The city is the north west's foremost shopping district, housing two large shopping centres along with numerous shop packed streets serving much of the greater county, as well as Tyrone and Donegal. While retail developments in Letterkenny have lessened cross-border traffic from north County Donegal, the recent weakness of the pound sterling caused by Brexit have made border towns such as Derry attractive to shoppers from south of the border

The city centre has two main shopping centres; the Foyleside Shopping Centre which has 45 stores and 1430 parking spaces, and the Richmond Centre, which has 39 retail units. The Quayside Shopping Centre also serves the city-side and there is also Lisnagelvin Shopping Centre in the Waterside. These centres, as well as local-run businesses, feature numerous national and international stores. A recent addition was the Crescent Link Retail Park located in the Waterside with many international chain stores, including Homebase, Currys & PC World (stores combined), Carpet Right, Maplin, Argos Extra, Toys R Us, Halfords, DW Sports (formerly JJB Sports), Pets at Home, Next Home, Starbucks, McDonalds, Tesco Express and M&S Simply Food. In the short period of time that this site has been operational, it has quickly grown to become the second largest retail park in Northern Ireland (second only to Sprucefield in Lisburn).

Image: Shopping in Derry

Until March 2016 when it closed, the city was also home to the world's oldest independent department store, Austins. Established in 1830, Austins predates Jenners of Edinburgh by 5 years, Harrods of London by 15 years and Macy's of New York by 25 years. The store's five-story Edwardian building is located within the walled city in the area known as The Diamond.

The town centre is very busy on a Saturday as many travel from the Republic to take advantage of Pound/Euro differentials. However Sunday is very quiet and many shops will only open from 12-6pm.