London’s place on the shopping map of the world
London has been named the 4th-best shopping city globally in a new ranking of the world’s best retail destinations.
Travel firm Expedia has named the 25 best shopping cities in the world – with New York, Berlin, Los Angeles, London and Kuala Lumpur all making the top 5.
The interactive guide praises London as a shopping Mecca, with its sheer diversity of retail opportunities assuring it a top-5 spot.
“The lure of top designer names mixed with a hectic high street and vibrant vintage scene means every possible taste is catered for,” Expedia say.
“Whatever your budget, you’ll find an area of London that delivers sartorial style in droves.”
For The World’s 25 Best Shopping Cities, Expedia developed its ranking on 3 factors:
- Value for money
- Visitor numbers
- City friendliness
A shopping ‘bucket’ – made up of the cost of a pair of Nike shoes, a pair of Levi’s jeans and a trip on public transport – was used to determine value for money. For visitor numbers, annual tourist numbers for each city were sourced and for friendliness a rating attributed to each country the cities are in was used.
London scored 21/30 – 2/10 for value for money, 9/10 for friendliness and 10/10 for visitor numbers.
The shopping guide features insight from fashion bloggers sharing their top tips as well as the most popular places to shop and some hidden gems.
For London, the guide’s highlights include Shoreditch – a “culturally and artistically rich” shopping area – Absolute Vintage on Banbury Street, Hackney’s Broadway Market and the “fantastic” boot-seller on Portobello Road.
Thinking of heading to London for a shopping trip? There are hotels and hostels based near many of the popular shoppers’ hotspots. Luggage storage at St Pancras can be a great option for those who want to arrive in the city and start shopping early before they’re able to check in.
Other well-known shopping destinations appear on the list too – Milan at number 15, Paris at number 9 and Istanbul at number 8.
