Selfridges

Selfridges is one of the larger, flagship stores in The Trafford Center, it is located right in the middle of the center and is one of 3 «big» stores alongside John Lewis and Debenhams, located at either end of the shopping center, this one in particular is located right in the middle, fairly close to the lift access, and is classed as «The Dome», as I’m aware.
Selfridges is a brand of high-​end department stores in the UK, which is a household name to mancuians, as they have 2 large stores, one in the city center and one here in the Trafford center, they have 2 other stores in the UK, in Birmingham and Oxford Street in London, which I have yet to visit, but despite the fact they only have a few stores, they are a large business, and this store, as with many others always seems to be busy, like The Trafford Center its-​self, especially on a weekend.
I mainly only visit this store to take a look at the food, or have a look in while passing through The Trafford Center and /​or looking to kill a bit of time.
The Food section of here is quite good with a number of brands, including Pret A Manger, and Hey Little Cupcake, who sell gluten free and normal cupcakes, and have one store in Manchester — It is nice to see a small, independant business be setting up here too, despite it only being a really small stand as well as Pattiserie Valerie and other cake /​sweet stands, they is even a Yo Sushi.
As far as I’m aware, this is the only Selfridges in the UK with free parking, but this can be hard for them to control, often being on busy shopping streets or shopping centers, as the Trafford Center has free parking, and it is really easy to just run in and out, if you are just running in from Selfridges, due to its’ central location, if you park correctly of course
As a store, this isn’t bad but it is a typical department store, filled with lots of small kiosks for both food and fragrences, and personally I think Department stores are a mess, no matter how high end like Harrods, or low end like TK Maxx, I just find them to be a mess and difficult to navgate and actually enjoy a shopping experiance, especially with the huge crowds they can often attract.
Overall, this store isn’t bad, but it isn’t great either and is more deserving of a 2 than 3, as I feel it is merely average for a store of its’ kind, when considering factors of the layout, availability, shopping experience and price.

When I first decided to try Yo Sushi I thought that this may be a mistake as I tend to try and keep away from generic chain restaurants BUT this is different! Firsty I loved the concept of it… your food is transported on a revolver in front of you. pick and choose as you like, no hassle and the colour of the bowl corresponds with the amount charged. Secondly the food is yum !! I loved how laid back and relaxed it was. Water on tap! Well done Yo Sushi — Going to the Edinburgh You Sushi Tues for a treat :)

Many people may look at this 1 star and think «what is this guy on about — he knows nothing» but I do not judge a shop on the premium brands it stocks, I judge Selfridges the same as I would any small independent retailer which is on service, range and prices.
Service being the one of paramount importance. I am someone who values service in a store, just like I wrote about of C Aston Tobacconist last week. Perhaps these guys should go to Selfridges and show them how it’s done.
I went to the Trafford centre today in search of a shaving brush. Not any cheap piece of rubbish, but a good quality genuine badger hair brush. You would think you would get an item of this prestige in a store like Selfrodges, but I could not find anything of the sort. So I preceded to ask the closest member of staff who’s dumfounded tone told me all I needed to know. So, I carried on until I found another member of staff, this time male. He pointed me in a direction on the premise that «if we sell them they will be here…» So I trekked to the location… and nothing. So I then asked another lady who had no idea if they sold them or not. I then went and asked another guy who pointed me in another direction and again, nothing there. Finally I went to find the campest person I could and found someone who fit the bill perfectly. Gay guys often take pride in their appearance so I thought if anyone will know it is him. But again, I was faced with «Erm…»
I mean seriously, I know every member of staff can not know every product they sell in a store and maybe a lady would not know about male grooming products, but you would assume guys in a store would know at least if they sold them or not. So no one out of seven, yes seven members of staff that I asked knew for sure, half of which sent me on wild goose hunts. To me this is appalling service. I have worked in stores in my time and if a customer asked me where something was and I didn’t know if we had it or not, I wouldn’t assume nor ‘point them in the direction’. I would say «if I had a hunch, it would be here» and take the customer so they are not left wandering around aimlesslly.
So this is why I give Selfridges trafford 1 star. Sheer lack of service, lack of knowledge and lack of customer care is not a business model I admire. I have always hated stores like Selfridges/​big department stores of faceless corporations and today was a perfect reminder why.
I would add as well that I also could not find any form of male grooming in Debenhams, John Lewis or Selfridges at the Trafford Centre after asking numerous staff in each store. So, you can’t say I don’t try and support local business because I went out today with a purpose to support local industry but after today all I can say is… Thank god for internet shopping!

