Where to shop in London, organised by area: Oxford Street, Regent Street and Carnaby, Mayfair and Piccadilly, Covent Garden and Seven Dials, Marylebone, Knightsbridge, King's Road, Shoreditch and Brick Lane, and the two Westfield malls. Twenty-one stores and streets with opening hours as of 28 September 2026, the nearest Tube and one honest drawback each.
If you only have one afternoon for shopping in London, start at Oxford Circus, walk down Regent Street to Liberty and Hamleys, cut through Carnaby Street, and finish on Piccadilly at Fortnum & Mason and Burlington Arcade. That's the best of the West End in about 2.5 km, or 30 to 35 minutes of walking before you stop anywhere. For the famous department stores, Liberty has the most character, Selfridges the widest range, Harrods the most spectacle, and Fortnum & Mason the best gifts to carry home.
London's shopping splits cleanly by area, so the sections below follow the areas: Oxford Street, Regent Street and Carnaby, Mayfair and Piccadilly, Covent Garden and Seven Dials, Marylebone, Knightsbridge, King's Road, Shoreditch and Brick Lane, then the two Westfield malls. Each card has opening hours as of 28 September 2026, the nearest station on the Tube (the subway) and one honest drawback. A note for American visitors: the price on the tag already includes 20% VAT, nothing is added at the register, and there's no tax refund for visitors, so the price you see is the price you pay.
Markets and bookshops have their own guides, so they're linked here rather than repeated: see the best markets in London for Portobello Road, Camden and Columbia Road, and the best bookshops in London for Daunt, Hatchards and Foyles. For everything else on the trip, start with things to do in London, and if you're still choosing a base, where to stay in London covers the West End neighborhoods these shops sit in.
Oxford Street. Most of Oxford Street is the same chains you have at home, and on a Saturday it's shoulder to shoulder. Two stores make it worth the walk. The street is also changing: Transport for London began works in 2026 to make it traffic-free between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street, with a target of late October 2026, so expect roadworks and bus diversions this autumn.
Selfridges opened in March 1909 and is still the best department store on Oxford Street by a distance. Selfridges says it's the only store to be named Best Department Store in the World four times, and the range backs it up: designer fashion, beauty, a cinema, and the Foodhall at the Orchard Street end. The Christmas Shop on the lower ground floor is already open for 2026.
It's open until 10pm Monday to Friday, an hour later than Harrods, which makes it the one to save for an evening after the sights close.
Hours: Mon-Fri 10am-10pm, Sat 10am-9pm, Sun 11:30am-6pm. Tube: Bond Street or Marble Arch. Best for: designer fashion, beauty and an evening shop. The drawback: it's big and busy, and the designer floors are priced to match. Go on a weekday evening.
The Foodhall is entered from Orchard Street. Tube: Bond Street (Central, Jubilee, Elizabeth line) or Marble Arch (Central).
John Lewis is the British department store where the British actually shop, and the Oxford Street store is the company's flagship. It's less glamorous than Selfridges ten minutes west, and that's the point: sensible prices, helpful staff, and every practical thing you forgot to pack, from a plug adapter to a warmer coat. Two cafés and a rooftop bar mean you can sit down between floors.
Hours: Mon-Wed 10am-8pm, Thu 10am-9pm, Fri-Sat 10am-8pm, Sun 11:30am-6pm. Tube: Oxford Circus or Bond Street, about 5 minutes from each. Best for: homeware and practical buys. The drawback: it isn't a sightseeing store. Come for a purchase, not for the building.
About 5 minutes' walk from both Oxford Circus (Bakerloo, Central, Victoria) and Bond Street (Central, Jubilee, Elizabeth line).
Regent Street and Carnaby. Regent Street curves south from Oxford Circus to Piccadilly Circus, lined with flagship stores. Liberty and Hamleys are the two to plan around. Carnaby Street, the 1960s fashion street, runs parallel just behind Liberty, and its Christmas lights switch on on 4 November 2026 (see London in winter).
Liberty is the London department store I'd visit if I could only pick one. Arthur Lasenby Liberty opened his first shop on Regent Street in 1875 with a £2,000 loan and three staff, and the Tudor-style building on Great Marlborough Street followed in 1924. It was built from the timbers of two old navy warships, HMS Impregnable and HMS Hindustan, and their decks are now the floorboards. Six floors of small rooms sit around three atriums.
The thing to buy is Liberty print. Tana Lawn cotton in the famous florals is £32 a metre in the fabric department, and the prints turn up on scarves, notebooks and wash bags that make better gifts than anything with a Union Jack on it. The Liberty Beauty Advent Calendar (£285 for 2026) is the store's cult Christmas buy.
