A huge store with the latest chart albums on prominent display. Each of the sections, from world to country, folk, jazz, and so on, could be a shop in itself. Amazing deals are to be had on value box sets (from £10.99). Dance vinyl is well represented, with expert staff recruited to handwrite reviews on the latest house, nu-jazz and hip hop 12-inches. The highlight, a classical department with knowledgeable staff, is in the basement.

Virgin plays host to regular chart signings, and the entrance seems permanently blocked by young Busted fans. The store satisfies an Oxford Street crowd with a vast range of chart, rock and pop, although the vinyl selection is limited; the world, jazz, classical and folk sections are comprehensive. The basement has a coffee shop with listening posts, and sells guitars, keyboards and the like.

The Fopp motto, plastered over the shelves, is ‘suck it and see’. This means you’ll find all genres represented and juxtaposed, with prices low enough to let you try something new without fear. In the basement is a good sweep of vinyl, on the ground floor are new releases, and upstairs is a low-priced (from £5) mixture of everything from jazz and rock to world music. It’s unpretentious and well thought out.

Harold Moores is famous for a few things: a marvellous used LP section in the basement, second-hand and deleted CDs, obscure and hard-to-get recordings and a range of historic performances by instrumentalists and singers. There’s also a large contemporary and avant-garde section, and staff are rightly proud of their knowledge and expertise.

You won’t find any of those new-fangled private listening posts at Honest Jon’s: here the staff play whatever you choose to the rest of the customers over the house stereo system. But fortunately you can’t go wrong with the own-label compilations of soul, ska, hip hop and funk, nor with any of the other vinyl on offer: it all sounds so amazingly good you’ll look like a connoisseur. There’s an excellent jazz section in the basement.

These days Rough Trade is almost too aware of its place in the history of underground music, with staff who seem to think they’re Che Guevara for managing to stock the latest indie releases on CD and vinyl. Nevertheless, the shop continues to satisfy the many hunters after obscurities with whatever is six months ahead of the mainstream, from hip hop and house to guitar-based stuff. There’s a good selection of world music too.