7 Best Shopping in London, England

This furniture, lighting, and accessories store is a must-see if you're into mid-century and modernist design. It carries an enormous selection of 20th-century classics, including pieces from Eames, Noguchi, Wegner, Aalto, Prouvé, Saarinen, and the husband-and-wife team Robin and Lucienne Day, both in the form of original pieces and licensed reissues. You can also find contemporary products from modern masters like Tom Dixon, Thomas Heatherwick, and Marc Newson. Small accessories like tote bags and bath mats will easily fit into your luggage.

This elegant yet comfortable store is like stepping into the linen closet of your dreams, complete with tasteful cotton sheet sets, wool blankets, quilts, fluffy towels, Indian silk holdalls, and cotton nightgowns and robes. There are also several items for kids, including sheets with prints of dolphins or whales, sleepsuits for babies, and charming soft toys from France. The "cologne" is from well-chosen niche brands (mostly from France) for her, him, and the room. Other branches are in Marylebone and Kensington. 

Tricia Guild's exuberantly patterned fabrics, wallpapers, paints, furniture, and bed linens have decorated design-conscious British homes for several decades, and her soft-furnishings book has taught many budget-conscious do-it-yourselfers how to reupholster a sofa or make lined draperies. The shop also stocks contemporary furniture, wallpapers, and home accessories by other designers like Christian Lacroix. There's another branch in Marylebone.

Combining style with practicality and a whimsical twist, this delightful interiors shop carries a broad but carefully curated selection of faux-fur throws, elegant lamps and lampshades, embroidered cushions, sheepskin rugs, agate or Venetian glass doorknobs, folding deck chairs (as found in the Royal Parks), shabby-chic sofas, ceramics and cutlery, dinosaur string lights, and more. There are branches in Notting Hill and Bayswater.

Although mundane items like colanders and clothespins may not sound like ideal souvenirs, this shop (something of a hipster heaven selling both new and vintage items) will make you reconsider. The owners are on a mission to revive retro, functional British household goods, such as enamel kitchenware, genuine feather dusters, bread bins, bottle brushes, and traditional Welsh blankets. There's another branch in Marylebone.

Owner Lina Kanafani has scoured the globe to curate an eclectic mix of conceptual statement furniture, art, ceramics, glassware, textiles, and home accessories. Mint also showcases avant-garde works by an international selection of up-and-coming designers and sells plenty of specially commissioned limited edition and handcrafted one-off pieces, for a price. If you don't want to ship a couch home, consider a miniature flower vase or a hand-painted plate.

This is the brainchild of the late Sir Terence Conran, who has been a major influence on British taste since he opened Habitat in the 1960s, with its then-groundbreaking concept of advanced design at an affordable price. Although he is no longer associated with Habitat, his Conran Shops remain bastions of similarly clean, unfussy modernist design. Housewares from furniture to lighting, stemware, and textiles—both handmade and mass-produced, by famous names and emerging designers—are housed in a building that is a modernist landmark in its own right. Both the flagship store and the branch on Marylebone High Street are bursting with great gift ideas.