A B Snell & Son

A staple of the lower section of Penarth high street, Snells sells a rather odd selection of products, yet still manages to enjoy a seemingly good amount of trade. With a combination of stationery, sweets and papers of magazines, it’s as if this shop was the result of an affair between WH Smith and a trashy little newsagents. Whilst personally it’s not one of the first shops i’d go to for sweets, a newspaper or for stationery, this combination of goods clearly seems to appeal to a number of its loyal customers.
With friendly and helpful staff, there is something quiet charming about this small shop. Despite the slightly dated interior and sodden smell, Penarth residents are undoubtedly quite proud to have an independent shop like Snells still in existence. It’s definitely become something of an iconic shop over the years, which I suppose is was local communities thrive upon.

As you can probably tell from the reviews of my fellow Unilocalers A B Snell & Son is a really little individual place, which I can’t quite believe still exists in this day and age. It’s not exactly a big store, but I’m never entirely sure what I’ll find when I visit here; they really do sell a random variety of items.
Tanya mentioned that it’s rather hard to define this shops actual purpose, I completely agree with her view on this and am rather uncertain how to define this place myself. Whilst I can’t really put my finger on it I do believe that they are at least trying to stock items, for those visiting the local area. In addition to local books and guides concerning Penarth and Cardiff (a must for any tourist), they also sell outdoor games such as a baseball bat and ball, and typical seaside items such as fishing nets and buckets and spades. Unfortunately due to the temperamental British weather I do wonder how popular these items really are.
Finally I must note that I wasn’t exactly impressed by the stationary selection. Yes it is extensive, however the stationary available is all rather basic and if you’re after anything whish is a little pretty or unique this is not the place to go.

I’m never quite sure what to make of this place. It seems to sell a little bit of everything, but not ever quite enough of something to give it a more pronounced purpose — if that makes any sense at all?
Do you remember the old local post offices, where they sold sweets and books and stationary, and everything else besides to keep business ticking over while their main seller was a 15p stamp? This is kind of like that, in the respect that they have lots of entirely useful gubbins, and lots of, who guessed it, entirely useless gubbins too.
And now they’re selling ice cream too… this is the kind of place where you’ll unexpectedly find exactly what you were looking for, nothing at all, or some fond distant childhood memory of sweets and sunshine. It’s a very old fashioned shop, but has charm in bucket loads.

I once ordered so much stationary from here they gave me a free stuffed bear. I think that’s because I’ve got a sexy telephone voice though. This is a cute little business, not like those horrible massive chain stores; don’t be fooled though they’ve got a huge selection of office supplies. They also operate as a newsagents and still sell some retro sweets I had no idea still existed. Not a huge selection of magazines but strangely they stock some obscure titles, Vogue knitting for example. This is somewhere to go to get a book or magazine about something niche and Welsh. I’ve picked up some very strange mags about Welsh railways before now.

This is a stationers and newsagency on stanwell road which stocks an impressive array of office supplies and equipment as well as the ubiquitous range of confectionary and papers. It also stocks a good range of local produce such as calenders and local history books as well as some seasonal items. It has a good range of items like printer cartridges and paper as well as a small selection of toys. Cold drink cabinets are well stocked and the store is clean if a little disorganised, you will normally have to ask for what you want as it can be a little cluttered. Some staff are helpful and friendlyand I think I’ll leave it there.