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The shopping centre is managed in two parts, the first being the Centre MK and the second a place named Midsummer Place.
The actual opening date for the shopping centre was September 25th 1979 and has over 260 stores inside. This might have changed quite a lot since the current recession ... Read review
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Advantages: Vast range of stores Disadvantages: Some duplicate stores
...the first being the Centre MK and the second a place named Midsummer Place. The actual opening date for the shopping centre was September 25th 1979 and has over 260 stores inside. This might have changed quite a lot since the current recession and stores shutting down. This will be an insight to what the centre has to offer and what you can find there.
== Opening Hours ==
Monday - Wednesday 09:30am ... ... Well the centre Mk tries to have a huge variation of stores in different categories.
The stores with accessories you might find there are places like, BHS, Burton, Ann Harvey, Moss, Monsoon, Jane Norma, Kiss, River Island, Principles, Superdrug, Wallis and many more sorts of stores to have accessories in. To be honest they do cater a lot for the stores with accessories inside because you have to remember that so many people ... more
This Review is for the Centre M.K which is a huge shopping centre in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.
The shopping centre is managed in two parts, the first being the Centre MK and the second a place named Midsummer Place. The actual opening date for the shopping centre was September 25th 1979 and has over 260 stores inside. This might have changed quite a lot since the current recession and stores shutting down. This will be an insight to what the centre has to offer and what you can find there.
The centre is laid out extremely well. You walk in through a door which is numbered. This door is the way back to your car. Every so often you find another door with a different number on so you are always aware of what is next in line and where you are.
The stores are situated to the left and the right of you at all times. You walk down the middle of the shopping centre and you come across in the centre many trees which are planted and plenty of seating to which you can sit down and take it easy. The stores are always to the sides of you and very clear to what they are. Every so often as you walk down the centre of the building you notice an isle will pop up and down these isles are other stores so you need to take a look down them to see what else is for you.
The roofing of the building is see through so when the sun is out the centre lights up and sadly when it is not so nice you rely on the lighting of the building to make the place seem nice. I like the layout because of the amount of seating you have supplied to you. The flooring is just tiles and simple colour so there is no confusion and you getting shocked with bright colours. The stores are laid out well and I just think they designed the place extremely well and easy for people to know where they parked and to find the door they came in.
Stores
Well the centre Mk tries to have a huge variation of stores in different categories.
The stores with accessories you might find there are places like, BHS, Burton, Ann Harvey, Moss, Monsoon, Jane Norma, Kiss, River Island, Principles, Superdrug, Wallis and many more sorts of stores to have accessories in. To be honest they do cater a lot for the stores with accessories inside because you have to remember that so many people visit there they need to try and make the place as convenient as they can and with the accessory stores I just think they do superb job having such a wide selection for people to choose from.
Banking ------------
They do have banking around the place and these are just the basic banks like HSBC, RBS, Abbey, Nationwide, Barclays, Halifax and more. So there is a big range of banks there and you can withdraw cash from these places, or do the normal banking you would expect to be doing in a local town centre. I think they are well scattered throughout the centre they are not close together and it means that you're not walking around and finding one area with no stores but just banks. Very nice idea and it works really well. I think the best banking store they have might be the HSBC bank as this is a huge bank they have outside in Midsummer Place.
Audio and Visual -----------------------
They do have an audio and visual section of stores and they are the normal sort of stores you would expect to see in Gamestation, Game, HMV, Boots, Whsmith, O2, Apple and more. The audio stores I will admit are not the best for the centre MK. I just think there is nothing there to jump out at you and suggest they are worth visiting with the audio. Perhaps HMV is the standout store because offers you games and movies and more. The apple store they have is very boring and very small with nothing much going on inside and does feel a complete waste of time visiting. This is the same for Gamestation and Game both very tiny stores and to be honest sometimes you do wonder why they are there. In the centre themselves they are hard to find because they are down little isles and this can take you time to notice them more. One of the stores in the audio section does stand out and that is Boots and the store is very big and perhaps on the biggest they offer in the centre Mk. Perhaps a nice comet store nearby or a Pcworld would be that big store but perhaps they are not the sort of store to find in the Centre Mk anyway.
Books and Stationery -----------------------------
They offer books and stationery stores such as Whsmith and Waterstones and there are more there. Waterstones is a very big store and so is Whsmith because they are two of the leading book stores in the country and they are there and easy to find and you cannot miss either of them. The waterstones store I believe has 2 floors of items and so does Whsmith so it shows you how big they are. I do find however annoying is the centre Mk in the books and stationery section has got two Clinton Card stores and to me that is not needed. You have one and get rid of the second store. It just makes you think when you walk round how stupid it looks to have two stores the same in such a small area.
