I was so excited to have the opportunity to visit liberty - with several floors, many offering the…read morewide array of floral materials, and others - perfumery, dining, housewares and haberdashery at premium pricing. While the staff are plenty, they are busier trying to appear busy, rather than assisting guests. I do admit to being somewhat underwhelmed. But for someone, I'm certain that Liberty will check all of their boxes.

THE quintessential aesthetic London department store…read more Harrods is for tourists with a lot of money. Liberty is for anybody with taste. An authentic London shopping experience that offers unique items you can't find elsewhere. A long history of beautiful design in a stunning Tudor-esqu building without a single escalator! (There are elevators) Gorgeous fabric from designers like William Morris. Come here for genuine London products, and for an authentic only-in-London shopping experience.

It's not every department store that has a Masterpiece TV show made about it. That's just one of…read morethe things that makes Selfridges special. I visited Selfridges with my husband about two weeks ago, when we were visiting London for a few days. This store - their flagship - opened in 1909, and is the second-largest department store in the UK after Harrods. The store was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge, who became the subject of an ITV/Masterpiece showed called "Mr Selfridge," in which Selfridge was played by Jeremy Piven. During the Second World War, Selfridges housed a huge SIGSALY scrambling machine in its basement, which allowed Winston Churchill to call President Roosevelt directly and securely about a mile away from the Cabinet War Rooms. You can see its history in the bones of the building. The store has definitely been updated (it's stunning), but you can see original touches from the 1909 building. But Selfridges is a modern luxury department store with the best brands. You can definitely spend some money at Selfridges. We were just exploring the store, since we were in the neighborhood, but it's an incredible store - for shopping, for having a glass of champagne at their bar, or for checking out their pretty wonderful art pieces around the store.

This is the flagship store for Selfridges and though I've been several times, I never get tired of…read morestopping in when I'm in London. Did you know the founder was American? The store has been around since the early 1900s and the only store in the UK that's bigger is of course, Harrods. Six floors of glorious shopping, eating, and tattooing. That's right, in addition to the high-end luxury clothing, shoes, and accessories on the retail side, there are restaurants, and a tattoo shop. Lots of other cool things to explore within Selfridges as well. I have found the service to be consistently friendly, helpful, and polite. Selfridges is an institution to seen by all whether for the first time or the 100th time.

Made it a mission to go to every single one of M&S, this location has a great selection, and food…read morebar was very clean and kept.

The staff in the food department at this M&S are some of the best I've come across. I stopped by…read moretwice in the last couple of days and both times when I've asked for help the team members went out of their way to assist me and help me look for items or alternatives of what they were sold out of. Since I've been back in the UK most customer service has been terrible but they definitely do their jobs well in this department. Great selection of food and it's nice to try new meals knowing it'll always taste good!

I made a visit to Fortnum & Mason when my husband and I were visiting London a week or so ago and…read morehad such a great time. Fortnum & Mason is department store, but it's not your average department store. It's a food department store? I don't even know if there's a word for that! Founded in 1707 in the St James's/Piccadilly area of London, the store is modern but has retained some really incredible historic details: the mechanical clock on the facade, a double-helix staircase, and more. They sell tons of biscuits, tea and coffee, hampers (we call them gift baskets in the US, I think?), candy, chocolates, and more. Everything is beautiful and beautifully displayed. In the biscuit section of the store ("The Biscuitorium"), they sell roughly 70 flavors of biscuits and have an incredibly intricate replica of the store made from biscuits - like a most beautiful biscuit doll house you've ever seen. If you head downstairs, there's also a fantastic food hall and their fancy Wine Bar & Restaurant. After buying a few tins of biscuits upstairs, we went downstairs to the wine bar, where we ordered their Oysters & Champagne deal (6 Carlingford oysters and two glasses of Blanc de Blancs). Other than the oysters taking a bit of time - they brought us some extra Blanc to make up for it and the oysters' adductors muscles not being disconnected prior to making it to us, it was a great little break/snack during our first day of touristing around London! I'm not usually a shopper on vacation. But I make exceptions for stores with history, and Fortnum's has that in spades. It's a great place to stop for some edible souvenirs!

Before leaving London, I had to pop in…read more Starting my day early in the Parlor, I grabbed a small bite. My waiter was most genteel and even brought me a surprise birthday sweet treat! Post-nibbles, I traversed each floor, of course, settling on teas to acquire, for the trip home. F&M has a wide array of teas, some familiar and some which are signature to the brand. The staff are quite eager to assist, and properly demure when doing so. After completing my shopping, it's quite easy to admit that I'm now a tea snob, from this point going forward. LOL

Fun one mile shopping area and eating area in SOHO located in the west end of Westminster. No cars…read moreallowed, only pedestrians. After having a tasty snack at Pizza Pilgrims, went to the two story Rolling Stones store which was my favorite place on Carnaby Street. A bunch of boutique shops and found one bathroom and a drinking fountain. There was an old English style red phone booth containing an unspeakable object on the floor inside, good conversation piece for the rest of my trip. Welcome to London.

