The store mainly carries Indian and Middle Eastern foods (frozen, fresh, dried, halal meat…read morecounter), but also has fresh veg and herbs like: okra, Chinese okra, ginger, basil, etc. I've yet to find any one ethnic store that has everything I need in Oxford, so I always make more than one stop when I do my weekly grocery run down Cowley Rd. And this is often one of my stops for fresh veg and Arabic coffee. Minimum £5 for credit card purchases.

An excellent Place to buy whatever you need at reasonable Price specially, Persian, Iranian, nuts,…read moresweets and prepacked food ready to eat Persian cuisine.I enjoyed discovering this place and recommend every one a visit and have a look I am sure you will find some Awsome food or really nice sweets

Bonners is a very traditional fruit and veg stall, which gets all my organic, hippie type impulses…read moreflashing overtime. The prices are handwritten and the colourful fruit is very tempting. It's generally good quality, although the veg still has remnants of soil, and the fruit isn't as perfect as the modified versions you get in supermarkets. This is definitely a good thing. What's not so good is, unfortunately, the price. Some good deals can be had if you work it out, and there's some unusual stuff here, but their strawberries, raspberries and similar can be surprisingly expensive. It's a bit of a mixed bag, so try to work it out before, although this is hard because they charge in weights, so you don't know quite how much you'll get or spend. Still, the slight price difference may be worth it for the natural quality and the speed compared to supermarket shopping.

Located in Oxford and we got a tour of Oxford and Covered Market. I will say many stores were…read moresomewhat closed towards the 5pm timeslot on a weekday but they have foods, restrooms, stores and other items in the market. They have knick knacks and multiple entrances/exits into the market.

Absolutely love the covered market! There are so many cute shops, restaurants, cafes all with a…read morelocal feel and intimate texture to them. The market is so uniquely decorated and has an amazing cozy feel to it! Perfect place to hang out with friends and/or family!

If I could give this place 6 stars I would. You can pick your own fruit and veg but you can also…read morespend hours here. There is a cafe. There is a large sand pit, 2 bouncy castles and a children's assult course. On week ends they often have trailer rides. As far as I know everything is free (well obviously not the cafe), I can't be sure about the trailer rides as we have never been at the week end. We tend to visit after school - it is a great place to meet friends and hang out whilst also solving the perennial "what shall we have for tea" question. You can pick some of the food and then buy the other bits from the well stocked shop which now includes a butcher's. And you hope that your children get the idea that food does grow on trees - or at least on bushes. You can pick: strawberries, raspberries, loganberries, rhubarb, blackberries, gooseberries, redcurrants. You can pick (or dig) your own vegetables: beans, broad beans, carrots, they used to have sugar snap peas but I haven't seen them for a few years. It is a great place. Do visit even if it is only to buy strawberries and cream from the shop. It is local food at its best.

Not quite the secret treat it once was, but enjoying deserved success now. Full of young sandle…read morewearing middle-class families stocking up on quiche and jam ingredients. Quite simply, if you have kids below 10, and you like spending time watching them run around while eating cake and drinking tea, this is the place for you. Bouncy castles, assault course, sandpit and then you can go and let your kids gorge themselves on fresh fruit! Recommend doing as much of the weekly shop there as possible too.

This is the smaller of the two Sainsbury's stores in central Oxford. Being a little bit more…read morecentral than the Westgate store, and with longer opening hours, it is naturally busier. The range of products is not as good as that in the Westgate and the prices are higher - a tub of houmous might be 5p more expensive here. It's not the place to do your weekly shop, but is convenient for little things that you might have forgotten to buy. Queues are long but fast moving at peak times. One thing that does put me off is that most of the fresh fruit and veg is pre-packaged, which means that a) you can't pick out exactly what you want, and b) you can't have smaller amounts than are in the bags.

Sainsbury's Local has a fairly good range of foods, with all the essentials and is usually…read morewell-stocked despite its popularity. It's quite hard to get into through the flow of pedestrians and queues for the bus on Magdalen Street, but it's well worth it. There are no surprises, and it's not really the height of luxury, but there's a good selection of fruit juices and a section of bakery goods and lunch time snacks/meals. Because it's only Sainsbury's Local, as opposed to the main shop, you don't really get the good Sainsbury's Basics deals or the more unusual foods, but there's usually a suitable alternative available. The queue often snakes around the shop and is very offputting, but it moves surprisingly quickly; they've got a very efficient system going, so don't be put off because of that. The most frustrating thing is trying to fit everything into a bag on the tiny counter, as the shop assistants work very quickly! Some are friendly, some aren't so, but you'll get your food for a reasonable price, so it doesn't really matter.

