Though the centre of York boasts all the usual suspects of chain stores, particularly in athe area around Coney Street, Parliament Street and Coppergate, the tendency is for the bigger stores to be located in out of town shopping centres, neat the outer ring road.

These include Monks Cross, nearby Vangarde shopping centre and Clifton Moor. To the south, near Fulford, is the York Shopping Outlet. There are buses to all these shopping centres from the city centre.

In the centre of York, a variety of smaller local shops have pre-eminence on a few individual streets, eg:

• Gillygate (Minster area, through Bootham Bar, turn right) Speciality food shops, cafés, designer home decor, fairtrade goods.

• Fossgate (Castle area, across the road from Shambles. See link below.) Cafés, restaurants, food specialists, secondhand book shops, gifts, pen shop, York's smallest pub.

• Bishopthorpe Road (Castle Area, outside the walls, ten minutes from Clifford’s Tower.) Trendy local area with speciality foods, bakers, local cafés, bike repair, ironmongery, restaurants, children's shoes.

Longstanding local shops are being relentlessly eased out, though there are occasional additions to the non-corporate scene.