Broadstairs is shopping heaven
A trot down Broadstairs traditional High Street is always a pleasant shopping experience and the additional shopping streets,in town: The Broadway, Albion Street, Harbour Street, Charlotte Street and York Street, make the central Broadstairs area a diverse and vibrant shopping hub.
The neighbouring Towns of Ramsgate and Margate, which both have many new independent traders, some particularly interesting ones in recent years, and the large modern shopping centre at Westwood Cross (which has the large format stores including Debenhams, M&S and Next ,etc), not to say the nearby ancient cathedral city of Canterbury, which is just 20 minutes by train from Broadstairs station and includes a branch of Fenwicks department store and an exceptionally rich retail offer in a charming historic setting, all add to the local shopping possibilities.
Should you be shopping for groceries for your holiday home you can of course order a delivery online, as many people do nowadays, or take your time browsing one of the local supermarkets at Westwood Cross – we have giant Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury’s superstores which seems probably more than the area really needs, but we do appreciate the variety they offer. In our opinion far better than these options though is making use of the local high street stores, for a slower paced and more enjoyable shop and to pick up the best of local produce.
Starting at the Broadway – go to Fruit de Mer, the renowned local fishmonger which gets several deliveries of fresh fish from local boats every day, The Offy independent off licence is just across the road and there is another of these, The Bottleneck which has been established many years, when you get at the bottom of the High Street and enter Charlotte Street. Several convenience stores can be found around town – There’s Budgens at the garage, Co-op and Tesco Extra as you walk down the High Street to name just a few. Prentis and Hinge are our greengrocers, both packed full of fresh fruit and veg and Prentis also stock preserves and herbs and spices, Bakers include Crusties and The Old Bakehouse, Brogdale the Butcher at the top of the High Street is followed by Hazells and Rooks at the lower end. Once a month we even have Thanet Farmers Market at Dane Court Grammar School – where you can pick up veg from local farms, game, and all kinds of local foodstuffs from small scale producers the likes of Little Stour Orchard (award winning apple juice) and Beth’s Mogador (Hungarian Austrian dishes made right here in Thanet).
It used to be that there weren’t a lot of clothing shops in the centre of town – while Westwood Cross is known for having all the high street favourites – New Look, River Island, Monsoon and so on. Recently The Boutique and La de Da Boutique have opened up just a few doors away from each other, bringing relaxed stylish fashion clothing and accessories, including some very funky footwear for women at highly affordable prices. Kerry’s boutique, also on the High Street, between the two newer stores, specialises in larger sizes fashionwear so is a great place to check out too and on Charlotte Street there is a brand new fashion, gifts and homewears shop, Kit, on the site where Vassoulas womenswear used to be. Kit is very stylish, minimalist gear – elegant pared back designs, not overpriced though it all looks very classy in there. Across the road from Kit, if you go downstairs in Arrowsmiths gift shop there’s also a good selection of womens and childrens clothing items.
Arrowsmiths is great for gifts, from stuffed toys to unusual jewellery, as is next door Angel Rooms which has crystals, fairies and meditation CDs. The town’s art galleries have wonderful framed pictures which can make wonderful souvenirs of your holiday once your back home. Stroll down Albion Street and there’s even a brand new very fun looking shop that specialises in “gifts for dogs and your barking mad friends”, next door to the Gem store which has fossils, crystals and other gems, both raw and made into jewellery and ornaments at amazing prices and is a real treasure trove.
We hope this write up has whetted your appetite for a trip round the shops in our lovely town. Bring a shopping bag anyway, we suspect you’ll be sure to find a little something or two here that you will want to take home with you from your seaside holiday with us!
If you haven’t booked your holiday accommodation yet – just click over to our home page and check if we have availability for the dates you have in mind. 2017 is already getting booked up in our popular seaside town!
Tags: broadstairs shopsfashiongiftsHigh Streetindependent shopslocal produceshopping