I went in to Selfridges Food Hall in the Trafford Centre with a group of foodies… had i gone in on my own and it would have literally passed me by. Well i would have passed it by. But wow… It’s a food education coming in here. Well it was with these guys… there are things to be had you just can’t pick up in your local supermarket. AND AND AND… CANDY CORN! For realz I picked up some candy corn, and my friend managed to get some of the lovely and healthy (!) whatever right… Lucky Charms he’d been missing out on his entire life… well for the past five or six years since they discontinued them, although i thought they brought them back, however here they were, and although he paid i think £3 for a box, he was happy.
If you are after sitting down and indulging in some food, then the sushi bar is the way forward, although it seems everyone in the Trafford Centre who is successfully managing to avoid the Orient food area, has cottoned on to this…
Wonderful combinations of concoctions here… grabbing a quick bite, sipping a beverage, dipping in and grabbing some continental delicacies.

There is little that I can say about this foodie paradise that my other Unilocaling colleagues have detailed before — the range of excellent hot and cold foods is simply excellent, from the mezze selection (the marinated olives are fantastic) to the dessert counter (with its delicious profiterole towers and chocolate cheesecake teardrops). It was a rare treat, in the days before the Picadilly branch opened, to pick up a maple glazed doughnut from the Krispy Kreme concession here.
What most impresses me about the Trafford Centre Selfridges Food Hall is the selection of premium spirits available — whiskies including green label Johnny Walker and Monkey shoulder, gins like Hendricks and Tanquery Export and vodkas including Grey Goose and the sparkling champagne-​bottled Camitz. Fantastic. They’re expensive of course (Grey Goose is pushing £40 a bottle), but you could always buy them as a big present for an elderly relative and then when they fall asleep have a sneaker snifter or eight.

Selfridges food hall in the Trafford Centre is not somewhere to go on a budget. Everything looks delicious and buy-​able.
Head to the Oriental food bar and get a Barbeque Pork Bun — such a good snack, hot or cold. It also has Lucky Charms cereals, albeit for an extortionate price but c’mon they’re so cheering for an early morning start.
The womenswear department is heaven and my flatmates and I have spent many, many hours browsing through. Equal time has been spent in the homeware section where we’ve fantasised about owning random items, like the Alessi kitchen accessories. A corkscrew that looks like a parrot isn’t exactly a necessity is it.
The only complaint I would have is of the Links jewellery concession where one of the sales assistants was incredibly rude and unprofessional. So I would visit the Links shop in Manchester city centre if I was you.

Selfridges Food Hall offers a moment of peace and quiet from the madness of the Traffic Centre. I say a moment rather than an hour because there’s only a limited amount of seating and those lucky enough to get one tend to want to stay. The fact the seating is stools also makes it difficult to put your shopping bags anywhere.
But still, if you’re hungry and tired — Selfridges Food Hall is a great place to pop in for some fuel. Located on the top floor, there’s a Yo Sushi! concession where you can get sushi, noodles and rice dishes, a Pret A Manger concession where you can get soup and hot and cold sandwiches, a Seaty Pretzel where you can get salads, juices, smoothies and pretzels and International Eat Over and Deluxe Traiteur Counters. The latter two offer a variety of hot and cold meals for you to eat in or take away from Indian, African and Middle Eastern curries, stews and rice dishes to English classics like beef wellington and smoked salmon and asparagus.
Smile nicely at the staff and you might get seated quicker. If that doesn’t work, try staring at the people that have been sat sipping a glass of wine for two hours!

Au contraire, I am a fan of the Selfridges food hall.
Too often I am caught out on a Sunday. All the supermarkets close at 4pm. I will lesuirely make my way to Asda at around 5pm on a Sunday when I’ve started thinking about dinner and found it closed. The only place open nearby that sells food is Selfridges food hall (or Marks and Spencer but it’s always been raided by that time and there’s nothing good left).
So quite often I’ve found myself making my way over to Selfridges and having a browse around the counters to find something I can warm up at home and pretend to have cooked myself. My personal favourite of the counters has to be Deluxe Traiteur which sells hot and cold delicases like Beef Wellington… a fantastic place to help you cheat for a dinner party.
It’s also a great place to pick up gifts for people, I love Vom Fass (see seperate review) but there is tons of other places too. The confectionary counter is worth a mention… they sell Reese’s peanut butter cups… mmmmm!

If you go past Selfridges food hall in the Trafford Centre you can be fooled into thinking you missing out on some culinary delights. However if you venture into store you realise it is all merely an illusion.
I have nipped in here a handful of times trying to find something quick to eat on my lunch break. The choice I am faced with is overpriced pies, fruit smoothies, large pretzels or sushi. All of these items are ridiculously expensive and not that filling. My other problem is that none of the food is great for taking back to the office aside from the fruit smoothies and I am not Victoria Beckham so that just wont do.