Shopping opportunities in Osaka are so plentiful it will take an extremely determined shopper to exhaust them. Japan's longest shopping street, Tenjimbashi-Suji Shopping Street, is located in Kita. It is a 2.6km- (1.7-mile-) long vault-roofed line of shops interspersed with cinemas, game centres, bars and restaurants.

Kita also has the largest underground shopping mall complex in Japan, connecting most of the train stations in the area and containing a vast number of brand name stores and fashionable boutiques as well as cafes and restaurants. Yodoyabashi Camera, one of Western Japan's largest shopping complexes, is located around JR Osaka Station, and near Hankyu Umeda Station are the Hankyu Grand Building and the Hankyu Sanbangai, one of Osaka's largest shopping centres. The ultra-trendy fashion district of Chayamachi is located in the same area.

Minami is not far behind in terms of shopping opportunities. The area has several large underground malls, including Crysta Nagahori, one of the largest underground shopping complexes in Japan, and Namba Walk, Japan's oldest large-scale underground shopping mall. There are also several big shopping complexes above ground, including Shinsaibashi OPA, a mall with 120 shops, and Namba Parks, Namba's newest shopping mall, an eight-storey complex with more than 100 stores.

Mido-Suji Avenue, the wide, tree-lined street that is Osaka's main north-south thoroughfare, is the place for exclusive fashion and design, with elegant brand shops featuring the latest fashions from the major Continental European designers. More streetwise is the fashion on offer in America-Mura, an area with hundreds of fashion shops, bars and restaurants.

Nippombashi Den-Den Town in Minami is a paradise for any fan of electronics and gadgetry. It is a kilometre-long stretch from Nippombashi 3-chome to Ebisucho crammed with electric and electronic appliance stores dealing in such goods as audio equipment, lighting fixtures and personal computers.