Cosmetics and Perfume -----------------------------------
They have some stores which are in this field like Boots, Lush, Perfume Shop, Body Shop and more.
I said previously how big Boots is and it is one of the biggest stores they have inside the centre itself but when it comes to other stores like Lush and Perfume Shop they are basic and small not a lot really going on there. You can visit other stores like Debenhams and find cosmetics in there which to be fair is not too bad. I think they could do with expanding one of the smaller stores into a bigger one to be able to show people some variety it is just where they would find the room to put a bigger store in.
Hairdressing ------------------
Yes they do have quite a few hairdressers and sometimes I have to say they are very good. I used one once in there and it was a random spare of the moment thing and cost me the same price to where I would normally go. They have places like Toni and Guy, Regis, Just Gents, Fecund and more. I will admit they are good and always busy so if you're after perhaps to have a hair cut or visit somewhere to see items to help with this profession then there are some there to choose from.
Homeware ---------------
The one area I think we all like to visit and get stuff from. In the centre there are limited stores which offer this sort of range of items. They have the normal BHS and Next there but to me the outstanding store for Homeware is without doubt John Lewis. This store is just the biggest in the whole centre by some distance and does have many Homeware items inside and electrical. They are highly priced which is their bad side but to balance things out the good side is that they have such a vast amount of items to choose from. I do wonder if they put a big store in the centre to match up with John Lewis would we see prices lowered in John Lewis or not, this would be interesting to see.
Music ---------
Well this is one area they are struggling with throughout the entire centre. They have just 2 places to get music from and one is HMV and the other the Music Den. I say that because they used to have a Zavvi and it was very big as well but sadly has gone and it does not do the music, in a way the market for music is very weak in the centre MK and this is by some distance as well. I personally think they need to try and get some more music stores inside because otherwise you're just going to visit HMV and you do want variety and options.
Opticians -------------
They do have many opticians as well which is good I think because you can book an eye test whilst out shopping so I find that a great idea. They have boots, Specsavers, Vision Express and some more there also. They are never huge stores so they are just basically an eye testing centre with some frames to choose from, I think the vision express store is the biggest and offers the biggest choice of frames to choose from as well.
Mobile Phones ---------------------
Well without doubt one of the busiest parts they have in the entire centre is the mobile trading stores. You have got the big names of O2, Orange, Vodafone, T Mobile and many more of the other retailers who provide us contracts and phones.
I think though there are a few problems because there are two O2 stores, Carphone Warehouse and Orange Stores. I think this is really bad and I know the centre is big and people will say well it means convenience to the customer to save them walking one end of the centre to another to get to a store. If they have a couple of them then it means it is easier for us all, but to me it is just taking away another possible store we could benefit from and use for our own purposes.
Toys -------
They do have a wide range of toy stores or stores which have toys for sale. They have The Entertainer, Hawkins Bazaar, Lego, Disney Store and the Early Learning Centre amongst many others.
The Lego store I will admit is quite small but has some fantastic Lego models and items to buy should you wish to do so. I just visit to take a look at the superb work people have done to make the models they have. I think the best toy store they have is the Entertainer as this seems to cover good age range and also the genders really well. I think they have enough stores to cater for children's toys and that is a very good effort by the centre.
Men's Fashion ----------------------
The fashion stores dominate the centre in every single way. You have got the men's fashion stores such as Bank, Envy, Burton, John Lewis, BHS, Austin Reed, Next, Moss, One Republic and more.
The stores they have for fashion are everywhere and to be fair it is the biggest reason why I visit the centre Mk in the first place. I think they offer fantastic range of clothing stores to those which are for formal wear and suits to those which are casual wear and more the leisure look. Most of the stores are big but the Next store is extremely huge and has the whole top floor dedicated to the men and this is superb. It is tough sometimes I think for men to find a decent clothes store so this is a great place to look and with so many scattered throughout the centre it makes things a lot easier.
Women's Fashion --------------------------
Yet again this is similar to the men's fashion with such a huge range of stores available to find the items you might like. Stores like Ann Harvey, Evans, Coast, Debenhams, Bay, La Senza, Monsoon, New Look, Wallis, Topshop and many more great stores. I think the amount of stores again is similar to the male fashion stores. You have a store to cater for all sorts of needs. Teenagers have stores which have item purely dedicated to their fashion sense and then you have the more mature stores for the ladies who are getting older in live. I think the amount of fashion stores and the different types helps the centre be attractable to many people. I would not change their fashion stores at all.
