 Au Naturale storefront 
Being Naturale In Sutton Coldfield!
View Map
Recommendation added: 02/02/2007 16:16
By: dewberry (YSUK rating +783)dewberry has been thanked 24 times for this contribution
"My favourite shop at the moment has got to be Au Naturale in Sutton Coldfield. Usually I'll end up traipsing miles looking for interesting and unusual decorative nick nacks to go in the living room, but since I've discovered this fabulous shop this is the only place I need to visit.
I've been in several Au Naturale stores in the UK and have got to say I love them all (well, apart from one in Cumbria but that was only because of a irritating, surly girl on the checkout!) but my ultimate favourite just happens to be my nearest branch – which is lucky! Most Au Naturale stores stock the same items at very similar prices and it's really only size which separates branches; the Sutton Coldfield branch is a smallish one but it still manages to stock most of what the larger stores sell.
As soon as you enter the store you'll notice that everything is displayed beautifully, with a main display being located directly in front of the door to draw your eye to a particular promotion. It's definitely worth a glance as sometimes they run Buy One Get One Free offers on beautiful glassware and vases – the best BOGOF recently was a pack of four glass hand decorated Christmas tree baubles which were gorgeous. They were priced at £8 a pack which would have worked out too expensive for me, but on the BOGOF I was able to buy enough to get rid of our old baubles and replace them with these.
The soft furnishings are displayed together, this Au Naturale branch doesn't have a huge stock, but what they *do* sell is of excellent quality and in modern colours and designs. I love the cushions which come in bright golds, leatherlook, leopard print and other trendy colours. There's something about an Au Naturale cushion; they're tightly packed, squashy and comfortable and don't go flat within a week of use – plus most cushions in here cost less than a fiver (often on BOGOF) so they're a bargain too! Likewise the small selection of throwovers usually have at least one variety which is on BOGOF and this works nicely with the fact that most people need at least two throwovers! Cuts the shopping bill right in half.
Due to ever changing stock Au Naturale's shelves are never the same for long, which is great news if you're a moocher like me as I can justify spending an hour just browsing to see what's new. I adore the African themed ornaments this branch has recently started selling. This is an entire two (maybe three) aisles dedicated to African style statues, rain masks, warrior design nick nacks and elephant models with loads more variations on an African theme. I've got my eye on a pair of spooky looking African masks to go above the mantelpiece but we're undecided yet – will probably still get them and stick them up in the bedroom if they don't look right in the living room!
Then there's the vases and candles section of the store. I must say I love this part of the shop as I have a bit of a passion for scented candles and could easily spend a fortune here! They sell some gorgeous, quirky candles which I've not seen elsewhere. Authentic smell cappuccino candles housed in mini china cups and saucers, candles made to look and smell like a pile of fruit, chocolate scented candles which smell just like Bounty bars – all of these wonders and more can be bought for less than £2 in Au Naturale which is a steal in my opinion. Candles I've bought from here have always been of the highest quality, they burn well and constantly plus they smell of what they're supposed to.
Other goodies you can buy in Au Naturale include a variety of cherub ornaments (adorable), incense sticks and cones (all lovely), bathroom sets (toothbrush holders and the like), quilt covers and mugs. I've never purchased anything from this shop which I've been less than delighted with once I get it home. One of the things I particularly love about Au Naturale is the fact that if I buy something from here, chances are I'll never see the same thing in another shop – this makes it the cheapest exclusive shop I know of!
A good example of this is a small wooden and brass game which I bought a couple of weeks ago. It's a variation of the classic noughts and crosses game, with the nine-square board being made of a good quality wood and the beautifully crafted pieces are made of brass. I've never seen anything like it, and as it cost only £3.50 it was a bargain simply for the reason that I'm not likely to go into someone else's house and see the same piece – which is, incidentally, beautiful as an ornament and fun for the kids to play with.
This branch of Au Naturale also stocks a pretty comprehensive range of art works and framed pictures. These will generally start at £2 for a standard kids' room print and the prices steadily rise to £30 - £40 for the more exclusive prints and paintings. All are well framed, attractively made and would look fantastic in any living room. My daughter recently bought herself a picture for her bedroom wall which is basically a model of a cupcake mounted inside a thick frame giving a brilliant 3D effect – it looks absolutely brilliant in her room and cost just £4! They sell a range of gorgeous flower prints which are huge and ideal as a centrepiece for your living room wall; I have an orchid print and also one of a rose which are painted in lovely sepia tones and look great hanging along my (neutrally decorated) stairway wall.
When you've finished your shopping in Au Naturale, head towards the back right hand corner of the store for the bargain section. This area is amazingly cheap with certain items being reduced to just 25p and nothing costing above around £1.50; this section is particularly great if you like cannabis design items (which I do!) as they don't tend to stock much of this in the shop proper, but in the bargain section there's always a good funky selection of this kind of thing – have a look for the cannabis ashtray which features a Rastafarian guy looking extremely chilled out as he tokes on a spliff! Also in this section is anything from the main shop which has been damaged in any way, sometimes you can get a real bargain on an item which has an unnoticeable chip or scuff in the paint. My best bargain ever in this store was when I paid 50p for a unicorn ornament which was marked up on the shelf for over a tenner, the reason for this drastic price reduction? A tiny flake of paint had come away from the unicorn's tail revealing a base coat which was exactly the same colour as the paint so not at all visible!
To give you a clearer idea of prices, today I spent just over £30 and left the shop carrying no less than six decent sized carrier bags. My purchases included two zebra print throwovers, a pretty Chinese inspired vase, a coffee house style print for the kitchen wall, a few unusual drinking glasses, a bundle of candles and a few other bits which I can't quite recall at the moment. Sometimes I'll spend around £10 and still end up with two carrier bags full of goodies, so as far as prices go Au Naturale really can't be faulted.
Access to the shop is brilliant for anyone with mobility problems or mums with pushchairs thanks to the wide space between shelves and extra wide centre aisle. Wheelchair users will have no problems at all getting around the store; my mum came in using her bulky mobility scooter a few weeks ago and could get around perfectly well. Also, another thing worth mentioning is the fact that the shelves are fairly low which means wheelchair users (or indeed short people like me!) can easily reach whatever they're after. The entrance door and area are also wide and open plan so from the start of your visit to the finish you'll be able to get around the shop with little or no help.
To find this particular branch of Au Naturale you need to get yourself to the Princess Alice Retail Park which is located in the New Oscott area of Sutton Coldfield. Simply head towards North Birmingham from Birmingham City Centre and get onto the main Chester Road which links Sutton Coldfield with Castle Vale; the Retail Park (and therefore Au Naturale) is located just inside New Oscott past the Beggars Bush pub.
Au Naturale
Unit 2a, Princess Alice Retail Park
Sutton Coldfield
Birmingham
B73 6RB
Tel – 0121 3556819"
Was this recommendation useful?
|
;)
