I've been trying to think when I last went to neighbouring towns and cities to shop.
Wolverhampton - only once this century (in fact, that is the only trip this side of 1985) and that was for a log splitter, which would have been entertaining to try to get home via a train.
Stoke - I used to call into Machine Mart as a treat, when I was going to the Blood Donor place, not an easy trip for public transport - other than that, I think I last went to Hanley around 1995.
I don't think I've ever gone anywhere else with 'shopping' as the target activity.
I'm not a 'proper shopper', of course, but it always seemed to me that most places had essentially the same variety, apart from the odd specialist thing.
An advantage of having a car is that any purchased goods can be (fairly safely) stashed in it, rather than carted about for the rest of the time there.