Bombay Stores in Bradford is the self proclaimed "UK's largest asian department store". It might just be the largest, but is it the BEST?? Here's my review!!

Firstly...this store is massive! It packs a lotta stuff all under one roof, from ladieswear, bridalwear, kidswear, shoes, accessories, to music, make-up, house decorations, fabric, sewing patterns and a lot more. In fact there's so much that the only way to shop is to browse the store and pick up tickets for each item that you want to purchase, and when you're done you go to the checkout, give in your tickets and all your items will be ready to pay for and collect.

Ladieswear
So, let's move to ladieswear - this is a fashion blog after all! Well, you can check out a range of the stuff Bombay stores has to offer on their website: bombaystores.biz. Most of the ladieswear on that site is a bit out of date, but the "catalogue" section has the latest outfits.
There's LOADS more instore, from your basic everyday suits to stuff a bit dressier, to over-the-top-embroidered party wear, and bridalwear. There's quite a good price range, so if you're on a budget you'll probably still be able to pick something...although I warn you it won't be as pretty and amazing looking as the pricier items!!
In addition to the readymade suits, there's also a VERY large fabric section of the store, including trims, threads and sewing patterns.




Bridalwear
Ah the bridalwear section of the store..it's like it's own little world away from the rails packed with clothes (even though it's not that secluded, in fact it's right next to those very packed rails). I paid a short visit to the bridalwear section this weekend, but as I wasn't in a position to buy, I didn't stay very long! I did however take a peek at a future bride with her entourage trying on various outfits - I just couldn't help but look!
I didn't get the chance to do a full bridalwear price-check, but judging by the items I did see, I'd say prices start at about £1000 and can go A LOT higher!

On a side note - Bombay stores was recently featured on the UK version of the MTV reality show "My Super Sweet 16", it was a bollywood-themed party - you can watch the episode here if you really want, but here's some screenshots:


The birthday girl entering the bridal section to go and see her custom-made outfit for the first time (notice the rail of "sale" bridal outfits she's walking past!)

The party outfit fresh out of the box! (ooh and it comes with a matching bag)

The birthday girl admiring herself in her outfit
The shop assistant said the outfit and accessories came to about £3000.

Accessories/Shoes
Bombay stores stocks Unze shoes and Paposh shoes. Nothing extraordinary about that, but it's very handy if you've just bought an outfit and you want some matching shoes and a bag.
There's also other accessories such as bindis, henna, henna tattoos, jewellery.

Menswear
Not exactly my area of expertise, but Bombay stores has loads of menswear, in different colours, fabrics and styles.

Other Stuff
Bombay stores also offer wedding services, more details by clicking here, as with the menswear I haven't tried all of these out, but I can tell you about the wedding stages and wedding invitations.
1)Wedding Stages - the last time I used this service they were really professional, we picked a stage we liked, told them our requirements such as height of stage, colour of lighting etc. and arranged for it all to be set up at the venue. All went smoothly, without hassle and most importantly ON TIME!
2)Wedding Invitations, unfortunately my last experience of ordering wedding invitations with this company wasn't such a smooth process. They got the basics right, such as spelling of names, addresses, phone numbers, however they messed up on the design and we had to change our initial idea. Also, not all the invites were of the same quality, some of them were downright illegible! One last little gripe - we had to fold the invitations ourselves, which can be a bit of a hassle when you're stressed out of your head organising a wedding!!

Online Store
At the end of last year the Bombay Stores website had a sale, so I took the opportunity to buy an outfit and check out their online ordering service. I picked up this lil number (click on image to go to site)

I ordered it in blue, for half the price listed on the site. I ordered it about a week before Christmas, so wasn't expecting it to arrive until January because as the site states "delivery may take up to two weeks". So imagine my surprise when it arrived 3 days later! The ordering process was easy, it took me 5 minutes. The suit was just like the picture, the size fit perfectly and needless to say I'm pretty pleased with my purchase.

I would have probably ordered this outfit too...if only it was in stock!

Overall, I think Bombay Stores is fab. I probably wouldn't go shopping there every week, but if you visit occassionally, chances are you'll find something.