Today we paid our first visit to Liverpool One, the recently opened shopping centre in Liverpool. We chose Liverpool for our post Christmas sales trip because we wanted to go to a John Lewis, which is sadly missing from our local shops. When we first moved up here from Surrey it was some time before we managed a trip to the John Lewis at the Trafford Centre and I was beginning to think that we had moved to the back of beyond, such is the lack of variety and choice offered by the local shops.
The shops at Liverpool One look attractive enough, but even the throngs of sale shoppers could not raise the temperature, from the just above freezing, in Liverpool today. We only go shopping, now, when we really need to buy something. I am no longer the shopaholic that I once was. As I spend most of my time decorating or gardening I do not need a wardrobe full of fancy clothes. Today we were looking for a duvet and pillows. As we approached the bedding department we were asked by at least two assistants if they could help us. Usually when you want help there is not an assistant anywhere in sight and unless I really need help my standard response is that I am just looking. I once said this to a friend who approached me in a shop! Then realised that she was not staff. We knew what we wanted and no salesperson was going to persuade us otherwise. Having secured our purchase of a duvet and four pillows we arranged for them to be taken to the collection point so that we did not need to carry them around with us. We then had a wander around the other shops with the aim of doing some window shopping and I managed to drag my husband into Debenhams and Marks and Spencer to see how they compared to the Chester stores. Shopping, with a bored and reluctant husband in tow, is hard work and if I want to do more than just look I need to shop on my own.