It has to be said that Derby is not one of the UK’s top shopping spots. While people will travel to visit malls like The Bull Ring in Birmingham or Meadowhall in Sheffield, Derby has no such appeal to attract shoppers to the city. Therefore, Derby is very much a “local” shopping center for the residents of Derby and the area around it. However, if you are visiting Derby, you may be interested in knowing the following about where to shop in the city.

Derby’s main shopping center is the Eagle Center on Albion Street. The center currently has more than 100 stores, including High Street names like BHS, Boots, WH Smith, and Woolworths. There are many other fashion and accessories stores, as well as several cafes where you can have a coffee or have lunch. The center is open from Monday to Saturday from 09:00 to 17:30 and on Sundays from 10:30 to 16:30. The center is about a kilometer from the train station and has several public transport bus stops around it. There is a car park in the basement of the center and there are two other car parks within walking distance; one on Cock Pitt Island and one on Bradshaw Way. A £ 340 million extension and redevelopment of the center is expected to be completed in October 2007. This will expand the number and types of retailers to include: Next, Debenham’s, and Marks and Spencer. A “food court” will also be built and access to the center will be improved. By spring 2008, a twelve-screen cinema will have been added to the complex. The Derby Store mobility plan is based on the Eagle Center basement parking lot.

There are three shopping parks in Derby. The Wyvern Retail Park is more easily accessible from the A52, on the east side of the city, using the junction created for Pride Park. Family store names you’ll find here include: Homebase, Currys, and Halfords. Two miles north of the city is the Meteor Retail Park, off the A61, which again has mostly DIY and home furnishings stores along with a few “fast food” outlets. Off Bradshaw Way, in the center of the city, is the small Bradshaw Retail Park, which is the location of stores such as Matalan and Office World. Interestingly, the company behind the Wyvern and Meteor retail parks, Land Securities, claims to have catchment areas for these two commercial parks of up to 1.4 million people, all living within 30 minutes of them. They claim that this includes the city of Nottingham. It is highly doubtful that anyone can leave Nottingham in 30 minutes, much less make it to the Derby; such is the congestion on many of Nottingham’s roads.

For a small town, Derby has maintained its historic rights and ties to maintain markets. There are five markets held in Derby. The largest of these is the Eagle Center Market, a permanent market in the Eagle Center, which has more than 300 stalls offering all the products you could want in a market. On Tenant Street is the Victorian Market Hall specializing in fish and poultry. Market Hall and Eagle Center are open Monday through Saturday. On Osmaston Road is the Allenton Market, a traditional open-air market, whose 90 stalls operate only on Fridays and Saturdays. There are also exclusively commercial cattle markets and wholesalers in the city. Additionally, Market Place hosts regular farmers markets once a month.

Despite the inevitable move towards indoor shopping centers, Derby residents still consider the historic narrow Saddlers Gate to be one of the city’s favorite shopping areas. Now fully pedestrianized, it acts as a link between Market Place and The Strand and has smaller, more familiar independent shops, as well as some more avant-garde ones. There are also restaurants and bars that also make it popular as a night spot. At its west end is the Strand Arcade, which retains its splendid Victorian façade and at the east end is Market Place, a popular meeting place for young and old. Derby’s main shops are located along St Peters Street, which runs alongside the Eagle Shopping Center and heads towards Market Place and Victoria Street, which heads east of St Peters Street. This is currently the location of the city’s main Marks and Spencer, Dagenham’s and Next stores.

If you are interested in buying a Royal Crown Derby bargain, you should consider visiting the factory store next to the visitor center on the same site as the factory on Osmaston Road. The store sells the full range of the current Royal Crown Derby catalog and occasionally has ‘seconds’ available at discounted prices. Outside of town, Denby Pottery also has a factory outlet that, along with the current range of products, sells discontinued and ‘second-hand’ items for at least 25% less than the advertised price.