One of my absolute favorite places to shop when in London. I'll never pass up a chance to trek down…read moreto Carnaby street as the shopping and dining options are elite. For any one of my friends traveling into London I always recommend veering off a little to Carnaby. Over the years some shops have come and go but some of my favorites remain open. I'm a huge Great Frog lover and their shop is nearby, also for us rock n rollers I can't help stopping into The Rolling Stones Uk store. Lots of major branded stores but also cute local vendors and stores. It's a very walkable street and safe. Plenty busy so come earlier in the day to beat the crowds. Another pro tip is catching a reservation at dishshoom down here as I've found it easier to snag a reservation here than at their other locations. Plenty of dining options though and local stalls like Starbucks and Joe & the juice. It's a touristy street of shops but I love it - definitely bookmark this area on your must shop / see list when on this side of town.

I'll let you in on a little secret about me, well it's not really a secret, but this girl loves to…read morecook. I think about food, ingredients and spices a lot and when I travel, I like to experience and take a little something home as a souvenir. So I came to John Lewis & Partners after a friend recommended the grocery portion as a good place to find spices. I've traveled to several countries and states where I pick up spices to use in my recipes, this means a lot more to me than some novelty t-shirt or magnet. I purchased a wide selection of spices, some which I have never tried using before. As you can see in my picture, I got quite the haul and paid around $30 euros for it all. Compared to the prices I would have paid back home, I feel that I got a great deal at John Lewis & Partners.

I CHALLENGE JOHN LEWIS TO PROVIDE THE PROOF THEY SAY THEY HAVE ON VIDEO SHOWING MY CLAIM YOU STOLE…read more£160 OF MY MONEY. I was new to them at Solihull but approached by a man i now believe was head of security. He took control as the shop was shutting demand a further £200 when i can only assume my autism and unsteady state while i was suffering a minor stroke had him see an opportunity to steal. The shop was in darkness the cashier at a distance and stated events were manufactured. I was still clear in my head but unable to respond and the salesman is said to have been on holiday over 8 weeks. The head of security of that floor seemed familiar but the video would prove it weas him. JOHN LEWIS refused to show me the video or a copy but the video would show my state of health having to sit while i was being robbed. The police were offered as an alternative knowing they cannot interfere in a civil case further confirming the abuse is a regular occurrence on these premises. C9itizens Advice stated this action was typical so many have endured it. YOU OWE ME £160 but please take me to court i tried to put this on your review page but it went blank

Tips: - The foodhall is on the lower ground floor. The…read morecrisps are everything! -This company has its own bank. I grew up with Marks and Spencer (M&S). Canada had this chain for over twenty years before all locations shuttered for good in 1999. My go-to location was at Shoppers World on Danforth Avenue at Victoria Park Avenue. I still remember the last item that I bought at this store, which was a blue t-shirt. I visited London in December 2013. Out of all the flagship department stores that I wanted to go to, it was this M&S store on Oxford Street that had priority. I was staying at a hotel in South Kensington. I took the 74 bus to get to this store. I remember someone asking me where the bus stop was as I was heading over to it to take the bus to this store. I'm not sure why folks ask me for directions in a city that is new to me. It happens often. I felt accomplished that I knew something as a tourist! I remember how happy I was when I walked into this store. Hopefully, the floor plan and floors haven't changed since I was last there: - Lower ground floor - foodhall - Ground and first floors - women's clothing - Second floor - men's clothing - Third floor - homeware I don't recall being on the top floor. I could be wrong. I also don't know if the M&S Bank is still at this store. It was cool when I visited it, with comfy couches to relax. I spent some time in the men's clothing section. I bought a green cashmere sweater as a gift that was so soft to the touch. I loved the two floors full of women's clothing. I ended up getting socks that felt ridiculously soft that I had to have them. My spent the majority of my time in the foodhall. I hit the crisps section first. I got a few varieties of crisps: - Roast beef and onion - Roast chicken and garlic butter - Cheddar cheese and onion All of them were amazing. I am salivating thinking about them. So good! I also ended up getting biscuits (cookies). I got shortbread and white chocolate. They were amazing, likely due to the butter. I remember asking a woman at the checkout whether my Discover card was an acceptable payment option. It's also known as a Diner's Club card internationally. My Discover card that I've had since I lived in Minnesota worked here. Yay! I want to go back to this store. It has been renovated since I was last here. I'd like to check out the changes and get more food. (51)

I feel so happy when I'm here, I love M&S, it's the tourist in me. You can find anything and…read moreeverything, couldn't find my sticky toffee pudding but it's okay, going to try the recommended prawn sammie.

