Oxford Street, Fitzrovia, London

Oxford Street is mayhem at weekends – avoid!! BUT Selfridges is there and that’s BETTER than Harrods. The Adidas store is pretty good and there’s a John Lewis. Regent Street is classy (Hugo Boss vs. Oxford Street’s Primark culture), Carnaby Street is funky, Marylebone village – cool and trendy.

Why would you punish yourself? An endless line of banal chain shops which are available in every homogenised high street throughout Britain and Europe. The shelves are stacked with clothes made by children in faraway sweat shops. All of this comes with the added bonus of long queues and disinterested staff.
Do watch for the robotic nature of the pedestrians, as they turn their heads to look at each every shop window, quite disturbing.
Should you have something specific you are aiming for, you will be trudging behind thousands of directionless tourists. Go anywhere else.

If you want good advice from a salesperson (e.g., a M&S personal shopper or a John Lewis expert), you’re most likely to get it here (having said that, I wouldn’t exclude the organizations’ other branches from having adequate expertise). Otherwise, the disadvantages probably outweigh the advantages.

Do yourself a favour. Don't go here. While Oxford Street has so many shops and is great for that, it's just too frustrating to walk around unless you enjoy mayhem and/or walking really really slowly. Maybe this is because I rarely go here for shopping but because I go to uni close to Oxford Street, but it's just too much for me. If you must visit, go relatively early (10am-12pm) on the weekdays, and don't even think about going on the weekends, unless, like I said, you actually like ripping your hair out.

Even the Westfield generally isn't as bad as Oxford Street, and has pretty much all of the same shops.

Though I do have to say, it looks mighty pretty on winter nights when they've put all the Christmas lights up.

If you have got money in your pocket or your credit cards are not maxed out then this is the place to go for designer goods.

i made the mistake of leaving my xmas shopping until the last minute and made the even bigger mistake of going to Oxford st!!! saying that when i finaly made it into John Lewis i was plesantly supprised at how quickly and efficiantly i was served and out the door!!!

Well what I can say about oxford street London it is a mile of shops.
One thing I must say if you want a mobile phone you will be spoilt with over 20 mobile phone shops!!
One thing I have noticed the top shops do look quite boring there window displays well look quite drab so come on oxford street make it look more magical. Also it’s now getting closer to Christmas and some of the big stores have their decorations out now. One thing if anybody has been to New York their shops stores are magically transformed and the Christmas decorations and themes are well breath taking. So come on UK shops it’s about time we did the same.

If there is one street in London I truly despise, Oxford Street is the one. What’s particularly ridiculous is that it’s often recommended as a must visit street for a first time traveler to London. By all means it is not.

Apart from a few good department stores like Selfridges, Debenhams and John Lewis toward the western end near Hyde Park, there isn’t much else worth suffering for. As the street progresses eastwards, there is a long stretch of bland fast food eateries, shops selling cheap souvenirs and low quality foreign made clothes, and the typical high street stores like Gap, Topshop and HMV, which are found in multiple other locations over London. There is absolutely nothing traditionally English about it.

And the overcrowding is dreadful regardless of what time of the day or day of the week you go. The crowds are crawling at what seems to be the slowest pace imaginable. At times you may feel like you happen to be engulfed by an exceptionally large scale political rally.

As some already suggested, indeed it’s much better to navigate through the parallel streets and neighborhoods if you have to walk in that area. It is generally fine to walk down a small western segment of Oxford Street from Hyde Park to Selfridges, but from there turn southwards toward Mayfair to shortcut to Bond Street, Regent Street or Piccadilly, which are much more pleasant for either shopping or sightseeing in London.

i know it’s allways busy in oxford
street
i done some work there at topshop

well it was actually below topshop

if you go to the rear of oxford
street. there is an entrance gate
at the marble arch end

you can walk below oxford street
all the way to picadilly circus
and beyond

if you know the secret entrance
that is

What can you say about the best sshopping street in the WORLD, who do you thank? where can you see everything from the best hotels to designer shops. BRAP!!!!!!!!!