Hours: Mon-Sat 10am-8pm, Sun noon-6pm (browsing from 11:30am); Christmas hours not yet published. Tube: Oxford Circus. Best for: the building, fabrics and gifts. The drawback: outside the print department, prices are high, and the narrow wooden stairs get crowded on Saturdays.
The Tudor-style building's entrance is on Great Marlborough Street. Tube: Oxford Circus (Bakerloo, Central, Victoria).
Hamleys was founded by William Hamley in 1760 as Noah's Ark, and by 1837 it was already a London landmark. The Regent Street store has seven floors of toys, with staff demonstrating them on every level, a Build-A-Bear workshop (a Hamleys Bear is £33.99), and a ticketed Santa's Grotto that returns for Christmas 2026.
Hours: Mon-Sat 10am-9pm, Sun noon-6pm. Tube: Oxford Circus, 2 minutes. Best for: anyone traveling with kids. The drawback: it's loud and packed at weekends and in school holidays. Go at 10am on a weekday.
2 minutes' walk from Oxford Circus (Bakerloo, Central, Victoria), 6 from Piccadilly Circus. Santa's Grotto returns for Christmas 2026 and is ticketed.
Mayfair, Bond Street and Piccadilly. London's luxury quarter runs south from Oxford Street to Piccadilly. It's the best window-shopping in the city, and the arcades and Fortnum & Mason at the Piccadilly end are good for gifts at every budget.
New Bond Street and Old Bond Street, its southern half, carry more than 100 luxury brands: Chanel, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Cartier, Tiffany & Co. and a Rolex boutique among them. Sotheby's has held its auctions at 34-35 New Bond Street since 1917, and its London rooms are open Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm.
Hours: each boutique sets its own. Tube: Bond Street at the north end, Green Park at the south. Best for: window-shopping and serious luxury purchases. The drawback: for most visitors this is a walk, not a shop; some boutiques have doormen and work best with an appointment.
Bond Street station (Central, Jubilee, Elizabeth line) is at the north end; Green Park (Jubilee, Piccadilly, Victoria) is closest to Old Bond Street at the south end.
Burlington Arcade opened in 1819, commissioned by Lord George Cavendish for the sale of jewellery and 'fancy articles', and it's one of the longest covered shopping arcades in the country. It runs from Piccadilly through to the Bond Street side, lined with small shopfronts: jewellers and vintage watch dealers, Manolo Blahnik, Globe-Trotter luggage, Roja Parfums and an art gallery. It's the most elegant shortcut in London.
Hours: arcade Mon-Fri 8am-7pm, Sat 9am-7pm, Sun 11am-6pm. Tube: Green Park, 5 minutes. Best for: a ten-minute walk-through between Piccadilly and Bond Street. The drawback: prices in the shops are Mayfair prices, so most visitors browse rather than buy.
5 minutes' walk from Green Park (Jubilee, Piccadilly, Victoria), 7 from Piccadilly Circus. Fortnum & Mason is almost directly across Piccadilly.
Fortnum & Mason has been on Piccadilly since 1707, when William Fortnum, a royal footman, went into business with his landlord Hugh Mason. It calls itself the world's most famous corner shop, and it's where I'd buy the gift that says London. The tea is the thing: Royal Blend is £2.95 for a 25g tin, £5.95 for a five-bag pocket tin, £10.95 for a 125g decorative caddy and £17.95 for the 250g caddy. The Taste of Fortnum's hamper is £75.
The shop runs over six levels, from the wine bar in the lower ground to the Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon on the fourth floor, which is in my best afternoon teas in London. Hatchards, the bookshop that has been on Piccadilly since 1797, is next door.
Hours: Mon-Sat 10am-8pm, Sun noon-6pm (browsing from 11:30am). Tube: Green Park or Piccadilly Circus. Best for: tea, biscuits, hampers and edible gifts. The drawback: the ground-floor tea and biscuit hall is the busiest room in the building; go upstairs first.
Tube: Green Park (Jubilee, Piccadilly, Victoria) or Piccadilly Circus (Bakerloo, Piccadilly). For sat-nav, the store gives the postcode W1J 9LE.
Dover Street Market is the one for fashion people. It's a concept store over five levels at the bottom of Haymarket, with Comme des Garçons as its headline brand and a rotating mix of designer and streetwear labels displayed more like an art installation than a department store. There's a Rose Bakery café inside.
