Spar

No matter what you think of the Spar company, there’s one thing you can’t deny; Spar know how to do business.
There’s no doubt that our fair city is a lovely cosmopolitan shopalooza, but on top of this it is also a rapidly developing residential area, filled with a series of high rise apartment buildings where the executive earners of Cardiff are massing. Whilst the city could once have gotten away with the small town vibe it used to carry, Cardiff is no longer a place that can close its doors at 6pm every night; it has residents to think of.
On top of this, you have the drunks who are attracted to any establishment still shining its lights at 5am, especially if they’re selling Ginster’s pasties to the masses.
This is the market Spar have tapped into. Where Tesco and Sainsbury’s close their doors at 8pm, Spar caters to everyone all night long. Admittedly, it’s irksome having to shout orders through a waist high letterbox after 10pm, but it is a price people are willing to pay if that’s the only place they’re going to get a 4am cigarette refill.

Okay, I know it’s your usual neighbourhood corner shop, but this particular one is open 24 hours. Yes. All day and all night. You can buy smokes at 3 am if you’re dying for a fix or grab a bottle of Coke if you don’t fancy waiting in the unreasonably long queue at Burger King after a long night out.
The only downside is you have to shout through the opening in the front door window, but it’s still open and operating nonetheless.
During regular business hours, this is one of the busiest and well stocked Spars around. They even have a Slush Puppy machine in addition to a wide selection of ice cream, magazines and spirits (or the trio of pleasures, as I like to call it).
The guys behind the counter (there’s always two for some reason) are cheerful and efficient — I guess they’d have to be with that amount of Queen Street traffic streaming in and out each day.

Whilst this is a very convenient 24 hour small branch of Spar, focussing mostly on snacks and drinks, it’s prices are very high (65p for chocolate bars you can normally buy for 40p). There also seems to be a constant queue down half of the store meaning that it’s very hard to browse. However, I normally persevere with it as it’s just about the only place to buy food from in Cardiff after 5:30pm unless you want a burger or a sit down meal.