Here’s the deal. Do not go to the street touted as THE shopping street in the United Kingdom and expect it to be a nice leisurely stroll around a quiet area. That is just silly.
It is crazy and busy and full of every kind of shopping bag trotting along beside focused shoppers. Hard core Londoners know when to shop (if at all) and every other person is likely to be a tourist of some kind.
Here’s my survival tips: have time to spare, leave your temper at home, prepare to queue and be smart enough to have an exit plan outside of peak hour!

Hell on Earth. There’s NOTHING fun about Oxford Street unless it’s first thing in the morning (and let’s be honest, who goes shopping at 9am?)

It’s horrible. TOO MANY PEOPLE ALL THE TIME!

Yes, the shops are brilliant. But the hassle that you have to go through to get anywhere? And then the annoying business of the shops when you’re there? Horrid horrid horrid.

The only redeeming thing? The Topshop has fabuous concessions - and for some reason that’s always the quitest part of the shop.

Go to Covent Garden. Sure, you’ll have less choice in high street shops, but your blood pressure will thank you for it.

This is the prime place for any shopping you want to do in London. You can spend a day out all on one street. There is a huge number of cloth shops and places to eat everywhere! The Selfridges store is really amazing, it’s huge you can find all kind of clothing for everyone. There are a lot of designers at the store, giving you a huge variety.

What a great strip… Elbows out and stick to the window side!

If there is a hell I think it might be something like this. Hundreds of tortured souls twisting around one another as part of some insane shopping ritual. A few interlopers who wish merely to cross the river of flesh and concrete stand confused as if hoping that some cursed ferryman will arrive to carry them safely to the other side. A few damned spirits carry sandwich boards promising a world beyond the confines of the heinous thoroughfare.

I avoid this street like the plague (which was particularly difficult when I lived nearby). I cannot think of one redeeming feature of this stretch of road, I’m sorry. Too many people crushing in and around the same old shops that are cheaper elsewhere.

You cannot beat Oxford street for a bit of retail therapy.

Some say it’s too crowded - which it is;
Some say it’s not undercover - which it’s not;
And some just say they can’t be bothered to go there - but trust me, if you are in London, especially for a short space of time, you have to go to Oxford street, it’s centrally located for all the other great places to shop; it combines the high street stores with more expensive brand names and it just has a good atmosphere, especially at christmas.

So, it’s not a place I’d go every week but it’s still the place to go!

I’ve gone off Oxford Street a lot recently and think it may suffer a bit now Westfield has opened. One of the main problems is that it has several branches of the same shop - I can think of three branches of Boots, two Marks and Spencers’, two Dorothy Perkins, two branches of Gap and three Next shops. It makes shopping down Oxford Street a bit dull. Of course, there are some super shops like the enormous Topshop and Urbans Outfitters. The east end of Oxford Street is also looking more and more like some dodgy east end street with fake perfume shops opening for a day and so on.

Oxford Circus is one of the best streets for shopping and has a wide range of stores: large Topshop, H&M Primark as well as Borders, Waterstones, American Apparel and much more. There are also plenty of places to stop and get a coffee or to eat. It is easy to get to by tube - with Oxford Circus tube at one end and Tottenham Court Road at the other.

The only problem with Oxford Street is the crowds: it’s very rarely not busy and this can be frustrating.

Absolutely brilliant, best place to shop if you want your normal shops with massive variety, as topshop, primark etc are much bigger that any other I have ever been to.

Very easy to get to, several tube stations along Oxford street, it is also near to hyde park which is nice for a bit of a rest afterwards.

They have all the department stores here - debenhams, selfridges, john lewis. You could literally spend a couple of days around this area if you love shopping. I dont that much so I just went for a couple of hours. It gets very busy and does get annoying after a while. Doubt this would bother an experienced london shopper though.

Oxford street or as I like to call it ‘London’s own local high street’. Beware this place can become a bit too much on the weekend with crowds of people packing out the pavements crowd rage can soon kick in. But if you time it right you can pretty much find anything you’d ever want or need on this one street.

Its best to get off at Tottenham court road station which is the official start of Oxford street and there you can wander all the way up to Marble arch which is the end. The street has all the big names Debenhams, House of Fraser, Selfridges (Primark!) and hidden in between these are the discount stores where if you have the time you can often pick up a bargain.