Gardiner Haskins

I am pleased to say that a previously reported issue (resulting in a 1-​star review) has been resolved to our satisfaction after discussion at director level. Such concern over a single customer complaint is commendable

Melanie is right to refer to this shop as a dinosaur. It’s a relic of another age and a wonderful one at that. You feel like you’re stepping back in time the moment you enter through its hallowed doors and hear the announcements over the intercom and the muzak. It sells all kinds of things from industrial workwear and bike accessories to an amazing craft supplies section, Dulux paints and a bargain basement of incredible value toiletries and booze. Then there is floor upon floor of furniture and across the street a huge garden centre stocking great value bedding plants and shrubs and a huge range of garden furniture. One of my favourite things though has to be the table of cheap seasonal chocs they sell off at incredible prices just after Christmas/​Easter has passed.

This place is really hard to define. Is it a hardware store? A garden centre? A department store? A pharmacy? A Christmas shop? A kitchenware shop? A sandwich shop? An off licence? Answer — yes.
Divided into two separate buildings, with a large onsite car park you will be surprised what you can find in this place.
Set over a number of floors you’ll find clothes, bikes, books, toiletries, electronics, gardenware, furniture, chocolate and sweets.
They’ve also got an impressive selection of ciders, ales, wines and liquers. Think mead, orange flavour beer and ginger wine. All the drinks you struggle to find in supermarkets.

Other people here have mentioned the hardware store on one side (they mix Dulux paint which is very handy by the way) but I just want to mention the garden centre which is on the separate building across the pedestrian/​cycle path (which reminds me — do note the different coloured bricks and cycle images on the floor and watch out for cycles).
The garden centre is pretty well stocked for peripherals, but also has a nice selection of instant colour seasonal plants as well as some fruit and herbs for kitchen gardens. Their willows and topiary are a bit old fashioned and I would recommend going to a specialist nursery for trees (try Chew Valley Trees) but this is great for a gardening hit in town.

An iconic building across the landscape of the flatter Temple Meads/​Dings industrial area, the outside is most certainly more impressive than the inside.
Gardiner Haskins is basically a big hardware and everything else store, which is now somewhat out of date. If you’re looking for drill bits or saws this is a great place to go, where the staff know their stock from head to toe, but it’s not the place you’d go for stylish home ware. I guess it could be said that it is what it is: A sensible home department store serving quality to items to the people of Bristol.

This sprawling department store feels like one giant throwback to the 1970s. The design is dowdy, come here after going to Ikea for a real shock. You’ll hear very British muzak plays over the speakers, interrupted occasionally by an announce who kindly reminds you to validate your parking when paying for your goods. Quaint to the point of being weird, and also almost always completely empty.
Enough of analysis of the style of the shop, I should probably tell you if it’s any good. There are sections for homeware and DIY, as well as a garden centre. You can get more or less anything for the home, a few things you didn’t know you needed, and a few things no-​one would ever need. There’s an entire row of various things for your milkman to leave the milk in, to give you an idea of the range. It’s not that cheap unfortunately. I think all there costs must go on the staff (who are very helpful), of which there seem to be a greater number than there are customers most of the time.

A great hulking oddity of a shop, like something from the seventies, sits at the back of temple meads in an old brick warehouse. I went there to buy a single torch and came out laden with things I didn’t need — a rather attractive rug, some value children’s books, a pot plant and several bottles of discounted shampoo. This is the kind of weird selection they sell — useful, but extremely confusing! It’s open long, long hours and there really isn’y anything like it anymore — a dinosaur of a hardware shop that refuses to compromise.