It’s safe to say with the practicalities and easiness of online shopping, follows the decline of high street stores. However, if you’re more of a technophobe and prefer to browse through shops and walk the high street for bargains then this blog can talk you through some of the best areas to shop in and around Bournemouth. If you’re a Primark fan, then Bournemouth High Street would be for you as it hosts a 2-storey large store, to suit your student budget.

The high street is also home to restaurants, cinema, crazy golf and Wetherspoons so is perfect for a day out too. The beach is just a 10 minute walk away through the gardens, so if the weather’s sunny you can spend the evening on the beach.

However, if you’re looking for one place to shop all your fashion stores and more from TK Maxx, New Look and River Island to all your favourite restaurants and take aways under one area too, then I’d recommend Castlepoint. It’s open from 9am until 8pm weekdays, 9am-7pm Saturdays, and 10am-4.30pm Sundays.

Castlepoint Shopping Park

You can also grab a bite to eat at one of the restaurants there. There’s so much choice: Nando’s, KFC, Caffe Nero, Five Guys, McDonalds & Frankie and Benny’s. You can also get on with your food shop at Asda or Sainsburys whilst you’re there.

If quirky independent stores are more your thing, then you can find Westbourne, west of Bournemouth town centre, 15 minutes by foot. In the centre is a Victorian covered arcade with a variety of stores and bars inside. You can find Westbourne home to gin bars, independent bookstores, and tearooms.

Westbourne shopping area

If you love upcycling and recycling clothes and items, then Winton could be for you. Winton is full of charity shops, focusing on second hand bookstores, charity shops that sell a range of items, clothes only stores and second-hand furniture stores.

If you enjoy browsing around a traditional market scene, you can head to Boscombe, just a short hop on the bus from Bournemouth and enjoy the ambience there on their Open Air Market held Thursdays and Saturdays. The market was first set up in 1992, and offers a range of stalls from fruit & veg, and meat produce to clothing, plants, bags, watches, jewellery and other trinkets. There’s lots of tasty food options too at these markets with stalls selling Brazilian, Thai, Indian cuisine, as well as sweet treats and pastries. Boscombe is also home to a Victorian Royal Arcade a Sovereign Shopping Centre and stores all through the high street.

‘Pokesdown Mile’, just a little stretch along from Boscombe, hosts antique stores, independent shops including retro and vintage stores.

If you want to experience city life shopping, a short hop on the train half an hour away is the city of Southampton. Here you can find multiple shopping centres and a high street, including the nearest IKEA store.

Don’t forget to make the most of your student discount when shopping, to up to 20% discounts on items in store, you can find hundreds of student deals when showing your ID card.

Find out more

My blog on making the most of student discounts