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Magma
Books, magazines and more on cool, cutting-edge design. There's a smaller branch in Covent Garden (tel: 7240 8498; 8 Earlham St) which now includes a small design sale shop that is the perfect place for present shopping.
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Marylebone High Street
Marylebone high St is now one of London's most interesting retail strips. So when coming to visit the following small selection of stores, leave plenty of time to investigate others along that road, including the Conran Shop (No 55), Calmia (No 52), Cath Kidston (No 51) and Shoon (No 94).
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Matthew Williamson
Williamson is couturier to stars such as Sienna Miller, Keira Knightley, Kate Hudson and Joely Richardson; and even if you can't afford the around £800 dresses his 'boho deluxe' style is worth appreciating up close.
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Minamoto Kitchoan
Walking into this Japanese sweet shop is a mind-blowing experience. Wagashi - Japanese sweets - are made out of all sorts of beans and rice and shaped into glazed red cherries, green-bean bunches or spiky kidney bean rolls. Order a couple, sit down and enjoy with a complimentary green tea, or buy a box for a sure-hit souvenir.
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Molton Brown
A fabulously fragrant British natural beauty range, Molton Brown is the choice for boutique hotel and posh restaurant bathrooms. Its skin-care products offer plenty of pampering for men and women. In this store you can also have a facial, and buy make-up or even home accessories. There are branches across the city.
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Monmouth Coffee Company
A little bit more about buying and tasting ground coffee beans than its equivalent in Borough, this nevertheless has a little space where you can sup a delicious brew.
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Monmouth St
Lots of floaty women's fashion and accessories are found in fun, cool boutiques, including Orla Kiely and Koh Samui.
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Mulberry
Is there a woman in the world who doesn't covet a Mulberry bag? They are voluptuous, soft and a massive style statement. The brand followed in the footsteps of its other British design brethren, Burberry and Pringle, and modernised itself in recent years.
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Murder One
Crime fiction from the likes of Harlan Coben, Carl Hiaasen, Elmore Leonard and Alexander McCall Smith join true crime, Sherlock Holmes and romances (including Mills & Boons), with a (freaky) Sherlock mannequin greeting you from the shop window.
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Neal St
Street fashion, including Urban Outfitters and Diesels. Birkenstock, the Natural Shoe Store and even a Rough Trade record outlet (in the basement of No 16) are also here. Thomas Neal Centre is packed with urban/skate/surf fashions.
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Neal's Yard Dairy
A fabulous, smelly cheese house that would fit in rural England, this place is proof that the British can do just as well as the French when it comes to big rolls of ripe cheese. There are more than 70 varieties that the shopkeepers will let you taste, including independent farmhouse brands. Condiments, pickles, jams and chutneys are also available.
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No-One
Sitting inside the Old Shoreditch Station bar, No-one stocks Eley Kishimoto, Peter Jensen and new labels for women and men. It's all ultra-hip, with fashion magazines, quirky accessories and shoes.
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Oxford St
London's sclerotic shopping artery should be avoided as much as possible, although it does house HMV and the Virgin Megastore (the latter on the corner with Tottenham Court Rd).
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Ozwald Boateng
His flamboyance makes Boateng more a couturier than a tailor, with striking colours and fabrics in his £3000 bespoke suits.
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Past Caring
Stuffed full of secondhand retro bric-a-brac from ashtrays to curtain material, this shop is so removed from the modern world that it doesn't even have a phone number.
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Paul & Joe
Paul & Joe have such scrumptious clothes that it may be difficult to wrist-slap yourself and not spend hundreds of pounds on the frocks and cry until your next pay cheque (while looking fabulous, of course). The store itself is sexy and stylish and it feels like you've stumbled into someone's boudoir, with vintage dressing tables and glass cabinets. Their menswear is also sleek and stylish, so your beau won't feel bored.
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Paul Smith
Paul Smith represents the best of British classic with innovative twists in both his mens- and womenswear. For bargains, try the sale shop.
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Paul Smith Sale Shop
The leather bags - with personalised names like Tyler and Roxanne - are the biggest hit at this revamped Brit brand. Both men's and women's clothes are fairly restrained.
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Peter Jones
The slightly more upmarket brother of John Lewis, Peter Jones' makeover has made it competetive with Selfridges and Harvey Nicks. Upmarket china, furnishings and gifts are its forte, though it stocks accessories and cosmetics too. There's a top-floor cafe.
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Portobello Road Market
Like Camden, Portobello Market is several rolled into one, stretching virtually from Notting Hill Gate tube to the heart of Ladbroke Grove, and it's best approached by a wander from one end to the other. From Notting Hill Gate, you begin by passing antiques, homewares and bric-a-brac stores and stalls, moving on through food to clothing - young designer and secondhand. The place is established enough to mean you're not going to find any super bargains here. Saturday is the main day.
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Poste
Sitting on one of London's most fashionable streets, this very cool shop is aimed at boys who like good shoes, and stocks everything from vintage street labels to razor-sharp Italian imports.
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Poste Mistress
It's always worth buying something at this boudoir-like shoe store just to get your mitts on one of its delicately floral pale-pink bags. But stuffed with pastel wellies, plastic Crocs or shoes from Emma Hope, Vivienne Westwood, Miu Miu or Eley Kishimoto, that bag feels even more like Christmas.
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Primark
Turning out a much-wanted spotted summer dress and cheap cashmere cardigans has earned this discount clothes chain the nickname 'Primani'. Check the website for other branches.
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Pringle
Fabulously classy and somehow sexy at the same time (we're talking golfers' V-necks and knitted cardies), this trad-Brit brand turned slightly hip when London rekindled its passion for knitwear. An item will set you back at least around £150 , however.
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Prowler
Prowler's flagship Soho store is a gay shopping mecca selling books, magazines, clothes and 'lifestyle accessories'. There's also a discreet 'adult' section selling the usual array of DVDs and magazines, but the overall feel of the shop is one of a respectable gay department store.
