Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
so much choice |
| Disadvantages: |
want to buy extra items once you are there |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
I have just had my first visit to the Southampton Hobbycraft store. I had seen the advertisements in our local paper and I thought that it definitely deserved a visit. My girls and I are always painting and drawing.
The Southampton store is situated next to Haskins Garden Centre, Gaters Hill, Mansbridge Road, West End, Southampton, Hants, SO18 3HW. There is a large free car park outside.
A map and directions are available on their web site. If you select the store that you require the details appear automatically. We didn’t find the directions that helpful but the map was very easy to understand.
The opening hours are Mon–Sat: 9am-6pm and Sun 11am-5pm.
Payments can be made by Debit/Credit Cards, Visa, Switch, Delta, Mastercard. Postal Orders, Personal Cheques, Hobbycraft Gift Vouchers and Cash.
The Haskins Garden Centre is situated next door and has a large and very well run café. It is clean and the food and service are excellent. They serve hot and cold food at very reasonable prices. The girls had a lunchbox containing a cheese spread roll, crisps, chocolate biscuit, jelly and a lollipop. They also had crayons and a picture to colour. There were fresh flowers on every table.
The toilets catered for ladies, gents, baby change and disabled. They were all lovely and clean. Food and toilets are very important to a family like myself with young children.
Inside the Hobbycraft store we were amazed at the variety of products and services on offer. Near the entrance an assistant had a table set up for children to make cat and dog fridge magnets at a cost of just 50p. She helped Megan to make a dog fridge magnet explaining every step very carefully. When it was completed Megan was given the paper templates used and a leaflet describing how to make them. She could take her finished fridge magnet home and it is now proudly displayed in our kitchen. She really enjoyed this activity.
The large framing centre inside can make made-to-measure frames. They offer help and advice and can frame anything you require from photos to football shirts. All types of frames are available from traditional wood effect to contemporary metal frames. All pictures are framed on the premises and free estimates are available. Other services on offer are canvas and needlework stretching, conservation framing, specialist framing including medals and coins, refitting and mount cutting. Their motto is “If you’ve made it or treasure it, Frame It!”
We walked around the whole store (more than once) and found children’s craft sets, dolls houses and furniture, cross stitch, wool, make your own wedding stationary sets, painting supplies, drawing supplies, cake making and decorating, books, model making sets, sewing boxes, pottery supplies, ribbons, paper, card and much, much more. Just about everything you can imagine!
We bought a bag of pom poms, a bag of eyes, sequins, paper, gel pens (Megan’s treat), a storage container, charcoals and a couple of books one on how to make cards and the other about fun children’s activities throughout the year.
The aisles were all well stocked and nicely presented. The areas were all clearly labelled and items were easy to find. The store was spacious and well lit and comfortable for pushing a pram.
I found the staff friendly and there were no queues at the checkouts.
Hobbycraft also run classes in each of their stores. The Southampton branch has the following classes:
Silk Painting
Glass Painting
Pottery Painting and Decorating, all ages welcome. Birthdays and parties catered for.
Certified Ross Instructors – Bob Ross wet-on-wet oil painting technique classes
Kids Crafts
Adult Craft Parties
Rag Rug Making
Modelling and Tile Making with Clay
Rubber Stamping and Mosaics
Calligraphy and Craft/Card Workshops
Encaustic Art
If you can’t manage to visit your local store an order service is available by telephone or e-mail. There is a minimum postage of £3.00 to pay but this varies depending on the weight of the item/s purchased.
I really enjoyed visiting the Southampton branch and now that I have been once I will definitely be visiting it again. It was a very enjoyable afternoon and I would recommend it to anyone that enjoys arts and crafts.
very helpful
very helpful
