Before reading the article, check the meaning of the following words:

a handy spot	suburban	stock
marked down	marked	torn
a bite to eat	cuisine	an outlet
reasonable	pop into	drop by

Task 1

Skim the following article.

• Q1: Is this place similar to a shopping centre in your area?

My Favourite Place to Shop

My favourite place to shop is in the Myer Centre which is located in the Queen Street Mall in Brisbane. This building is in a handy spot, only about a 5 minute walk from Central Railway Station. Also, many of the suburban buses depart from the basement or on the street on ground level.

There are many specialty shops there, but I mostly go there to either buy books or CDs. There is a good discount bookshop with most of their stock marked down by at least 5%. Sometimes, you might find them a little marked or slightly torn, but that doesn’t bother me too much.

If you are after a quick bite to eat, you’ll find food stalls with some international cuisine. There’s a good little Japanese place that does nice yakisoba. I see a lot of the teenagers choosing to go to some of the fast food outlets instead, though. During the week, a lot of working people snack there for lunch because the food is served quickly and is quite reasonable.

On another occasion, I stopped by one of the jewellery shops and picked up something for my wife. There was a necklace that suited her quite well I think. Sometimes I pop into the Myer Department store too, as they have a lot of good quality goods. It’s a great place to go to if you want to pick up a present for someone.

So as you can see, there are many reasons why I like to shop in this place. Perhaps if you come to Brisbane one day, you might have time to drop by the Myer Centre and see if you like it too!

Task 2

Read the article again and decide whether the following statements are true or false:

• Q2: The Myer Centre is situated in an inconvenient place.
• Q3: Buses leaving the Myer Centre can take me to other parts of Brisbane.
• Q4: There is a bookshop that is 5% more expensive than usual.
• Q5: Sometimes the books in the shop are not perfect.
• Q6: There is a good variety of food available in the shopping centre.
• Q7: The food is ready quickly but it is quite expensive.
• Q8: The writer sometimes visits the department store there.

Discussion

1 Would you like to go shopping at the Myer Centre? Why/Why not?

 

2 Are shopping centres in your area in a handy spot or not?

 

3 Are there many suburban shopping centres where you live? What are they like?

 

4 Is it easy to find shops that have marked down their stock in your area?

 

5 Would you buy a book if it were marked or torn?

 

6 Where can you go for a quick bite to eat near your work/school?

 

7 Are there too many fast food outlets in shopping centres these days?

 

8 Where is a place you can go in your area where the goods are reasonable?

 

9 How often do you pop into a big departments store?

 

Homework (optional)

Write about a place that you like to shop. You should mention what you can buy and do there, and describe why you like it. (120 - 180 words)