Date: August 28, 2026…read more Experience: My mom and I got here about 10 minutes before closing time because she wanted me to get a glimpse of what this place looked like and this was the only time we could get before setting of for our set tour. With the little amount of time we were there, I could see how this place is so popular with the luxury goods, food offerings, and the picturesque decor when traversing the main floor. There was still a good amount of people walking around either browsing or shopping and even some people came in later than us to check Harrods out I would definitely want to make an effort to check out this place to its full extent and to check out their food cause they had a section of just cheeses that I would love to try in the future.

We trekked to Harrods because there was something specific I wanted to purchase as a souvenir. I…read morehave seen many pictures of the exterior of the department store so it should have dawned on me that it is extremely, extremely large. In fact, the length of a full city block. Literally, I wanted to buy a Harrods keychain with a cheeky saying on it. Trying to find a keychain in a department store this big is truly trying to find a needle in a haystack. Nothing made me feel more poor than wandering through wings of luxury products looking for a ... keychain. There are four notable things about Harrods that make this a must-visit. First is the over-the-top Egyptian decor, which is most notable around the main escalators. Second is the food hall, which has so many enticing things that are all reasonably priced. It's fun just to walk around and peek at the displays. Third is the Harrod's Gift Shop (Lower Ground floor), which is where I eventually found the Harrods branded keychain with the cheeky saying. Fourth, they currently have a Jellycat Airline display. We couldn't get in because there was a convoluted way to get a ticket, which you could only do at a designated entry way and wait in a long line. It was both immensely interesting and exhausting to have visited Harrods.

AVOID! Employs false advertising and illegal unfair trading practice to retain customer's money…read more Reported to trading standards! Debenhams and supplier Destina Home intentionally mislead customers by advertising reasonable returns T&C's only to enforce significantly worse not communicated at any stage of purchase. It takes 2 months to process returns with a customer service team that takes no action unless chased daily. Once acceptable terms are agreed in writing by Debenhams customer service and products are returned, they go back on their word and illegally retain their customer's money anyway!

if I could leave 0 stars I would…read more I purchased a sofa bed 10 months ago and a spring broke last week. The sofa has a 12 month warranty (says so on the Living & Home website and I showed them) but Debenhams have told me that because I have had it over 6 months and do not have a copy of the warranty they won't do anything. I pointed out I don't need it as I clearly states on the manufacturer website all their furniture is covered for 12 months, again I was told as I'd had it over 6 months they refused to do anything. I have since been in touch with Living & Home to see if they can help in any way. I will not buy from Debenhams again and I urge people to think hard before making any furniture purchases from them because if anything goes wrong they won't cover the warranty and will make pathetic excuses not to help in any way, shape, or form. I'm now left out of pocket and nothing to sit on.

Beautiful store but the customer service was so so…read more I went to the counter looking for an item and was ignored by the two staff members who were busy chatting, so I went to open a drawer myself to find my item. I was very quickly intercepted by a salesperson​ who somewhat rudely asked me what I was doing. I explained that I was standing there with my family for several minutes and was completely ignored​ by the staff (before anyone says that perhaps we weren't dressed well, I was wearing a Moncler puffer with a leather Prada bag, the hubby was wearing a Burberry jacket, my kids were well dressed and we were carrying​ bags from Selfridges​). He softened his position a bit but wasn't especially helpful. With Harrod's and Selfridges nearby, why bother with Fenwick?

What's happened here?! Fenwick's used to be my favourite department store, mainly because it…read moredidn't have the look and feel of a department store. It used to have just the right balance between old-fashioned, British understatement and hip, in that the layout and decor were plain and simple in a place filled with interesting and surprising brands alongside more predictable stuff. There was a time I bought most of my shoes here, lingerie, work outfits - actually, I must have spent thousands here over the years. Oh well, I couldn't find anything interesting on my most recent visit. The ground floor has been taken over by bling perfume counters - this could as easily be a small Harvey Nichols or Selfridges. The Bond Street entrance is dominated by MAC and you can't see beyond the massive structure - what is wrong with counters and a view of the rest of the store?! As I had some time to kill I took the escalator down to the basement for the heavily advertised Christmas section. All the generic overpriced stuff you find in shops at this time of year: novelty smellies, overpriced sweeties, techie toys for boys. Nothing new or exciting here. No pleasant surprises on the other floors either, all the money seems to have gone into the ground floor. The top floor was genuinely shocking. They removed the ceiling to reveal the pipes and hung up some massive disco balls to make the denim section more appealing to younger shoppers ... really? A big disappointment overall, I left empty-handed - a first ...