Shopping and Going Home

The short version

Britain still makes wool, tweed, cashmere, linen, blankets, shoes, tea, biscuits, whisky and gin that cost far more at home or are hard to find there, and London's department stores and markets are sights in their own right. Secondhand shopping is a national hobby, from charity shops to antiques fairs and whole towns of bookshops.

The money side surprises Americans. The price on the tag already includes 20% sales tax, and visitors to Great Britain can no longer claim it back. On the way home, US customs gives you $800 of duty-free purchases per person and confiscates anything containing meat, haggis included. For cards, cash and tipping in general, see Money and costs; for what to eat while you are here, see British food.

Prices, VAT and the missing tax refund

The UK's sales tax is Value Added Tax (VAT), charged at a standard 20% and always included in the displayed price. A sweater tagged £100 costs £100 (about $133) at the register, of which £16.67 is VAT. Books, most everyday food from shops, and children's clothes and shoes carry no VAT at all, which makes British bookshops and children's clothing better value than they look.

No VAT refund in Great Britain

Until the end of 2020, overseas visitors could fill in a form in the shop, have it stamped at the airport and get the VAT back. That scheme ended in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) on January 1, 2021. There is now no way for a visitor to reclaim VAT on goods carried home from a shop in Great Britain, whatever you spend. Ignore old blog posts and the occasional shop assistant who mentions "tax-free shopping".

The change is controversial. In September 2022 the government announced that VAT-free shopping would return, then dropped the plan weeks later. London's mayor, big retailers and airports keep pressing for a new scheme, arguing that big spenders now shop in Paris and Milan instead, but as of October 2026 it has not come back. Airport shops don't fill the gap: since 2021 only alcohol and tobacco are sold there free of UK duty, and everything else carries VAT.

The two exceptions

• Have the shop ship it. When a retailer sends goods straight to an address outside the UK, it can sell them without VAT. Many department stores, jewelers, kiltmakers and antiques dealers will do this; ask before you pay, and see Shipping home for the US side.
• Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland still follows EU VAT rules for goods, so it kept the refund scheme. If you live outside the UK and the EU, a participating shop gives you a VAT 407(NI) form; you take the goods out of Northern Ireland and the EU within three months and show them, with the form, to customs as you leave. There is no refund if you travel on to Great Britain, unless you are only changing planes there with the goods in checked luggage. Refund companies often keep a fee. The rules are on GOV.UK's tax-free shopping page.

What to buy

The best souvenirs are things Britain still makes well, plus everyday treats you can't get at home.

What to skip: American and global brands such as Levi's, Nike and Apple usually cost the same or more here, and the cheap "tartan" scarves on Edinburgh's Royal Mile are often imported acrylic; check the label for wool woven in Scotland.

London's department stores

Most central London department stores open from about 10am to 8 or 9pm Monday to Saturday and noon to 6pm on Sunday, with browsing from about 11:30am. Check holiday hours on each store's website. For the neighborhoods, see London.

Markets

London's markets are free to browse and good for vintage, antiques, crafts and street food. Go early, carry a contactless card plus a little cash, and keep your phone and bag zipped in the crowds (see Safety). Hours vary by season; check each market's website.

Beyond London

• Edinburgh: Stockbridge Market on Sundays; kiltmakers, whisky specialists and boutiques on Victoria Street and in the West End (see Edinburgh).
• Glasgow: Buchanan Street for mainstream shopping and the Barras weekend market (see Glasgow).
• Belfast: St George's Market, a Victorian hall, Friday to Sunday.
• Wales: Swansea Market, the largest indoor market in Wales, for Welsh cakes and laverbread.
• England: Leeds Kirkgate Market, one of Europe's largest covered markets, and the antiques towns of the Cotswolds: Tetbury, Stow-on-the-Wold and Burford (see Oxford and the Cotswolds).

