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London is the shopping capital of the U.K., you have Harrods, Regent Street, Saville Row for men's tailor made suits and Mayfair.

Markets are a cheap way of shopping, lots of towns have them two or three times a week, you can buy all sorts at a market, from fruit and veg, to plants, bedding, towels, rugs, sweets, even batteries, tools and toys. Nottingham has a lace market, where you can buy lots of hand made fancy lace items. There are also farmers markets, where you can buy fresh produce and meat; these are mainly run as an auction. A lot of markets have good quality merchandise and are often cheaper than shops and can last a long time.

A lot of department stores are putting a few High Streets out of business, as they have all the shops you need under one roof, and with ample free parking, one example is the Metro Centre in Newcastle.

The town I live in is very oldie worldly, we have still got an old fashioned sweet shop, a butcher's that dates back to 1805, we only have two supermarkets one in town and one on the outskirts. It relies on the tourist trade in the summer months. We have a fishmonger that's only open in the summer; in the winter months it's a fruit and veg shop. We have to go out of town if we want D.I.Y. supplies, but other than that we have nearly everything we need. It's still a very traditional old town centre with cobblestones and narrow roads.

High street shopping is definitely being taken over by the Internet and mail order, as you can sit in the comfort of your own home, and browse at your leisure. It seems to be the little outlets that are suffering rather than the better-known stores. A lot of the better-known stores have Internet shopping and mail order catalogues, so they are pretty well covered.

You can even buy your groceries online as well and get them delivered to your door, which saves the hassle of queuing, there is a delivery charge for this.

Whichever way you look at it shopping is a necessity and the longer we can keep the High Streets going by supporting the smaller shops, the better it will be, not only for the shops themselves, but also for the community, as there will still be employment.