Shops and shopping – A2 English Vocabulary

Shops and shopping

In this lesson, you will learn different words and phrases related to shops and shopping. Check the following pictures and look at the descriptions and sentence examples below.

Places for shopping

There are many places we can go to when we want to do some shopping. Here is a list of some of the most common ones.

A 1 shop (UK) or a store (US) is a place that sells things for people to buy. Many shops specialise in particular items, such as clothes, books, electrical goods, and other things.

• There’s a shop opposite my office that sells shoes and bags.

2 Department stores are large stores that are divided into many sections. They often have several floors and sell a variety of different things: clothes, sportswear, electronics, jewellery, perfumes, etc.

• I entered the department store and went up to the men’s clothing section.

3 Supermarkets are large stores where different foods and household items are sold. They offer a wide variety of products and different brands as well.

• All the fruit and vegetables in the supermarket were very expensive.

A 4 shopping centre (a mall or shopping mall in US English) is a large building or area with many independent shops and restaurants inside it, usually with a big parking area.

• There are 80 shops and 9 restaurants in the new shopping centre.

A 5 market is an open place or building where different retailers sell their products. They can be indoors or outdoors, and some markets specialise in particular things, such as food, clothes, or flowers.

• I buy my vegetables from the outdoor market in the town square.

In a shop

A 6 cashier is a person you pay when you are buying something in a shop, supermarket, department store, etc., and a 7 customer is a person who buys something in one of these places.

• The customer paid the cashier for her tomatoes.

A 8 cash register is a machine that a cashier uses to calculate the cost of things. It is also where they put any money that is received from customers.

• After I paid the cashier, he put the money in the cash register.

A 9 sales assistant is a person who helps customers in a shop, so if you’re looking for something or need advice, you ask the sales assistant.

• Darling, can you ask the sales assistant if they have this in a smaller size?

A 10 sale is when a shop or shops are selling items at a lower cost than usual, so when you buy something in a sale, you pay less money for it. The most popular sales are the summer sales, the winter sales and the Black Friday.

• The shop was having a sale. Everything was 50% off.

A 11 discount is when the price of an item is lower than usual. You can buy something, for example, with a 20% discount.

• There is a 25% discount on all books until the end of the month. 

The 12 price is the amount that an item is selling for, and a 13 receipt is a piece of paper that a customer receives from a cashier after they have paid for something, stating the amount that they paid.

• The price of the items is always written on your receipt.

If a customer is unhappy with something they have bought, they usually return it to the shop to get the money back. This is called a 14 refund. The expressions ask for a refund or get a refund are very common.

• You will only get a refund if you show the cashier your receipt.

To 15 purchase something means to buy something, and to 16 try something on is to put on an item of clothing to see if it is the right size for you. This is usually done in a small room with a curtain called a 17 fitting room.

• Before I purchased the dress, I tried it on in the fitting room.

Sometimes, you don’t want to buy anything, but you want to do some 18 window shopping. This means that you want to spend time looking at the products in the windows of shops without intending to buy anything.

• Do you want to go to the shopping centre and do some window shopping?

When you purchase something you can 19 pay by card or in cash.

• Sorry, you can’t pay in cash. We only accept cards.

Sometimes, you cannot purchase an item because it’s 20 sold out. That means that people have bought all the stock of that item.

• I wanted to buy that new toy, but it’s already sold out.

Useful language when you go shopping

There are certain phrases that we hear or use all the time when we are shopping, especially when we are shopping for clothes.

Things a shop assistant or cashier would say

• How can I help you?
• Are you paying in cash or by card?
• That will be £10, please.
• Here’s your receipt.

Things a customer would say

• Do you have… in size…?
• May I try this on?
• I’ll take this one.
• May I pay by card?

After completing the exercises in this lesson on Shops and Shopping, you can use the unit’s Vocabulary Flashcards to revise and help you memorize the terms.