Books, charity shops and antiques

Bookshops and book towns

Books carry no VAT and the shops are beautiful. In London, try Daunt Books on Marylebone High Street, with a galleried travel room arranged by country; Hatchards on Piccadilly, London's oldest bookshop; and Foyles on Charing Cross Road. Hay-on-Wye on the Wales–England border has dozens of secondhand bookshops, Wigtown is Scotland's National Book Town, and Barter Books fills an old railway station in Alnwick, Northumberland.

Charity shops

Charity shops (Oxfam, the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK and others) are Britain's thrift stores, on nearly every high street. They cost more than US thrift stores, but in wealthy areas such as Chelsea, Marylebone, Hampstead, Edinburgh's Stockbridge and Bath you can find designer clothes, china and first editions.

Antiques

Beyond the London markets above, big fairs at showgrounds such as Newark and Ardingly draw dealers from across Europe several times a year; check their websites for dates.

• Antiques at least 100 years old enter the US duty-free. Get a receipt that describes the item and states its age.
• Avoid ivory, tortoiseshell and protected species. The UK restricts ivory sales and the US bans most ivory imports, antique or not.
• Ship big pieces through the dealer. Dealers use specialist shippers, and goods sent abroad directly can be sold without VAT.
• Haggle politely at markets and fairs ("what's your best price?"); less so in shops.

Outlet villages

Outlets are where Americans find British labels for less, typically from about a third off, though stock is often last season's.

Clothes and shoe sizes

Women's clothing and all shoes are sized differently; men's clothing uses the same inch measurements as the US. Brands vary, so try things on, and in shoe shops ask to be measured: British shoe shops often fit by width too.

Rules of thumb: add four to a US dress size; subtract two from a US women's shoe size and one from a men's (some brands say half). Bra bands match, but cup sizes diverge after D (British brands go DD, E, F, FF), so get measured. A 40 regular jacket and a 15½-inch collar are the same in London and Chicago. Children's clothes are sized by age ("5–6 years") and carry no VAT.

Opening hours, Sunday trading and paying

Chains generally open around 9am and close between 5:30 and 8pm, later in central London. Small-town independents often shut at 5pm; convenience stores stay open late every day.

"Large" means a sales floor over 280 square meters (about 3,000 square feet); smaller shops can open any hours. Most shops open on bank holiday Mondays. The big sales start on Boxing Day (December 26), and Black Friday has caught on too.

Paying

Tap-to-pay is normal for everything from a coffee to a coat. Cards usually tap up to £100 (your bank sets the limit); above that you insert the card and enter a PIN, while phone wallets generally work for larger sums. Visa and Mastercard are taken almost everywhere; American Express less often at small shops and stalls.

• Use a card with no foreign transaction fee. A 3% fee on £1,000 of shopping is about $40 wasted.
• Always pay in pounds. If a card machine offers to charge you in dollars, decline; the rate is worse than your bank's.
• Know your PIN for larger purchases and unattended machines.
• Carry about £20–60 (about $27–80) in cash for the odd cash-only stall or village craft shop (see Money).
• Bring a tote. Shops must charge for carrier bags: at least 10p in England, with set charges in the rest of the UK too.
• Keep receipts for returns and US customs. Faulty goods must be refunded by law; change-of-mind returns are up to the store, though most chains allow about a month.

Shipping home and packing

Shipping suits heavy, bulky or fragile purchases and is the one legal way to avoid VAT in Great Britain. US rules have tightened, though. Since August 29, 2025, low-value parcels no longer enter the US duty-free, and since July 24, 2026, parcels from the UK pay normal US duty plus the additional 10% tariff on most UK goods (see tariffs below). Shipped goods also fall outside your $800 allowance, which covers only what you carry.

• Let the shop ship it. Ask whether US duty is paid up front ("delivered duty paid"); if not, the carrier will ask the recipient for duty and a handling fee before delivery.
• Post it yourself. Post Office branches send parcels by Royal Mail or Parcelforce; you describe the contents and value for customs, usually online first. Couriers are quicker and pricier.
• Gifts. A genuine gift worth $100 or less, sent from one person to another, has so far stayed duty-free. Mark it as a gift and value it honestly.
• Furniture and antiques. Get a written quote from a specialist shipper covering packing, insurance and US customs clearance.

