London Shopping Guide (& Aussie Equivalents)

One of the most frustrating things about moving to a new country is suddenly realising that you have no idea where to go when you want to buy something, or anything, in particular. A whole new range of shops to familiarise yourself with makes it hard to know where to start and whether you’re getting a good deal.

To help, I’ve created a non-exhaustive, categorised London Shopping Guide – a list of some of the key shops around London to hopefully ease some of your frustrations and help you spend all your hard-earned cash 😉

My Favourite Shopping Areas in London:

These are all my go-to areas for shopping, where I’m pretty much always guaranteed to find what I’m looking for and undoubtedly spend more money than I want to

• Oxford Circus – Oxford Street & Regent Street (crazy busy, I recommend going first thing in the morning at 10am to avoid the huge tourist crowds)
• Covent Garden – Long Acre, James Street and Seven Dials (Also recommended you go earlier, but not quite as busy as Oxford Circus)
• Carnaby Street (A quieter shopping haven hidden from the main craziness of Regent Street)
• Westfield White City – Shepherds Bush (Everything you’ll probably need can be found here, though the vibe isn’t quite the same as the shopping on the high street, it’s great if you really need to find something specific or have a lot of shopping to do)

Supermarkets:

• Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons (all similar to Woolies and Coles)
• ASDA, Aldi, Iceland (budget, similar to Aldi)
• M&S, Waitrose, Wholefoods (premium, similar to Thomas Dux, the latter being purely organic)

For the Home:

• Argos, M&S, IKEA and Tesco (online) are great for tight budgets.
• High street retailers with affordable home collections include Zara, H&M, Muji, Oliver Bonas, Anthropologie
• Homebase (includes hardware and paint), Habitat, Tiger
• All the department stores (listed below) also stock a great range of home wares

Department Stores:

• Harrods, John Lewis (similar to David Jones)
• Selfridges (similar to Myer)
• House of Fraser, Selbys, Marks & Spencer (also a supermarket)

Shoes:

• Aldo, Office, Debenhams, Dune, Clarks, Schuh, Kurt Geiger, Superga, Size
• Shoeaholics.com is amazing for quality shoes on a budget

Sportswear:

• Footlocker and JD Sports are great for shoes
• Nike Town, Sports Direct and Lillywhites are some of the biggest retailers
• Sweaty Betty and Lulu Lemon Athletica are both similar to Lorna Jane
• Kathmandu and North Face are for more adventure sports & general outdoor things

Pharmacy & Health:

• Boots (similar to Priceline), Superdrug, GNC (Supplements), Holland & Barrett
• For a list of the best health food stores in London read my Health Food Stores post
• Opticians: Boots Opticians, Vision Express, Specsavers

Lingerie:

• Calzedonia, Intimissimi, Tezenis, Victoria’s Secret

Clothing – High Street Stores

• Biggest high street stores: H&M, Zara, TopShop, River Island, TopMan, Uniqlo, Urban Outfitters (similar to General Pants), GAP
• Low-Cost: Primark (aka Primarni, similar to Big W), New Look, Next (similar to Kmart), Forever 21 (teens, Supre and Valleygirl-esque), Warehouse, Joy, Evans (plus size), Marks & Spencer, Oasis
• Mid-range: COS, & Other Stories,  French Connection, Pull & Bear, Cheap Monday, TK Maxx, All Saints, Banana Republic, Benetton, Esprit, Mango
• High-end: Whistles, Barbour, Burberry, Hobbs, Jack Wills, Jigsaw, J.Crew, Karen Millen, Mulberry, Reiss

Beauty:

• Space NK Apocatherapy, The Perfume Shop, The Body Shop, Toni & Guy, Aesop, Boots, L’Occitane, MAC, Bobbi Brown, Kiehl’s, Neal’s Yard Remedies

Kids & Baby:

• Mothercare, H&M Kids, Zara Kids, BHS, New Look, Next, Barbour, COS, GAP, Trotters

Electronics:

• Argos, Currys (similar to The Good Guys)
• Jessops (photography, similar to Teds)
• HMV, Virgin Media (both similar to JB HiFi)
• Carphone Warehouse (mobile phones)

What are your favourite shops or shopping areas in London?

Kamila x
LNG