Ever been to london?

Question

im going there this summer with my family and does anyone know any british stores or boutiques there? i dont care if theyre ridiculously overpriced or anything i just want to have somwhere to go. thnx!!

Answer 1

Harrods, Selfridges, Hamleys, Fortnam & Mason.  Anywhere in Knightsbridge would be a good start.

Answer 2

There's definitely alot to see in London! Debenham's is a good place to shop. Central London is filled with interesting places to go, with shops attached. If you are interested in museums, there's a portrait museum, Tate Museum, (lots of cool stuff there), the London Eye, There's Tower Bridge, and there's lots of stores along the way to window shop, and go inside.

Answer 3

If you really dont care about prices, then Covent Garden, Carnaby Street, Oxford and Regent Street, Bond Street, and Harvey Nicks (Nichols) will be right up your street!

Dont worry - you will have loads of choice! In the UK, lots of the little designer boutiques are actually within the big stores like Harrods etc.

Answer 4

Harrold's is a expensive place and big too as far as I know.  Woodworths is another,Mark's and Spencer's, and Asda.

Answer 5

Napoleon called us lot "a nation of shopkeepers". =D

You could find a lifetime's window-shopping here.

Start on Oxford Street.

Selfridges is definitely the leading store here -- lots of lovely clothes franchises, excellent homewares, irresistible food hall.

Other good stores on Oxford Street:

Marks and Spencer (national chain of clothing/food stores) has its flagship store near Selfridges.

Debenhams is one of the most popular clothing stores in the country -- again, its Oxford Street branch is the company's flagship.

Primark is Britain's favourite for cut-price clothes: again, Oxford Street is the prime Primark store.

Lots of other stuff along Oxford Street -- certainly enough to occupy for a day. You'll find cafes in the stores as well as all the usual restaurants.

Crossing Oxford Street is Regent Street -- one of my favourites for shopping and browsing. If your family includes young (or young-ish) children, make sure you visit Hamleys, a toy store with near-legendary status.

Hamley's is really close to Liberty's -- a department store that looks as if some fairytale designer created it: all Tudor-style wood panels and carving. Gorgeous, gorgeous fabrics, rugs, housewares etc, plus lots of gifts to buy for folk back home.  

More stops on Regent Street include Aquascutum and Jaeger (classic and very upmarket British clothing brands), Lacoste, Laura Ashley and Penhaligon's.

Also, just off Regent Street, is Carnaby Street -- immensely touristy and gimmicky, but still good fun and ... well, you don't want to say you passed two minutes from it and didn't take a look. =D

Once you get to the bottom of Regent Street, you're in Piccadilly Circus, with the statue of Eros in front of you and all the lighted billboards. If you can tear yourselves away from taking pictures, turn down Piccadilly itself (a hairpin-turn from Regent Street) and stroll down to Fortnum & Mason's, in its delicate pale green livery. It has some of the best window displays in town, and inside you'll find some of London's most superior edibles. (More going-home prezzies!)

Round the back of Fortnum's is Jermyn Street -- top-class menswear boutiques and tailors... real old-school London shops, lovely to wander by.

Where next? Covent Garden is great for shopping -- lots of designer stuff, gadgets and fashion, all focused on the old market (now called Covent Garden Piazza) which houses lots of boutiques, arts and crafts stalls and eating places. With the London Transport Museum and Theatre Museum also at hand, you could certainly lose a day here.

Now let's head for Sloane Square -- Peter Jones is the granddaddy of the John Lewis department store chain, probably Britain's best-loved retail company. Once you've looked around there, come out of one of the side doors which open onto the King's Road. This is the high street for the neighbourhood of Chelsea. Fashions so of the moment that it hurts, plus lots of vintage/boho/designer boutiques. And antique shops by the score. Oh, it's sooooo easy to spend money on the King's Road!

While you're wandering down here, do drop into Habitat. It's an icon of interior design stuff -- what the Brits had before Ikea arrived with its labyrinthine out-of-town stores.

Finally, you can't leave town without seeing Harrods and Harvey Nichols ("Harvey Nick's") in Knightsbridge: the former now really a tourist attraction; the latter where everyone well-heeled (including several royals) seems to get half their wardrobe from. If anyone in your family has a weakness for handbags/ purses, don't let them through the doors!

The scary thing is I've hardly scratched the surface with my selection above... but at least you now have lots of tasty ideas.

I hope you have a wonderful time here --

love from a Londoner born and bred.

=D

Answer 6

So, on one hand you complain else where about the dumb blonde stereotype and then here you seem only interested in shopping while visiting one of the major cities on the planet. Irony?

The Oxford Street suggestion is spot on. Nothing but shops and boutiques all over the place.