Food and Drink
Well the centre has many ways to eat and enjoy yourself at the same time. The centre has the fast food restaurants which are McDonalds and Burger King and they have sandwich bars as well and place to buy a snack like Millie Cookies and Krusty Kreme Doughnuts. They also have this pretzel shop as well which is quite nice and tasty but very small. The food places are usually very big, and contain seating for you to sit down and have a nice break. For drinks they do have Starbucks and Costa Coffee as well located in the store in many different places. With the food and drink I just think they could do with taking away one of the burger king restaurants as they are always empty and put something else there perhaps a KFC or a nice cafe perhaps something different then the same stuff we see from a day to day basis. Overall the amount of food stores are scattered round and very easy to find and also the same prices you would find elsewhere in the country. I say this because sometimes a store might put the price up more due to being inside a shopping centre.
Maps
Inside the centre throughout you will notice many maps around for you to find out where stores are. Recently they updated there service and have put these little computers there for people to type in the store they want and it shows you the pathway electronically where you need to go and how far away the store is. Before they had this idea they used to use these horrible little maps and you had to try and work out where you were and find the route yourself. Now this new idea they had is helpful and quick and it makes you find the store your after a lot quicker. The maps also contain information about jobs vacancies as well which is a little extra I guess to promote the jobs they have.
Empty Space
Outside the huge John Lewis is where they have this massive empty space and usually there is some sort of exhibition taking place there. At Christmas this area is used for Santa Grotto and other activities and it is always a pleasure to view people having such immense fun there. Sometimes they have the latest cars added to the market there for you explore and find out information about and this is also fairly good. I do like it when they put a playground on for the kids. They do this more often than they have done in previous years and put a carousel there for kids to play on and slides and it is just something extra for people to walk past and enjoy. There is always something going on there and they used to have collectormania which was this event for meeting stars of the sci fi programmes on television. However, this has moved venue now but was held in this area.
Atmosphere
The centre has got this atmosphere where you sense it is busy I like the idea how the building has such a tall frame and roof is high up so the volume travels further and you just feel inside yourself that place is really nice and friendly but also a pleasure to be walking round. You get frequent customer announcements about various activities and store offers so you're kept up to date with the latest information around the centre.
Market
The market is outside and you will not miss this one bit when you are walking through the centre. They have these huge windows which let you view the market and you're able to go outside and enjoy the stores they have got. To be honest it is fairly big and they have different store holders on different days. Currently the market is closed on Mondays and Wednesdays but the rest of the week they are open and they do have quite a bit of business. The perhaps one drawback is there are too many burger vans there and to many clothes stores.
The clothes stores sell the same items to each other and roughly the same price so you think to yourself why have 3 stores up when there is no difference. The burger vans are everywhere and yet again offer the same sort of deals so the market can be used to find cheap items and food more than anything else. I like markets because you pick up nice meat sometimes and cheap magazines from the previous month before so in theory you're saving quite a bit of cash, I just get angry with so many burger vans dominating the market in Milton Keynes.
Parking
The parking is everywhere, and I mean everywhere, from the entire length of the building where the shops are located to the opposite side of the road. They have got 3 types of parking and you have green spaces which are free to stay in for as long as you wish and these are limited sadly so you need to get there early to try and gain a space for yourself. The purple spaces are where you need to pay cash and it is about 30p an hour if I remember right so to be fair that is cheap. Then you have the red zone spaces which are outside the centre and these are a lot more money and I cannot remember the price but I think they are over £1 an hour to stay in.
The parking they have is good and is monitored so you cannot try and cheat the system. They have 17,000 parking spaces and if you take a look sometimes you find places like the Library and other shops outside in the car park.
I think the parking is good just they could do with creating more green spaces because I wonder how many staff gets there early and park in the green spaces which take up room for the customers. Overall plenty of spaces to find you parking in.
Summary
The centre Mk has got many good things going for it, they have plenty of spaces for people to park and a nice clean shopping centre full of many different types of stores to keep us all happy. Sadly as of late many stores are disappearing and you have large areas of the shopping centre remaining empty and this can be off putting in the long run. They have plenty of stores in each category except for music which is in need of something to help the centre big time.
I like the idea of many various places to eat and sit down and it is a way to take the pressure of you and take a break. The atmosphere is superb and you're never going to get lost with fantastic guidance they give using their sensational maps they have. I would highly recommend visiting here for the purpose of a nice day out, cheap parking, and nice facilities and also just being able to enjoy yourself. Perfect place to go shopping and have fun at the same time.
Contact Information
24 Silbury Arcade Central Milton Keynes Milton Keynes MK9 3ES
Advantages: Great shops and pleasant surroundings Disadvantages: Parking is difficult at weekends
Milton Keynes has been the butt of many jokes but as it grows and matures into its new city status it may be time for a reappraisal. Of particular interest here is the shopping centre, after all in this category it could hardly be otherwise. Milton Keynes is unusual in that from the outset the town centre was designed to be entirely under cover. The result of this is that we basically have an out of town shopping centre in the centre of the town! ... ...have been recently refurbished.
