From the outside, Blackwell's looks quite small, although not as small as when it first opened in 1879 when only three people could fit in the shop! However, don't let its appearance prevent you from entering. Downstairs, the Norrington Room, with its 160,000 books, is the largest room in Europe devoted entirely to book sales. Blackwell's is almost guaranteed to have the book you're looking for, and if by any chance they haven't, they'll order it for you.
The Covered Market is a delightful place to wander around. It offers protection from the elements, but looks nothing like your average shopping center. The avenues here are crammed with small shops and cafes, and the products on offer are all of good quality. The shops sell everything from clothes and fresh pasta to books and boots: you'll find butcher's shops alongside souvenir shops and greengrocers. After all that shopping there are plenty of small cafes where you can relax and soak up the atmosphere.
Find great bargains at one of the first and best American-style outlet shopping centers, just off the A34 northeast of Oxford. With over sixty shops, including top designer names like Versace, Donna Karan, Nicole Farhi and Christian Lacroix, and high street fashion outlets such as Jigsaw, Hobbs, French Connection and Whistles, as well as book shops, toy shops, home furnishings stores and restaurants, you could spend the entire day here. Stagecoach Oxford runs direct bus services from Oxford's Gloucester Green bus station to both Bicester Village and Bicester Town.
This famous, ubiquitous chain offers attractive, plain, practical basics with a young feel at two locations in Oxford. This, the larger store, incorporates a bright and colorful Gap Kids section upstairs, for impeccably dressed juniors. Sale racks are ever present and, with new stock coming in regularly, it sometimes pays to wait for a favorite item to be shifted. Staff are exceptionally helpful and the changing rooms are unusually smart, with locks on the cubicle doors.
Alice's Shop Oxford is an endearing store selling local souvenirs, located in the St Aldate's neighborhood of the city. The shop is believed to be the place where Alice, daughter of Henry Liddell would come to spend time browsing adorable articles. She used to live at the nearby Christ Church, and is known to have inspired the all-time classic, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. This store, today, sells cute accessories like brooches, pendants, mirrors, bracelets, charms, earrings, etc and attracts numerous little girls. During Christmas, the shop sells an array of ornaments and Alice in Wonderland-themed figurines.
Cornmarket Street, located in Oxford, is the city's prime shopping street and stretches between Carfax Tower and Magdalen Street. The Clarendon Shopping Centre is located here. There are also a number of retail independent stores found here. Cornmarket Street still is a top shopping destination among locals and tourists alike.