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Coco de Mer
A very classy, almost French take on silky lingerie and ticklers, spankers etc.
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Coco Ribbon
Coco Ribbon is so girly, even Barbie might feel a tad butch when walking into this award-winning boutique. There are chiffon dresses and faux-fur gilets, Calypso Rose's customisable Clippy Kit handbags, light-hearted words of wisdom for newlyweds or new parents and, for your broken-hearted gal pals, 'boyfriend replacement' kits (sugar pills and chocolate, of course).
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Coffee, Cake & Kink
Enjoy coffee and cake seated among an interesting display of sex implements.
***NB: This shop is currently closed as they search out new premises. See website for details and updates. ***
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Compendia
Compendia's owners are madly enthusiastic about games - board or any other kind - and they'll look for the rarest of things if you ask them to. The shop is brilliant for gifts you can enjoy with your mates - backgammon, chess, Scrabble, solitaire and rarities like Mexican Train Domino.
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Covent Garden Piazza
Overflowing with gimmicky shops, crowds, jugglers, mime artists and other performers.
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Daisy & Tom
This superb children's department store has a marionette show, carousel rides, rocking horses, play areas, traditional and modern toys, and a big book room where kids can loll about while flicking through the latest Harry Potter. Upstairs there are fashion labels fit for (your) little princes and princesses.
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Daunt Books
An original Edwardian bookshop, with oak panels and gorgeous skylights, Daunt is one of London's loveliest travel bookstores. It has two floors and the ground level is stacked with fiction and non-fiction titles; the lower ground is where to head if you're travel focused.
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Diverse
One of London's coolest streetwear boutiques for men has jeans, trains shirts and tees from Italy and New York arranged around fairly minimalist interior. Jeans labels include Blue Blood, Indigo Form, Rogan and Paper Denim.
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Dover Street Market
Name-checked by every fashionista worth their Jimmy Choos, this small, six-floor arcade showcases clothes and accessories by Comme des Garçons and tenants. It's modishly spartan, with concrete floors, corrugated-iron market-style 'stalls' and some interesting art dotted around, but prices are of the order of around £80 for a T-shirt and £300 for a cushion.
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DR Harris
Operating as chemist and perfumer since 1790, come here for your moustache wax and pick up a bottle of DR Harris Crystal Eye Drops to combat the red eyes after a late night and combine it with Dr Harris' own hangover cure: a bitter herbal concoction called DR Harris Pick-Me-Up.
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Duffer of St George
The first to bring Evisu jeans to London and a good place for Oeuf T-shirts, Duffer remains the meister of London menswear despite growing competition. 'Shield' formal wear like shirts and classic Italian handmade suits, as well as more urban sweats, bags and accessories are all on sale.
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Emporium
Each piece is individual at this lovely vintage shop (unisex), where glass cabinets are adorned with paste jewellery, old perfume bottles (under the Shell advertising lamp) and straw caps, and gorgeous jackets and blazers snuggle on the coat hangers.
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Fabrications
Fabrications is the best-known and most eye-catching store along Broadway Market. The shop's owner, Barley Massey, does a lot for the recycling cause, making clothes and soft furnishings from unexpected material, from bicycle tyre tubes to used ribbon. Bespoke tailoring is also available.
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Floral St
This tucked-way street boasts a few cool fashion shops, like Paul Smith and Ted Baker.
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Fopp
You don't need to spend a fortune at CD-cum-DVD-cum-bookshop Fopp. In fact, its prices are quite surprisingly reasonable alongside Virgin Megastores and HMV. This flagship store has an extensive range, plus signings and performances by stars. Other London branches can be found at Westbourne Grove and Shaftesbury Avenue.
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Forbidden Planet Megastore
A massive trove of comics, sci-fi, horror and fantasy literature, this is an absolute dream for anyone into Manga comics or off-beat genre titles.
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Fortnum & Mason
London's oldest department store celebrated its 300th birthday in 2007 by not yielding to modern times (its staff are still dressed in old-fashioned tail-coats) and keeping its glam food hall supplied by the famed food hampers, cut marmalade, speciality teas and so on. Downstairs is an elegant wine bar designed by the man behind the Wolseley. Clothes, gifts and perfumes occupy the other six floors.
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Foyles
London's best and most legendary bookshop, where you can bet on finding even the most obscure of titles. Music store and lovely café at Ray's Jazz Shop are on the 1st floor.
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Garrard
Creative director Jade Jagger helped turn Britain's old-fashioned crown jeweller into somewhere funky enough for Missy Elliot to advertise its bling. Jewel-encrusted clothing and gifts are sold upstairs.
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Gay's The Word
London's excellent and much-loved gay and lesbian bookshop is on a quiet Bloomsbury street where it gets relatively little walk-by custom. So much so that in 2007 it announced it was to close imminently unless it could raise emergency funds to pay for rising rents and to offset losses created by the internet. At the time of writing its 'sponsor a shelf' campaign had been successful and imminent closure ruled out, but this could change. There's a great range of gay and lesbian books and magazines as well as a real community spirit here - let's hope it survives.
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Gosh!
Draw up here for graphic novels, manga, newspaper-strip collections and children's books like Tin Tin and Asterix. It's also perfect for finding presents for children and teenagers.
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Grant & Cutler
This is London's best-stocked foreign-language bookshop, running the gamut from Arabic to Zulu. However, sometimes staff aren't as knowledgeable as you'd hope in recommending specific books.
