St Enoch Shopping Centre

OK, so I don’t like shopping centres. At all. It’s something to do with the hoards of people aimlessly wandering (SO slowly) and getting in my way. But that’s a whole other story.
When I was growing up St Enochs was the place to be. Mum could drop us at the (now removed) ice rink while she did some shopping.
Fast forward a ‘few’ years and throw in a couple of refurbs and the centre is unrecognisable. Inside anyway.
It has everything from Debenhams, boots, Disney, hamleys — and all sorts in between. Some other reviews mention that there’s lots of vacant stores. This isn’t the case, and hasn’t been for a very long time. When I wandered around today, I only saw a few unoccupied.
There’s a pretty decent range of food places upstairs, and on the front facing onto St Enoch Sq you find Nandos and dine other restaurants.
This drops a star for removing the ice rink, and another for being very enclosed on the ground floor — the pop up stalls really obstruct the flow.

Being a Glasgow girl through and through, I remember when St Enoch first opened, and it was AMAZING! While we had a couple of department stores in Fraser’s and Lewis’s, the town didn’t have a shopping centre at that point so this was a truly new thing. Plus the gigantic glass roof (the biggest in Europe at that point) — that was the FUTURE! Everyone was gobsmacked at how revolutionary and ambtious the St Enoch centre was. It also had an ice rink, which were the in-​thing in the late 1980s, and a food court. A food court! Glasgow had never seen the like!
Fast forward a few years, and St Enoch hasn’t quite stood the test of time. Other centres have opened which are much more pleasant and efficient to be in, and St Enoch seems a bit tired. I feel a wee bit sorry for it. Poor St Enoch.
The biggest issue for me is the lighting. With a ceiling that is made entirely of glass, you think the lighting would feel a lot more natural. But downstairs it’s quite dim (because of the concourse overhead) and they have horrible fluorscent and overly bright halogens that make it a bit old fashioned and dismal feeling. It’s pretty grim. The other end, where the Boots is, is much better. They’ve refurbished that section and it’s much nicer than the BHS end, although the artifical lighting is still set to stun — turn it down guys, really. I’m sure they could do a lot better, given you know, the whole gigantic glass roof thing.
St Enoch does have some good shops, but when I come here, it’s specifically to visit a particular shop, rather than to browse or have the ‘shopping centre experience’, like I would perhaps at Buchanan Galleries or Braehead. It’s unlikely that I will discover any new shops in St Enoch, as I pretty much bolt in, get what I need from the one shop I’m going to, then bolt back out. There’s the big department stores — BHS, Debenhams, and Hamley’s, there’s a reasonably sized Boots and a Tesco. Then there’s smaller more chic stores like Hotel Chocolat, and the tweed place whose name I can’t remember but it has some lovely things in it, as well as a couple of reasonable high st places like H&M and Dorothy Perkins. Apart from that, it’s mostly high street stores that are perhaps at the lower end of the price bracket. And a food court which I never use, apart from walking through it quickly to use the toilets. The toilets are good — nice and clean, and well maintained. Actually better than the Buchanan Galleries ones. Well done St Enoch, good toilets for the win!
The car park is an utter nightmare. Once you’ve walked from your car to the centre, the floors levels seem to mysteriously change, so I always find that locating my car once I’m done is a bit of a fiasco. Finding a machine to pay at also seems unecessarily inconvenient, as they seem to be hidden or not working, and that ramp on the way out of the cark park gives me the fear. It was built for tiny wee 1980s cars, as were the tiny wee spaces and the tiny wee tight corners. The last car I had was a Polo, so it’s not even like I’m driving a tank. They could easily fix this by re-​sizing the spaces, and painting on pedestrian walkways so it feels a bit more orderly.
St Enoch obviously serves a market in Glasgow — it’s always busy, but it’s a real mish-​mash as it’s a almost posh at one end, and almost bargain basement at the other. It seems to have lost its identity.

In 2008 £100 Million was invested in refurbishment efforts for the St Enoch shopping centre, these being completed in 2010. Sure, the centre looks lighter and brighter, they polished it up nicely and increased its capacity. The windows in the ceiling are especially lovely on those rare sunny days in Glasgow.
However, I can’t help but still find St Enoch to be a tin bit depressing. A large number of the lots still stand empty and for most of them there is no sign of them being filled. There are some really nice stores at the far ends of the centre — for example the entrance by the St Enoch subway does quite well with stores like Folli Follie and Hamleys and the entrace near the Argyle Street train station has a fantastic branch of Debenhams — but in between there isn’t a lot going on. Even the lots which have been filled rarely make me stop to shop.
To be fair, the food court isn’t too bad, with a few fast food options and there are a few nice cafes and coffee shops around the corner. And sure, sometimes it’s nice to get out of the rain to do your shopping but aside from one or two stores, there isn’t much on offer here that can’t be found elsewhere in the city centre.
Of course there is room for improvement — St Enoch still has a huge amount of potential. I hope the rest of the empty lots fill up soon, ideally with some stores that help it to stand alone and be worth visiting in its own right.