Hours: Mon-Sat 11am-7pm, Sun noon-6pm. Tube: Piccadilly Circus or Leicester Square. Best for: designer fashion and limited releases. The drawback: prices are high-fashion, it opens later than the department stores, and the entrance is round the side on Orange Street.
The entrance is on Orange Street, not Haymarket. Tube: Piccadilly Circus (Bakerloo, Piccadilly) or Leicester Square (Northern, Piccadilly).
Covent Garden and Seven Dials. Covent Garden's market building reopened in 1980 as Europe's first speciality shopping centre, and the Piazza is still the West End's most enjoyable place to shop on foot, with street performers and the Apple Market crafts stalls (in my London markets guide). The better shopping is five minutes north, in Seven Dials.
Seven Dials is seven cobbled streets meeting at the Sundial Pillar, first put up in 1693-4 for the developer Thomas Neale. The Covent Garden estate counts about 90 shops and 50 restaurants, bars and cafés here, a mix of independent labels, trainer shops and beauty brands, plus Neal's Yard, a small courtyard of painted shopfronts. Harry Potter fans heading this way should also know that a new two-floor Harry Potter shop opens on Oxford Street on 4 November 2026 (see Harry Potter in London).
Hours: shops usually Mon-Sat 10am-8pm, Sun about 11am-6pm. Tube: Covent Garden, Tottenham Court Road or Leicester Square. Best for: independent fashion and a browse between lunch and a show. The drawback: Covent Garden station is jammed at peak times; walk from Leicester Square or Tottenham Court Road instead.
Seven streets meet at the Sundial Pillar. Tube: Covent Garden (Piccadilly), Tottenham Court Road (Central, Northern, Elizabeth line) or Leicester Square (Northern, Piccadilly).
Neal's Yard Dairy is my pick for a food gift in Covent Garden: a small shop on Short's Gardens run by a company that selects and matures British and Irish cheese from small makers. A 250g piece of 24-month Montgomery's Cheddar is £9.40 and Colston Bassett Stilton starts at £12.45 (the shop's online prices). Hard cheeses travel well in a suitcase.
Hours: Mon-Wed 11am-6pm, Thu-Sat 10:30am-6:30pm, Sun 11am-5pm. Tube: Covent Garden. Best for: British cheese to take home. The drawback: there's no wheelchair access, it's card only, and it's small, so expect to wait at busy times. Check your home country's rules on bringing cheese in before you buy.
A couple of minutes from the Seven Dials pillar. Tube: Covent Garden (Piccadilly) or Tottenham Court Road.
Twinings has sold tea at 216 Strand since Thomas Twining bought Tom's Coffee House here in 1706, and the company calls it the oldest tea shop in London. Inside there's a tea bar for sampling loose-leaf teas, a pick-and-mix of tea bags in wooden boxes, and a portrait of William Hogarth in the tasting room. The London Strand range, named after the street, starts at £17.50 for 100g of loose-leaf Earl Grey.
Hours: Mon-Wed 11am-6pm, Thu 11:30am-6:30pm, Fri-Sun 11am-6pm. Tube: Temple. Best for: a tea gift with a story. The drawback: it's a 10 to 15 minute walk east of Covent Garden, so pair it with Somerset House or the walk to St Paul's.
Tube: Temple (Circle, District). It's a 10 to 15 minute walk east along the Strand from Covent Garden.
Marylebone. North of Oxford Street, Marylebone High Street is the West End's calmest shopping street, run by the Howard de Walden Estate with a village feel: independent fashion, homeware, beauty and food shops, and cafés with tables on the pavement. Daunt Books is here (it's in my best bookshops guide), and Moxon Street, just off the high street, is the food street.
Hours: each shop sets its own. Tube: Baker Street, Regent's Park or Bond Street. Best for: an easy half-day away from the Oxford Street crowds. The drawback: there's no single big-name store to anchor it, and The Conran Shop, long a reason to come, no longer has a Marylebone branch.
Tube: Baker Street (Bakerloo, Circle, Hammersmith & City, Jubilee, Metropolitan), Regent's Park (Bakerloo) or Bond Street (Central, Jubilee, Elizabeth line).
La Fromagerie opened on Moxon Street in 2002, and its cheese room holds more than 200 artisan and farmhouse cheeses from Britain, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain and beyond, plus a deli and a café for breakfast, lunch and cake. On Friday evenings the cheese and wine bar stays open until 10pm.
Hours: Mon-Sat 9am-7pm, Sun 9:30am-5:30pm. Tube: Baker Street or Bond Street. Best for: a Marylebone lunch stop and picnic shopping. The drawback: it can close early for private events, so check before a late visit.