Thong Heng is an oriental supermarket in Headington, and I have to say, one of my favourite places…read moreto shop. Its perfect for finding all the varieties of sauces and flavours you need to cook chinese/thai/vietnamese meals properly and its really good value for money. Its cheaper to but soy sauce here than in a regular supermarket and there are so many brands! Also we buy our rice here in bulk, which works out much cheaper than buying from Tesco/Sainsburys and its actually flavoursome and sticky (if you cook it right that is!) As well as the dry food stuffs, they also have a wide variety of frozen foods, I particularly like the frozen raw prawns and dim-sum buns. Great to keep in the freezer to rustle a quick dinner up with. They also stock a selection of exotic friuts vegetables which all look fab even though I have no idea what some of them are. I really enjoy browsing the shelves for new things to try, new flavours and weird and wonderful things too!

Reviewing my recent travel itinerary with a friend, she expressed surprise when I mentioned having…read morespent 4 nights in Oxford. "What's there to do there?" she asked with surprise. She'd limited her trip there to a single day, leaving before sundown. I didn't ask whether she'd visited Oxford's Covered Market but most who come to Oxford seem destined to make a stop here. I mean: how often does one have the opportunity to go to a historic market hall dating back to 1774? In truth, Oxford's Covered Market was a bit less interesting than the market I'd enjoyed in Swansea, where the vendors and offerings were quirkier. But Oxford's has cute shops, lots of places to enjoy food and drink, and if you look up, some cool suspended Alice in Wonderland-themed art (Alice's creator and Alice herself hailed from Oxford). With all there is to see and do in Oxford, do give yourself more than a single day and during that time I'd recommend a visit to their historic Covered Market where I ran into the only other people I knew in Oxford. (See, everyone does come here).

I was really impressed with the range of restaurants offering ethnic foods as well as very…read morecompetitive prices. I ventured around over lunch time. One Hong Kong cafe place was selling gizzards, other innards, bits of stomach and it was very busy indeed. The diners were all young people and all were oriental with all attaching offal with chopsticks. Many of the kids were wearing their university gowns. As I passed by there was a whiff from some of their food so likely some of it is an acquired taste. I've had sheep's brains, various sweetbreads, fish eyes, heads and lips, chicken's feet, and duck's web but I find as I age I'm reverting back to what I grew up with. It's a closed in marketplace on ground level and there's no spare space. It could be a pickpocket heaven. They also have butcher's shops and they sell a lot of meat pies in the market. I enquired from a few sellers and the pie casing is now vegetable oil - based rather than lard to meet changing tastes. I decided against. It always surprises me for such a small island with some of the finest fish in the ocean around it that fish is not more in demand. If you are nearby it's sure worth an hour.

The issue with the Tescos is that unless you come at the start of the day after they have completed…read morea fruitful stocking night the shelves will be half empty, it will be mind-bogglingly busy and there may be stuff everywhere. However as this place is so huge you'll probably still find what you are looking for. Since I've lived in Oxford I've come here about a dozen or so times. We tend to try and stick to mid evening as the crowds die down a bit and they are not quite into their horrible restocking mode. Generally you can find fresh products and a wide selection of near everything (do not come to this Tescos if you are looking for home goods/ electronics/ etc). The prices as it is Tescos are decent. The staff are generally friendly as long as you're not getting the end of shift crowd. PROS: Large selection Good quantity of stock Price CONS: Gets ultra busy Leftover stock can be of bad quality Other side of the ring road.

This is known fairly widely as 'Big Tesco', to distinguish it from the Tesco on Cowley Road, and it…read morecertainly lives up to the name. It's got a huge range of items, although no adult clothing (other than underwear) or much in the way of electronics/media/toys, unlike even bigger stores. For groceries, though, it's got a lot to offer. Fruit and veg are of good quality and usually well-stocked. The deli and fresh fish counters offer a lot of choice, and they even have a large 'Polish food' section. They have two 'car trolleys' which amuse small (and big) kids greatly, and make the shopping trip easier with children who are too big for the trolley seats but too small to walk all the way around without whining. Staff are friendly and helpful, and offers on food are good value.

The Farmers' Market is a relatively new initiative which brings local produce to Oxford's shoppers…read more There's a great range of food such as free range meat and dairy produce, home-baked cakes and locally produced jams and honeys. There are burgers and other food items cooked on the sight, so you can eat while you wander, and it's ideal if you're looking for good, honest food without the stress of supermarket shopping. The stallholders are mostly friendly and keen to chat about their produce, and prices are reasonably compared to health food shops and similar. A great thing to support that adds to the traditional feel of the more independent aspects of Oxford shopping and makes the big town seem more like a local farming market.

A good event to wander around even if you're not going to buy anything. Large range of local stalls…read moreselling fruit and veg, meat, fish and bakery goods. If you go right at the end of the market you can also pick up great bargins on various products especially the fruit and veg when everything is being sold off cheap (eg 4 mangoes for a pound!)