Queens Arcade

What the Queens Arcade lacks in shopping variety in comparison to the neighbouring St, it makes up for being a beautiful space with lovely architecture.
~ Design:
You can’t miss the Queens Arcade passing by. Boasting an impressively immaculate entrance with high glass windows, this place is the epitome of class! Just have a look at some photos on Unilocal if you don’t believe me! The interior doesn’t disappoint either, I must say, especially when they have the beautiful decorations up around Christmastime.
~ Variety:
Like I mentioned earlier, the variety of shops offered at Queens Arcade does pale in comparison to St. David’s, which is where it loses points from me. There are some basic clothing stores, but it isn’t like you would spend a day browsing the stores here. Luckily, given that it is literally right next to the St. David’s Centre, with many people such as myself and Tanya P. unsure of where Queens Arcade ends and St. David’s begins, you won’t really notice the drought of shop variety!
~ Food and Drink:
Another downside of Queens Arcade — there doesn’t seem to be many places to grab a bite to eat. There’s bubble tea here (Bubble Base, which I highly recommend), but that’s the only food/​drink I would ever get from here. For food, head outside of the Arcade or over to St. David’s.
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Essentially, Queens Arcade has a great ambiance and design, but in terms of the actual content of the place? It’s seriously lacking. Thankfully, given its prime location it doesn’t really matter what’s on the inside. The fact that it is pure eye candy in the middle of Cardiff is good enough for me!

Queen’s Arcade is a large shopping centre in the centre of Cardiff.
While it seems to be largely overshadowed by the Goliath that is St David’s 2, Queens Arcade boasts a wide variety of shops that will keep the average shopper entertained and occupied for a good while.
With hundreds of outlets on offer, ranging from New Look to Argos to the Post Office, regardless of the occasion, there is something for everybody inside the arcade. Whether it’s The Entertainer for the kids, Madhouse for the men or La Senza for the ladies, there will surely be some form of shop that will warrant more than a passing glance, whatever your preference.
Also, should you have an unquenchable case of the munchies, Millie’s Cookies has just the thing for your hunger with their range of cookies that are unrivalled for taste. Also on offer is Simply Shakes, a small café that is a great place to grab a tasty, thirst-​quenching milkshake.
Definitely one for the shopping itinerary.

The most familiar thing to me about Queens Arcade are the steps up to the 1^st floor level on the main entrance. There is something grand about this entrance and in the summertime, what brief little time that is, people sit on the café tables below which are right outside the ground floor level entrance. I, like Tanya have also often wondered where the ending of Queen’s Arcade and the beginning of St David’s shopping centre are.
Queens Arcade is actually a very odd building when you think of the logistics internally. There are odd angles everywhere you look. As you enter on the ground floor level by the café there is a gradient descending. Then you have an odd set of stairs around the corner from the Post Office which is to the right. If you head to the left you become surrounded by stores and underneath the escalator you will find coin operated massaging arm chairs. I don’t trust these things, my friend bought one and I tried it out once and vowed never again.
Up on the first floor you can usually expect to find a stand selling windows or life insurance etc and there is usually someone there trying to stop you in the hope of making a sale. It is on this level you can find stores like La Cenza where you can take your lady to treat her to something a bit nice to wear. The more I think about this so-​called arcade, the more I draw the conclusion that it is nothing like the other arcades along the main streets of Cardiff. Queens Arcade is more of a mini shopping mall than an arcade in my own personal opinion

I’ve never been very good at quite telling where St David’s and Queens Arcades actually begin and end. At what point to you cross over from the realm of one into the other? Is it the stairs? The escalators? A certain shop? I’d like a line on the floor please, or a sign up on the wall saying ‘Croeso I …’
As likely as that seems to happen any day now, I shall base my review upon the areas of which I’m (pretty) sure belong to Queens. This is a lovely spacious area which well quite ahead of it time in terms of shopping centres, I think. It’s now many years old, and manages to keep up a very modern appearance and sense of light and space.
With a good selection of high street and slightly more unusual shops, this arcade is a great place to dash into then the Welsh weather isn’t playing game outside.

A great undercover shopping mall in the centre of the city with between 30 and 40 outlets. There’s an entrance in Queen St, Working St and also within the St David’s Centre, which is another mall. There are several clothes shops inside, an Argos, Disney Store, jewellers, and many others. A nice and dry place to shop!