On Moxon Street, just off the high street. Tube: Baker Street or Bond Street.
Knightsbridge. The luxury end of west London, three stops from Piccadilly Circus on the Piccadilly line, with the two famous department stores a few minutes apart on Brompton Road.
Harrods is the London store everyone has heard of, and it's worth an hour even if you buy nothing. The Food Halls, which Harrods calls the world's greatest food emporium, are the highlight: patisserie, truffles, chocolate, wine and ready-to-eat counters. For a souvenir, the Harrods Christmas Bear for 2026 (Henry, 30.5cm) is £40.
Two rules catch travelers out. Suitcases aren't allowed in, cabin bags included, and there's no left-luggage desk, so don't come straight from the airport. And while there's no formal dress code (trainers, shorts and sportswear are fine), the store can refuse entry to anyone it considers inappropriately dressed.
Hours: Mon-Sat 10am-9pm, Sun 11:30am-6pm (browsing only until noon). Tube: Knightsbridge. Best for: the Food Halls and the spectacle. The drawback: it's crowded with sightseers, especially on weekend afternoons. Go at 10am on a weekday.
Tube: Knightsbridge (Piccadilly line), a short walk from the station's Harrods exit.
Harvey Nichols is the fashion-first alternative to Harrods, beside Knightsbridge station and a few minutes east along the road: designer fashion and beauty on a far more manageable scale. If Harrods feels like a theme park, this is the calmer shop down the street.
Hours: Mon-Sat 10am-8pm, Sun 11:30am-6pm. Tube: Knightsbridge. Best for: designer fashion and beauty without the Harrods crowds. The drawback: it's small beside Harrods, so it's a 30-minute visit unless you're buying.
Right beside Knightsbridge station (Piccadilly line); Harrods is a few minutes' walk west along Brompton Road.
Chelsea and King's Road. The King's Road runs west from Sloane Square, lined with upmarket boutiques and brands, and it makes a pleasant long walk. The Conran Shop's London flagship is at 16 Sloane Square, on the square itself.
Peter Jones is the John Lewis Partnership's store on Sloane Square: the same range and service as the Oxford Street flagship, with far fewer tourists. There's a Top Floor Restaurant and a Benugo café for a break.
Hours: Mon-Sat 10am-7pm, Sun 11:30am-6pm. Tube: Sloane Square. Best for: a department store without the crowds. The drawback: it closes at 7pm on weekdays, earlier than the West End stores.
Tube: Sloane Square (Circle, District), across the square.
Duke of York Square is a pedestrian square off the King's Road, on the site of the Duke of York's old army barracks and next to the Saatchi Gallery. It has more than 30 shops, including the flagship stores of Aesop and Dermalogica, and seven restaurants. On Saturdays the food market runs from 11am to 4pm.
Hours: most shops Mon-Wed 10am-7pm, Thu 10am-8pm, Fri 10am-7pm, Sat 10am-6pm, Sun noon-6pm; individual stores vary. Tube: Sloane Square, 5 minutes. Best for: a Saturday of food-market lunch and browsing. The drawback: the shops are mostly premium chains, not independents.
5 minutes' walk from Sloane Square station (Circle, District), next to the Saatchi Gallery.
Shoreditch and Brick Lane. East London is where to shop for vintage clothing, records and young designers. Brick Lane's vintage and Sunday markets and Old Spitalfields are all nearby; the markets are in my best markets in London guide.
Rough Trade East is Rough Trade's flagship: a 5,000-square-foot record shop in the Old Truman Brewery with a big vinyl selection, books, a photobooth and a bar. Rough Trade started as a single shop in west London in 1976. It hosts instore gigs and signings, ticketed and often bundled with the record (a November 2026 signing is £15.75 to £28.22).
Hours: open daily, Mon 10am-6pm, Tue-Wed 10am-7pm, Thu-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 10am-7pm, Sun 11am-5pm. The website doesn't list hours, so call +44 20 7392 7788 before a special trip. Station: Shoreditch High Street or Aldgate East. Best for: vinyl, and a free browse on the way to Brick Lane. The drawback: gigs are ticketed and places are limited, so book ahead.
Inside the Old Truman Brewery, just off Brick Lane. Station: Shoreditch High Street (London Overground) or Aldgate East (District, Hammersmith & City).
BOXPARK Shoreditch opened in 2011 as what it calls the world's first pop-up mall, built from shipping containers next to Shoreditch High Street station. Today it's mostly food: 18 food and drink stalls and a smaller row of streetwear and independent shops.
