Thistles

Fantastic place! I come here all the time, loads of good shops (apple and hmv are the favourites!). There is a toys-​r-​us for the kids and a costa for a spot of lunch. Go outside and you’ll find more shops and restaurants. I would definitely recommend the thistles centre.

The Thistle Centre is a shopping centre. A Mall if you like. If you were dropped there blindfolded, would you know you were in Stirling? I don’t think so. So why take the trouble to visit it? You can visit the same shops anywhere in Britain. So why bother with The Thistle Centre?
Take a wee stroll outside, most days of the week, and check out the buskers. It was not by chance that an International festival of buskers was held in Stirling recently. Take time to arrive at different times of the day. I work a lot in the town centre and often stop to check out the local (and international) guys. Ok, at times, it’s a bit generic with pipers in kilts and guys playing some great East European accordion, but try it a few times and you might be lucky enough to experience some real local talent like those ever entertaining Precious Penny Pluckers.
Worth a visit. And those shops in the Centre? They give you a good reason to try out some of the excellent independent coffee shops outside.

I haven’t spent much time here for a number of years now. Quite frankly, I don’t miss it.
A brief walk through the centre today, and it is a shadow of its former bustling self. Don’t get me wrong it was still busy and full of people. But the shops have become so… Cliché?
What was once a centre full of variety and independent stores, has now become little more than the backdrop from an episode of Scooby Doo during a chase sequence. You can walk through the whole centre and you feel like you’re on a repetitive loop, coffee shop, phone shop, odds and ends, coffee shop, phone shop, clothes store.
It’s not a bad shopping centre persay, there are many shopping centres on high streets in Britain where the stores are empty and the shoppers are few in numbers. But I would like to see a shopping centre again where you can go in and explore rather than head straight to the familiar haunts of HMV, Waterstones, and WHSmith and then wander home.

It’s a shopping centre with shops — what more is there really to say? Also, not that many shops and not many places to eat.
Maybe I’m just biased because I work here — but it’s really just an OK place, doesn’t compare to some of the other shopping centres in Central Scotland like Buchanan Galleries in Glasgow or Union Square a little further afield in Aberdeen.
However, there’s a Lush there so I’m pretty happy with it as my local!

The Thistles Centre is okay. Just okay. Why there’s 3 EE network stores in the one shopping centre is beyond me. The centre is always very clean and highlights for me are Topshop, Zara, Holland & Barrett and Lush. If you want to shop seriously hard though, I’d get the train to Glasgow.

I’m impressed by the number of stores in this place! A new love of mine is Primark, which has ridiculously cheap and cute stuff (though with the tradeoff of being not of best quality). H&M, Topshop, Boots, Orange, a bunch of discount stores… all you need, really!
For some reason, I’ve never seen this place not busy. Stirling people love to shop!

An okay little shopping mall. It has a typical collection of shops and cell phone retailers. Definatley not a luxury shopping center, but one that you can spend the day at losing your hard earned (or easily earned) money. Call me blind, but I never saw a food court, but then again, I wasn’t looking for one.
I’m glad I stumbled into this place though because I was beginning to think that my GPS had lied to me about a shopping center being in this location, and if there is one thing I can’t stand, it’s a lying GPS.
I made a few purchases and bumped into a security guard making his rounds, but other than that there is not much else to say. The center was clean and well lit. It also had an interesting little children’s play area that consisted of a spider made of wood with a metal slide. I was amazed because that would never fly in my country. Parents would be up in arms threatening lawsuits if the shopping center didn’t immediately encase the play spider in extra padded foam rubber. Kudos to you parents of Stirling! Sometimes a child has to knock his head on something to learn about gravity.

Range of shops, generally clean, security evident but not intrusive, couple of eateries and access to the town centre.
Parking massively over priced. Whoever sets the hourly rates obviously thinks they are in Edinburgh not Stirling.

I’m delighted to see that Marj has spread her wings from the big cities and experienced the joys of Central Scotland. Coming from Falkirk, Stirling’s larger, edgier, yet frustratingly less well appointed neighbour, I’m loath to give The Thistle a glowing review, but I love it.
For a provincial shopping centre it’s pretty huge, and while there’s nothing too out of the ordinary, the branches are all almost as big as you’d find in the cities. There’s also a weird spooky tourist attraction (the name escapes me) where you go down some old stairs into the bowels of ancient Stirling. There’s dummies dressed up as plague victims and stuff, all very gruesome.
It’s well worth a visit, as is Stirling in general, which for it’s size has a surprising amount to see and do.

Thistles is the epicentre of Stirling’s fashion outlets, and is a bright, modern shopping mall with loads to offer.
It’s clean, bright and well kept, but you’ll be so distracted by how many shops it hosts to notice such minor details. Hosting the usual high street suspects, there is a Next, Top Shop, phone shops and a Primark. There are also a number of food outlets, from fast food to a Costa if you fancy a wee latte before you blitz your shopping list.
It looks nice inside and is very up to date. It looks like just about any mall you’ll find in the Western world but it’s got a good, central location, and brings the pick of the high street to this town.
I have fond memories of Thistles — Stuart and I had a wander around here on one of our first dates. I dragged him out this way because I desperately wanted a pair of high heels that could only be found at the Schuh in Stirling. I don’t usually pull stunts like that and in hindsight I can’t believe he agreed to go on this lengthy mission just so I could get another pair of heels. It turns out when we got there that they only had one display shoe, so it was fruitless! But we had a laugh nonetheless. How wonderful it is when you can make such a generic setting so gloriously romantic, ahhhh. If your partner is selfish enough to make you travel 30 miles for a pair of shoes, you too can share in a magic moment.

Stirlings main shopping area, features all the usual high street stores and not much else, as it is all undercover it makes for a much nicer shopping experience in the Scottish winters than can be found in more typical shopping areas. Shops found in the building include WHSmiths, Debenhams, Gap, M&S, Primark, several music shops, Claires Accessories and a Waterstones. For those travelling from out of town it is right on the bus station and has several large carparks attatched.

This is a typical shopping mall, constucted and opened in the late 70’s, early eighties. It is in the center of Stirling and has all your high street names, boots, M&S, woolworths and your usual mixture of sports shops etc. There is also a fair sized Debenhams.(with a café) It caters for most needs whether you want a dedicated shopping trip or just need a birthday card and a pint of milk. Lots of parking.