Packing your purchases

• Liquids go in checked bags. UK airport security limits liquids in hand luggage, and jam, marmalade, chutney, honey, Marmite, soft cheese and whisky all count. Wrap bottles in clothes inside sealed plastic bags.
• Airport duty-free bottles come in sealed security bags; keep them sealed until your final flight, with the receipt.
• Check your bag allowance. Basic economy fares may include no checked bag; extra bags are usually cheaper bought online in advance.

Coming home: US customs and duty

You must declare everything you bought or were given abroad, including gifts, duty-free shop purchases and things you are wearing. Most of it will not cost you anything, but it all has to be listed.

A household traveling together can pool its exemptions on one declaration, children included. Example: you bought £1,200 (about $1,600) of cashmere and gifts. Traveling alone, $800 is duty-free and the other $800 costs 3%, or $24; as a couple, you owe nothing. Declare what you actually paid, VAT included, and keep the receipts handy.

A standard UK bottle of whisky or gin is 70 cl (700 ml), so one bottle fits in your 1-liter allowance and two take you over. Extra bottles for personal use are legal; you pay duty and federal excise tax, usually a few dollars a bottle, and some states set their own limits.

The 2025–2026 tariff changes

US tariffs have changed several times since early 2025, and British goods are caught up in that. From April 2025 most UK goods paid an extra 10% under emergency-powers orders. The Supreme Court struck those down on February 20, 2026, and a temporary 10% surcharge under a different law ran from February 24 until it expired on July 24, 2026. Since July 24, 2026, most UK goods carry an additional 10% tariff under Section 301 of the Trade Act, with no set end date.

For travelers the basics have held: the $800 exemption and the 3% flat rate on the next $1,000 remain in place in 2026, and the Section 301 tariff exempts accompanied personal baggage and informational materials such as books and artworks. How extra tariffs apply to purchases well beyond your allowance is up to CBP, and the rules may change again. Before buying something expensive, such as a watch, jewelry or furniture, check CBP's traveler pages for the rules on your return date.

Food you can and can't bring home

Declare all food, every time, even a single chocolate bar. Declaring an allowed item costs nothing, and an officer simply takes anything that isn't allowed. Failing to declare a prohibited item can bring a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for a first offense, and CBP's detector beagles are very good at finding sausage rolls.

On cheese: solid cheeses with no meat in them are generally fine; cheeses packed in liquid can run into trouble, and soft cheeses count as liquids at airport security. Buy vacuum-packed hard cheese from a cheesemonger such as Neal's Yard Dairy and check it in your suitcase.

Getting through faster: Mobile Passport Control and Global Entry

There is no US preclearance in the UK, so you clear immigration and customs when you land; Dublin and Shannon in Ireland do have it (see Ireland and Europe). At most big US airports the paper customs form is gone; you answer on an app, at a kiosk or to the officer.

Mobile Passport Control

Mobile Passport Control (MPC) is CBP's free official app for US citizens, green card holders and some visitors. Add your passport details before you fly; after landing, answer the customs questions, take a selfie, submit and use the MPC line, often much shorter than the regular one. One phone can cover your family. MPC works at more than 30 US airports, including the main arrivals airports for London flights.

Global Entry

Global Entry members skip the regular lines and are processed by facial recognition, often in minutes. Membership lasts five years and includes TSA PreCheck. The fee has been $120 since October 2024, and children under 18 pay nothing when a parent applies at the same time or is already a member. Approval can take weeks or months, and the program was paused during a government shutdown in early 2026, so apply early through the official Trusted Traveler Programs site. You finish with a short interview, which many airports offer on arrival without an appointment (Enrollment on Arrival).

1. Before you leave the UK, total what you bought and keep the receipts together.
2. Declare everything, and answer yes to the food question if you have any.
3. If you owe duty or an officer wants a look, you'll be sent to an inspection area, where you can usually pay by card.