Hours: Mon-Thu 11am-11pm, Fri-Sat 11am-11:45pm, Sun 11am-10:30pm. Station: Shoreditch High Street. Best for: a cheap lunch between Brick Lane and Shoreditch. The drawback: come for the food, not the shopping.
Next to Shoreditch High Street station (London Overground); Liverpool Street is about 10 minutes' walk.
The two Westfields. London's two giant malls, one west and one east. Neither is a sight in its own right, but both are useful in bad weather or if you want every chain in one place.
Westfield London in White City is the bigger draw for visitors because of The Village, its luxury wing with Louis Vuitton, Prada, Gucci and Tiffany & Co. The rest is high-street fashion, department stores and restaurants, with four stations close by.
Hours: stores Mon-Sat 10am-9pm, Sun noon-6pm. Tube: Shepherd's Bush, White City, Wood Lane or Shepherd's Bush Market. Best for: a rainy day with everything under one roof. The drawback: it's in Zone 2 and mostly chain stores; the West End is more fun.
Four stations are within walking distance: Shepherd's Bush (Central) and Shepherd's Bush Market (Circle, Hammersmith & City) for The Village; Wood Lane (Circle, Hammersmith & City) and White City (Central) for the John Lewis end.
Westfield Stratford City sits next to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the site of the 2012 Games, and Stratford station is a two-minute walk away with the Central, Jubilee and Elizabeth lines, the DLR and the Overground. It opens at 9am on Saturdays, an hour before Westfield London.
Hours: stores Mon-Fri 10am-9pm, Sat 9am-9pm, Sun noon-6pm. Tube: Stratford. Best for: combining with the Olympic Park or staying in east London. The drawback: mostly high-street chains; not worth the trip on its own.
Stratford station (Central, Jubilee, Elizabeth line, DLR, London Overground) is a two-minute walk away, next to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
One store, no time: Liberty on Regent Street.
The widest range under one roof: Selfridges on Oxford Street.
The spectacle: Harrods, for the Food Halls.
Gifts to carry home: Fortnum & Mason tea, Liberty print, Twinings on the Strand, or cheese from Neal's Yard Dairy.
Luxury: New Bond Street and Knightsbridge.
Independent shops: Seven Dials, Marylebone High Street and Brick Lane.
With kids: Hamleys.
A rainy day: Westfield London.
Start at Oxford Circus station and walk south down Regent Street. Turn left onto Great Marlborough Street for Liberty, then come back to Regent Street for Hamleys, a few doors further south. Carnaby Street runs behind both; walk its length, then rejoin Regent Street and carry on south to Piccadilly Circus. Selfridges is the other way, about 15 minutes west along Oxford Street, so give it its own evening (it's open until 10pm on weekdays).
Cross to Piccadilly for Fortnum & Mason and Hatchards, then walk through Burlington Arcade to the Bond Street side for the window-shopping. That walk is about 2.5 km and ends near Green Park station. Add Dover Street Market at the bottom of Haymarket if you're into fashion.
Save Knightsbridge for a separate morning: Harrods at 10am opening, Harvey Nichols after, then 10 minutes on the Piccadilly line back to the West End.
The price on the tag is the price you pay. UK prices include VAT, the sales tax, which is 20% on most goods. Unlike in the US, nothing is added at the register, and London has no tourist tax yet.
No tax-free shopping for visitors. Great Britain withdrew its VAT refund scheme for overseas shoppers at the end of 2020, so since 1 January 2021 there's no tax refund at the airport or in store. In September 2026 the Treasury again defended the decision and announced no change. The only legal way round VAT is to have the store ship your purchase directly to an address outside the UK; ask at the till whether it does.
Sundays are short. In England, shops bigger than 280 square metres can open for only six hours on a Sunday, between 10am and 6pm, and must close on Easter Sunday and Christmas Day. Most big stores open noon to 6pm, and some let you browse from 11:30am. Small shops can open longer.
Sizes run differently. UK women's clothing sizes are four higher than US sizes (a UK 10 is a US 6). UK women's shoes are two sizes lower than US (a UK 5 is a US 7) and men's shoes one lower (a UK 9 is a US 10).
Leave the suitcase at the hotel. Harrods won't let you in with one, cabin bags included, and has no left-luggage desk.
Where to stay. Marylebone, Mayfair and Covent Garden put most of these shops on your doorstep; see where to stay in London. For what to do between shops, things to do in London has the sights.
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