GCI Places

Curated collection · Architecture & design

Shopping as Architecture

Retail buildings that are listed for what they are rather than what they sell, from Regency arcade to Modernist shopfront.

Assembled and reviewed by Global City Intelligence on 2026-09-07. The order below is a suggested route, not a ranking.

The route

  1. Burlington Arcade

    Westminster

    The 1819 arcade that started the type.

  2. Royal Arcade

    Westminster

    An 1879 answer to it, with a glazed barrel roof.

    Photograph of Royal Arcade in London
    Royal Arcade, London. Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK · CC-BY-2.0

  3. Simpsons of Piccadilly

    Westminster

    A 1936 Emberton frontage engineered to kill reflections.

    Photograph of Simpsons of Piccadilly in London
    Simpsons, 203-206, Piccadilly W1 (photographed circa 1978). gillfoto · CC-BY-SA-4.0

  4. James Smith & Sons

    Bloomsbury

    An 1857 shopfront still selling the umbrellas it was built for.

  5. Selfridges

    Westminster

    The 1909 store that brought the open sales floor to Oxford Street.

    Photograph of Selfridges in London
    A view of Selfridges department store on Oxford Street in London. The image was taken with an Olympus Camedia D-230. Russ London -- (Russ London). · CC-BY-SA-2.5

5 of 5 places shown on the map. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.