Two years ago when I first went to Paris there was a thread concerning things to buy while in the city. Not necessarily expensive but just fun things to bring home to prolong the experience. Now I am planning my first trip to England and I would love to have such a list of things to look for while I am there. Any ideas??? I would love input concerning interesting stores not to be missed. I will be in London Fri - Sun. Thank you

I think London has the best stationary, especially greeting cards with beautiful pictures and illustrations on the front. When we got to England, I like to buy a bunch of cards to use when I get home. My favorite place is a little shop on Thurloe St. (in the general area of the V&amp;A) whose name I can't exactly remember. I think it's something like Medici. (Incidentally, it's two doors down from Daquise restaurant (Polish food), which we also love, and has been mentioned on this board.<BR>Happy shopping!<BR>Annette

We like to go antiquing, so I would first of all recommend some places that we always enjoy browsing through, that we always manage to find something interesting and not always terribly expensive.<BR>Greys Market (estate jewelry)<BR>Antiquarius on Kings Rd ( a bldg of dealers)<BR>Alfies on Edgeware Rd ( a bldg of dealers)<BR>I love the Map House on Beauchamp St..old prints, and maps, we bought bird prints<BR>I like to collect Chinese blue and white, in Chelsea is the General Trading Co..great store! a real treasure chest of goodies!<BR>I enjoy shopping in the small shops in Covent Garden, Neals Yard, the poster shops, perfumes-Penhaligans, Jo Malone.<BR>Then of course, there is Harrods, Liberty, and Harvey Nichols.<BR> I enjoy shopping, I can have fun in the corner pharmacy so I am sure you will enjoy your trip to London, it is a wonderful city<BR><BR>

first of all you will find that most things in england, like in france, are very expensive by american standards....<BR><BR>good buys are on china, wool garmets--sweaters, kilts, skirts, sport jackets, food stuffs (be careful meat products can not be imported into usa as well as some other things, spirits, pottery, leather items-- but not generally clothing, teas of unusual concoctions...., antiques, silver, home furnishings...<BR><BR>places: harrods of course, harvey nichols, scottish house, fortnum and mason, marks and spencers, westaway and westaway for sweaters, liberty on regent st<BR><BR>there are many little botiques all over and whole areas devoted to &quot;local shopping&quot;: knightsbridge, portbellow road, around the covent garden area, kensington, chelsea, london bridge, docklands, and many more areas...

I generally head off to the Mary Quant store to check out the make-up.<BR><BR>I load up on Sainsbury's shepard's pie mix and packets of crisps in different flavors.<BR><BR>I load up on pub coasters from the pubs I visit.<BR><BR>And I usually take home a bottle of ribena and a bottle of avoccat.

<BR>HuisClos! you reminded me! <BR>At the pharmacy I like to get Vitamin E cream for dry skin. It comes in tubs of cream or bottles of lotion. There is nothing like it when you are all flakey in a New York winter!<BR>Then there are the Germoline cream which is great for burns, mosquito bites, or anything irritating on your skin. I found this one year when our posh hotel gave me bugs in my bedding!!<BR>There are always creams and soaps that I 'discover'for the bath..which leads me to another reminder LUSH, you must visit Londons Lush store!<BR>

Sounds great! What do I do with Ribena and avoccat? jan

Does Jo Malone have her own store? I have looked for an address but so far have not found anything. I tried a sample of &quot;Orange Blossom&quot; cologne this weekend; it's new to the US and simply exquisite.

Mamc, The Jo Malone shop is at 150 Sloane Street and also in the Royal Exchange.

Jo Malone is sold in Neiman Marcus in the US Last year I got a bottle of Lime Blossom and the body lotion, yummm.<BR><BR>She is making shampoos now-that is next on my list!

sorry-that is Lime Basil and Mandarine

Mamc.. oops.... I miss- read your request for the location of a Jo Malone shop, I thought you were asking about London locations. In addition to Jo Malone products being available at NM stores( and NM online) as mentioned by Scarlett , there is also the Jo Malone shop in NYC.

If your local library has a copy of &quot;Born to Shop London&quot; by Suzy Gershman, it is worth checking out to get some ideas. Also, you mentioned you will be there Friday through Sunday. Make sure you don't leave stores such as Harrods until Sunday as many are closed that day. If you have any thoughts on stores you will visit before you leave for your trip, you may want to check their websites if they have them to see if they are open on Sunday or not. Stores in Covent Garden and some in Oxford Circus will be open on Sunday.<BR>Definitely stop in one of the Lush stores if you can. You'll have to at least go into Harrods for a little while as people will ask you if you went there once you get back from your trip. If you like products from the Body Shop, they will be much cheaper there and there are often products that are not yet available here (there was a body butter - can't remember what fragrance it was - but it smelled wonderful and I wish I had gotten it). I love going into the grocery stores. Fun things to buy for yourself and/or for gifts are candy, biscuits (cookies), crisps (potato chips), small tins of dog or cat food if you or your family/friends have pets (they will often have different main ingredients than can be easily found in the US, such as rabbit), etc. I bought a 99 pence bag of cookies and a 3 pound container of Cadbury's Heroes (miniature versions of a few different types of Cadbury chocolates) and brought those into work - my co-workers enjoyed them quite a bit. Bookstores are also a good bed. Magazines are fun to pick up. There will also be many fiction authors that you do not see here. Have fun!

1jan1 - Ribena is a blackcurrant squash (drink) and Advoccat is an alcoholic drink which you mix (if my memory is correct!) with lemonade - its commonly called a 'snowball'. <BR>I think it was my very first alcoholic drink, 'many moons ago'- nice at christmas

A trip to London is not complete until I've visited Lilywhite's to purchase Wimbelton polo shirts for my husband and dad. Great place to pick up soccer (football) shirts for any of the 'guys' on your shopping list.

Thanks, everyone. I did mean to say a store in London. We are leaving for London May 19 and I would love to visit the store. We'll be staying in the area so will stop by the Sloane St. store.

Hi 1jan1,<BR><BR>No one has yet mentioned the markets in London which are particularly active on weekends. The Bermondsey Market is on Fri morning 5am - noon near Tower Bridge Road. Portobello Road is Sat mornings as is Camden Passage (not Camden Town but that's another option).<BR><BR>One of my favorite shopping/browsing streets is Walton St. It has smaller boutiques, many home related, where I've always found interesting, small gifts from wine stoppers to note cards. (Ironically, I think Walton St is where Jo Malone had her first shop before she got &quot;famous&quot.<BR><BR>I heartily second Scarlett's reco of the General Trading Co. It's got great home decor at all price levels.<BR><BR>As to what people buy, there are several previous threads on this. Many people bring home sealed food items from teas to biscuits (cookies) to chocolate. Ofcourse Harrod's food halls are a popular stop. Also on previous threads, many Fodorites mention Boot's (a chain of drugstores)own brand of cosmetics and skin care.<BR><BR>Another favorite shopping venue is museum gift shops. The one at the V &amp; A (Victoria &amp; Albert museum) is very good.<BR><BR>Have a great trip!