News, comment and features about shops and shopping
July 2024
Fears grow over rise of ‘under the radar’ all-night slot machine halls in UK
Campaigners raise concern over risk of problem gambling as more than 300 24-hour sites spring up
June 2024
Oat cuisine: celebrating the oatcake sellers of Staffordshire – in pictures
The diabolical rise of ‘dine and dash’: ‘It feels like a betrayal’
May 2024
‘This small, cheap item transformed my life’: 26 surprisingly useful gadgets you didn’t know you needed
From milk frothers to fizz stoppers, bicycle pumps to melon ballers, gizmos that make life that little bit easier – as chosen by readers
April 2024
Littler India: why Britain’s south Asian garment stores are struggling
Right up your street: favourite local shops in the UK, chosen by chefs and food writers
Welcome to April’s Observer Food Monthly
Inflation in UK shops drops to lowest level in two years
March 2024
Microminis, Twiggy and flamingos: the ‘fabulous’ story of Biba
Exhibition in London captures the legendary emporium’s years at the height of fashion from 1964 to 1975
The closure of my childhood Sainsbury’s has tipped me over the edge
Emma Beddington
It might seem weird to be attached to an orange grocery behemoth – but this is about emotional geography, family history and the loss of all our darlings, writes Emma Beddington
‘My mum was horrified’: how Biba’s store changed my teenage years
Barbara Hulanicki brought chic clothes to the masses in the 60s. Now those golden Georgy Girl years are to be celebrated in a new exhibition
February 2024
I would mourn The Body Shop – it was a gateway to politics for animal-obsessed teenagers like me
Zoe Williams
The struggling high-street chain combined the scent of self-care with social justice, creating a generation of dewberry-smelling activists and changing the cosmetics industry for ever, writes Zoe Williams
South Korean convenience stores preserved in ink – in pictures
Artist Lee Me Kyeoung’s drawings of small shops document a community that is slowly vanishing
A cultural manifesto to breathe new life into our dying high streets
Letter: Flexible auditoriums and art displays from museums could help to revive urban community spaces, says Peter Higgins
January 2024
Working late: London’s shopfronts in winter – in pictures
Pass notes
Tight and proud: how counting the pennies was rebranded as ‘loud budgeting’
Reclaim your brain
Nothing I’ve bought on Instagram has ever brought me joy
How to cut your spending: from cashback and loyalty card perks to supermarket deals
December 2023
On my radar
On my radar: Posy Simmonds’s cultural highlights
UK retailers face weak demand and a barrage of increased costs