Layout
~~~~
The centre comprises two parallel malls on a single floor (although the shops are mainly 2 storey) with the new Midsummer Place extension at one end. At the opposite end, next to John Lewis, is Middleton Hall that is an open space that features different displays or exhibitions most weeks. Between the two malls there is a courtyard with fountains and seating areas. This offers a very pleasant break in ...
pauljm 27.03.2001 (01.10.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of MK Shopping Centre (Milton Keynes)
Like almost any normal, healthy young female, I was looking forward to the chance to do some shopping during a trip to Milton Keynes at the very start of this year. I had with me a native of the area who I assumed would be some help with this, but that’s where I was wrong. You see, he was a he, and being the type of he that he is, although he knew where the electrical and sports shops were, he knew not where anything I needed was. (BTW, anyone ... ...in one sentence???) Anyway, on with the op. We went to The Centre in Milton Keynes which is a huge half mile long shopping complex, offering a mixture of high street names and local independent retailers. ~~ Shops ~~ There’s a branch of everything you would imagine here. There are clothes shops and book shops and music shops and sports shops and toyshops. There are places to buy cosmetics and chocolate and glasses and furniture. You could book ...
zoe_page 15.03.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of MK Shopping Centre (Milton Keynes)
Advantages: Massive, Shops galore, Fun! Disadvantages: Gets Busy, Poor parking facilities, poor transport around mk
...WHY?
Becuase the centre MK is massive. So massive, you can even find it in the book of records! The are loads and loads of shops. You have your major retailers, like woolworths and HMV, then you have your little stalls, like the Yogurt Shoppe and Luvly Bubbly. There is the CMK Market, where you can grab your bargains. It is closed mondays though. You have got the new 'midsumemr place' building with all the new shops opening rapidlly, including the ... ...to do!
THE CENTRE MK OPENING HOURS FROM 19th November and up to XMAS
EXTENDED OPENING HOURS FROM 19TH NOVEMBER - 16TH DECEMBER
Monday - Wednesday....... 9am - 8pm
Thursday & Friday ....... 9am - 9pm
Saturday ....... 9am - 7pm
Sunday ....... 9am - 5pm
MONDAY 17TH - FRIDAY 21ST OF DECEMBER OPEN UNTIL 9.00PM!
Saturday 22nd December .. 9am - 7pm
Sunday 23rd December .. 9am - 5pm
Christmas Eve .. 9am - 5pm
25th & 26th December .. CLOSED
27th ...
MrOpinions69 21.10.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of MK Shopping Centre (Milton Keynes)
Advantages: Huge Selection, Disabled Facilities, Great Experience Disadvantages: Gets Very Busy, Parking Bad
...& Spencer Mexx MK One Monsoon Accessorize Next Oasis Office Original Levi's Store Planet Principles Punky Fish Republic River Island Top man/Top shop/Miss selfridge USC Wallis Warehouse Zara MENS CLOTHES
Barratts Base Bhs Burton Debenhams F Hinds Fat Face GAP Goldsmiths H Samuel H Samuel H&M Hawes & Curtis House of Fraser Hugo Boss Jaeger JD Sports Jewellery Store, The John Lewis Label Leatherworld Leslie Davis Lowgo Marks & Spencer Mexx New store ... ...(Just like the London Eye MK Style lol)
Theatre District (Great Shows to be seen)
Bar's and Clubs (Loads Oceania Club/Bar is the best)
Escape Building (Snowboarding, Skiing, Shops, Cinema, Playland, Bowling and much much more.
Aerodrome (UK's First indoor Skydiving facility)
MK Dons Football (However moving to Bletchley very soon)
Milton Keynes is overall a great shopping experience and there is fun to be had in the surrounding areas so book ...
bazzaoleary77 06.02.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of MK Shopping Centre (Milton Keynes)
Advantages: Good selection of shops - easy to get to Disadvantages: Weekends are mobbed, cyclists, skateboarders
If you live in Northampton and have to suffer shopping there, a trip to Milton Keynes can be a treat. However I can only recommend a trip during the week, as the weekends are suffocatingly busy.
Everybody talks about the dreaded Milton Keynes roundabouts and how Americanised the streets and street-names are, but actually the road signs at all these roundabouts are helpful, and you cannot miss the shopping centre.
The main shops are signed from ... ...a free park and ride although I have not used this so cannot comment. I would certainly suggest using this facility at the weekends as parking does become a problem. If you do decide to park the prices have actually gone up from today (15 October 2001) to 80p per hour however it’s not as simple as that as you cannot pay £3.20 for four hours. You instead pay £3 for three hours 45 minutes – confusing eh? It used to be 1p per minute so £3 ...
maeib 15.10.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of MK Shopping Centre (Milton Keynes)
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