I’ve shopped in Glasgow since I was a young teen and never really bothered about St Enochs’ shops. Apart from Hamleys, it’s quite old fashioned and no shops appeal to me. Rarely go in (except with older family members) as outside street shopping in Glasgow is far superior!

This is by far the best shopping mall in Glasgow. Buchanan Galleries us to be good, while St enough was good and went down faster than a sledge. Amazing how they have turned this place around, it’s simply amazing. And unlike the other malls that have rubbish shops, this place is great:)

Shopping Centres. I used to love them when I was younger. They were a great place to hang out with your mates and I could be found frequenting the food court more than I care to admit.
But then as I got older, my love for shopping centres died. All that walking, all the chain shops, the bright lights and depressing vibe. Don’t even get me started on the car park.
So, what do I think of St Enoch? Not a whole lot, if I’m honest. I mean, it’s a good shopping centre if it holds what you’re looking for (a massive Boots, Debenhams is connected to it on Level 1, a food court, restrooms, Hotel Chocolat, H&M, Arran Aromatics, Kimble’s, Hamley’s, BHS). But I can’t think of a reason that I’d recommend anyone to visit here unless they were specifically looking for one of these shops — it doesn’t have the charm/​flashiness of Princes Square and isn’t a behemoth like Buchanan Galleries.
That being said, it’s easy to navigate as there’s just the two levels of shops and it’s handy if you’ve parked at King St carpark and want to walk out of the rain heading towards Central Station. And it’s right by Argyle St station and St Enoch underground.
I’ve just discovered there’s a separate Unilocal listing for the car park so stay tuned for that review!

Another shopping centre in the city centre that I find myself in regularly. While it’s not as good, or as nice, as the Buchanan Galleries, I still like to have the odd walk around in here. I’ve read a lot about it apparently looking old and outdated now, which I didn’t understand as I didn’t view it that way. Then I read that over the last few years it had a big refurbishment and is much improved, this made much more sense to me as I’ve always looked at it as pretty modern. So I guess that had all been done before I ever even got to Scotland and so I can only judge it on how it is now.
I think this is another place in Glasgow that has a really good location, perfect to have a wander through when you’re finished on Argyle Street. A number of entrances on each side of the building too which is helpful. Another place which is also deceivingly big, no way would I expect there to be three floors in here! While the St Enoch’s Centre does have some good shops, I don’t think there is anything ‘great’ inside to make this a ‘must go’. It does have some of your regular high street shops like H&M, Topshop, Burton and it does have a pretty big BHS. You can also find some small chain type stores like Colors, Blue Inc and Pulp. After those, you come across some jewellery stores, toy stores, phone stores and perfume stores, all pretty common in shopping centres like this. A bonus that St Enoch’s does have is that connected to the outside you have stores like Debenhams, G Star Raw and a Superdry, all of which are pretty popular. There’s also a large Argos and a big car park right behind the main building. All of these stores are on the first two floors.
At the end of the second floor is where you find the food court, and I think in the food department is where the St Enoch Centre excels, in my opinion it has much more variety than most other shopping centres. In the actual food court you have the regular fast food places like McDonalds, Burger King and KFC but also places like Wongs, Rollover, Di Maggio’s and Sandwich Delight. There’s also an Auld’s bakery right beside the food court. Much like the way Debenhams and G Star are situated at the front of the building, St Enoch’s also has a Nando’s and a Greggs built into the right side of the building the same way adding to the variety. There’s a small set of stairs beside the food court which leads up to the toilets and, believe it or not, you actually get to use these for free! Outside the toilets is a fun play area for kids… this has a lot of tired parents sitting on the side! The third floor of the St. Enoch Centre is made up of the new toy store Hamley’s which is absolutely huge and a kids dream! They have something for everyone in there. There’s also a café/​restaurant called Kimbles at the entrance of Hamley’s…yet another food choice! As is the case with most shopping centres in Glasgow… they come in handy if you’re out and that rain comes on and this is much the same. So, while this isn’t the best shopping centre Glasgow has to offer, it’s not too bad at all. Plus, as I mentioned in my Buchanan Galleries review, this place also has a Millies and a Thorntons inside, those always make a place worth a visit on their own!

Not much to say here really. Plenty of shops and plenty of money spent!

I really like St Enoch, my main draw is the food court upstairs. There tends to be something for everyone, there’s a free play area if you taking kids, it tends to be clean, and there’s free Wifi which is a plus for myself as I often work on the go and I’m obsessed with emailing! There is plenty of seating although in winter and rainy days it can be a bit of a pain as a lot of the lighting comes from there windowed roof however it always clean even at it’s peak times.
It has a decent range of shops although your not going to find Poundland in here (but there is around 5 in walking distance) and it’s pretty well located for local travel links and a few nice places to eat of you don’t want to eat in the centre itself. There is parking all around it and it’s also ideally located next to Glasgow’s two maing shopping streets.

nice shopping centre with a lot of different stores, to buy clothes, fastfood etc. But I didn’t find something particularly ‘special’ — most shopping centres are just too similar nowadays…

This place has changed a lot over the years. I remember when it first arrived in Glasgow, it seemed to be a deluxe shopping destination. Now i think it all seems a bit tired and worn out.
Food court is just that, loads of fast food options but nothing if your looking for a slightly better standard of lunch. For me a lot of the shops on offer are just a bit lower standard. A mish mash of options without anything that you would go out your way to visit.
Some plus points though. Good parking, close to argyle street and Buchanan street. Big boots store, Millie’s cookies store and at least it is all inside so it hides you from the harsh Glasgow weather.

