Birmingham has been selling what it makes since its market charter of 1166: 700 jewellery workshops in a single square mile, glazed Victorian arcades, and cut-price fabric halls minutes from the aluminium discs of Selfridges. Three days, worked outward from the markets.
Britain's largest indoor market hall: around 200 stalls on Edgbaston Street, with the fish row, Caribbean and South Asian produce, butchers and cut-price household goods. Tue–Sat, roughly 9am–5pm, shut Sunday and Monday.
The textile wing of the Bull Ring markets: bolts of sari silk, African wax print, lining, buttons, zips and dressmaking trim at wholesale rates, alongside perfume oils and phone cases. Trades Tuesday, Friday and Saturday only.
An 1876 arcade built on the deck over the railway tunnel between Colmore Row and Temple Row: Anderson & Hill's deli counter, the Kilder bottle shop, independent jewellers, barbers and tailors under a glazed barrel roof.
Built in 1910 as a cinema and converted to a shopping arcade in 1926, this narrow run off New Street holds a dozen small independents — vintage watches, records, hats and bespoke tailoring. Units start closing around 5.30pm.
Bird's former custard works, now Digbeth's independent retail yard: Provide for menswear and print, COW for vintage denim by the kilo-rail, plus record shops and maker studios around the green pool. Most units open 11am–6pm.
Future Systems' 2003 building, skinned in 15,000 spun-aluminium discs on a Yves Klein blue ground. Inside are four floors of designer concessions, beauty halls and a food hall; the upper level looks straight down onto St Martin's church.
The Royal Mail's old sorting office, rebuilt as a canalside luxury quarter: Harvey Nichols' only Midlands store, designer concessions along a marble mall, and a terrace of bars stepping down to the Worcester and Birmingham Canal.
The retail deck laid over New Street station beneath a 2015 ETFE roof: Kurt Geiger, Oliver Bonas, Hotel Chocolat and a food hall that keeps trading until 8pm on weekdays, long after the Victorian arcades have locked up.
The retail face of the Jewellery Quarter: more than 100 counters selling gold, silver and stones made on benches in the same Victorian buildings. Most workshops will resize, re-set or repair while you wait, often within the hour.
The shop at the Bournville works sells misshapes, oversized bars and lines that never reach supermarkets, and you can walk into the shop without buying a Cadbury World ticket. The surrounding Quaker village still has no pub.
Pershore Road's independent strip, built out of old shopfronts: Loaf's bakery and cookery school, Artefact's gallery-cafe and shop, Birmingham Brewing Company's taproom, plus record, plant and zero-waste stores within four blocks.
The city's sari and gold row, trading well into the evening: bridal silks sold by the metre, 22ct bangles weighed out by the gram, spice merchants, and sweet centres stacking barfi, jalebi and gulab jamun by the kilo box.