted around the shopping centre, this Smiths is massive inside, comprised of a smaller newsagent section downstairs and a giant stationery, toy and book store upstairs.

There are things you'll find in this shop that you'd be hard pressed to find elsewhere at such convenience, although due to the size of the place it can be a little difficult to find what you're looking for sometimes. The staff scurry around like rabbits in a warren, but if you can pin one down they're usually very friendly and helpful.

There's a book and art supply clearance section, which means you can often find yourself a bargain if you put the time in. Overall prices aren't great, but Smiths has always been a great one-stop shop for everything related to paper. They have a decent greetings card section too.

Okay so it’s just a big branch of WH Smith, and I’m not much of a fan of WH Smith these days. They do reasonable deals on bestselling books but Waterstones seem to be matching or beating them lately, and you can usually go better on the internet too.

Their stationery has always been overpriced so although they often have offers, the reductions only bring them down a little and they remain overpriced. Why you’d want to buy DVDs or games there I have no idea - all at RRP, you’d be mad to buy those here.

The only two things that save this store are a huge magazine section with probably the best magazine section in Birmingham - if it’s published it’s certainly available here.

Secondly, they have a Clearance section hidden away at the back where they put out the old stock. Some of it is too shop-soiled to be worthwhile but a lot of it is really reduced! They had chaos one weekend when they did all paperbacks for 5p and hardbacks for 10p! Usually, they start at around 99p and go up to £2.50 so you can get some real bargains.

Probably the best branch of Smiths in Birmingham as it has a HUGE clearance section upstairs just after the escalators on the right. This section sells books, games, toys etc at very cheap prices simply because they are out of season.
The rest of the store is great and they have a massive variety of books, CD’s, DVD’s, magazines, cards, stationery etc. Plus queues aren’t always too bad and staff are helpful.

A large W H SMITH store that seems a little bit to big. The store is very spacious and a little bit over priced compared to other stationary shops.
Ques are likely no matter of the time of day or day of the week but staff get through them quickly.
Wide selection of magazines and a great place to go if your looking for a certain newspaper or magazine that is not stocked by local newsagents.