I’m amazed at how this place has changed in such little time, where as before l would avoid this shopping centre as l felt it was so run down, now it has had the face lift that it needed looking bright and spacious, it is such a shame after all this work that it hasn’t attracted more outlets as l did notice that several where still empty.

I had not been in St Enoch for several years and I had heard that refurbishment really transformed it and I have to agree that it is a much more pleasant environment to walk around in nowadays. I did however struggle to find stores that had any appeal to me. Whether one likes the offering here is of course dependent on what one is looking for but in general I think that Princes Square and the large department stores (House of Fraser) has more things that I find of interest. That said St Enoch’s is pleasant to walk around in and there are plenty of clothing stores, two department stores and some of the larger chains (Burton’s, Dorothy Perkins and H&M to mention a few) as well as some smaller shops and several cafes and a food court so as malls go it is decent and while it is not my first choice I can see why it may have its appeal to some people.

I do like St Enoch’s Centre especially after the overhaul it’s had in recent years. It looks a lot cleaner and fresher with the addition of some cool shops.
With an entrance now also on Argyle Street it’s much more accessible. This also leads to Hamley’s, an über cool toy store. With added cool stores like Papyrus, Ness, the new improved Clintons, a big H&M, a cool old fashioned sweetie shop called Henleys, among others. Claires Assessories has also moved into the new part of the centre looking fresher and bigger. I can see why though and this is where the centre is let down, it’s other half.
The updated side is booming with a bigger food court, which has a no bad selection, children’s activities, play area, some fab shops and eateries just outside i.e. Nandos and Greggs. Oh and of course a flipping Tescos, because there really isn’t enough of them around already. Oh, it is also let down by the fact it’s internet area is never working, there’s computers supposedly allowing you free internet access but every screen has not in order sign, or to some effect. Meh! Anyhoo, alas the further along the centre you go, oh… how sad. Quite a few empty shops and ‘not up to quality’ clothes shops, if you know what I mean?! Debenhams and Bhs are still there but there’s nothing really that would tempt me.
Maybe one day, if our economy ever gets better, they’ll invest in the other half and give it a bit of a face lift. The centre is still good but probably Buchanan Galleries and centres on the outskirts of town have stole some business. It might get a little worse especially as the top of Buchanan Street opposite the Galleries is getting an overhaul. Hopefully St Enoch will stay big and proud and it also comes with a big car park, ahh so does the Galleries. Erm. well aye. Go shop St Enoch’s, it has a Nando’s. Phew, saved!

So many shops, so much choice, (still has a Clinton Cards), worth a visit.

Glasgow’s least appealing shopping centre whichever way you look at it. The recent refurbishments at the St. Enoch Square end have simply served to make the rest look tired and antiquated. Very few big name shops, an unattractive food court, confusing escalators and more than its fair share of tat peddlers all serve to make this one shopping centre you will not regret avoiding.
My suggestion demolish it and replace it with a railway station.

Big, open-​feeling, and clean. Free WiFi. Decent variety of shops. St. Enoch’s proximity to Glasgow Central Station make it a good choice if you need somewhere warm to hang out for a while before catching a train.

A rival to Buchanan Galleries.
It’s HUGE inside with ALOT of shops, including many names that you would expect and some that you won’t recognise.
It looks nice and clean inside, and has recently had a big wing added on that took forever to complete, adding some new swanky shops including Henley’s.
There’s also a decent food court, much better than the one in Buchanan Galleries and a big outdoor car park.
A great shopping centre, but I don’t like it as much as Buchanan Galleries. I just don’t know why.

As Liz points out, this place is the biggest shopping centre in Scotland. It’s mahoosive, and (used to be) is home to some large brand names, like the Disney Store, Debenhams and Boots.
At the minute it’s undergoing some serious refurbishment — about 5 ears ago the whole place took a downturn, and ended up being half empty, and quite desolate, attracting only neds and their pals. Years and years and years ago it was home to an ice rink!
Maybe once it’s been done up, it’ll be a better place to visit.

Even though the St Enoch Centre is the largest shopping centre in Scotland, something’s never been quite right about it. It’s always got a kind of weird aura, and half the units are always lying empty.
I think when TK Maxx left, that really put the final nail in the half-​empty coffin. It’s being totally refurbished now, however, and according to the signs, there’s an array of new shops moving in. Some of the best shops in here are Kimble’s, Madhouse and BHS, although most of the shops have branches all over the city anyway.
I never really see any pressing reason to go here.