We checked 12 Stockport shops, from Rare Mags on Hillgate to Pure Cocoa chocolates in Hazel Grove, for opening hours and what they sell. Updated November 2026.

Stockport has 12 independent shops worth a Christmas shopping trip in 2026, and this guide puts them in one place with opening hours, addresses and what each one sells. Rare Mags on Lower Hillgate, SK1 Records on Little Underbank, the stalls inside the Market Hall and Simply Books in Bramhall are the names most people land on. Every entry was checked against the shop’s own website on 5 November 2026.

We have not shopped at any of these for this guide, and nothing here is a review. Each entry says what the shop says it sells, in its own words where we quote them. The hours below are the shops’ regular hours: none had published Christmas opening times when we checked, and small shops often change their hours in December, so check before a special trip.

Dates for the Christmas shopping diary

Saturday 14 November: Bramhall Festive Market. Up to 50 makers in Bramhall’s Village Square, 10am to 3pm. It returns on Saturday 12 December.

Sunday 15 November: Spectacular Sunday. Free street shows across Merseyway, the Underbanks, Market Place and Redrock from 12pm, with the town centre Christmas lights switched on at 4.45pm. Our lights switch-on page has the details.

Friday 27 November and Friday 18 December: Foodie Friday. The evening food market on Market Place, from 6pm.

Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 November: Reddish and Heald Green markets. Reddish’s festive market is in the Houldsworth Arms car park on the Saturday, and Heald Green’s Christmas market is behind Finney Lane on the Sunday.

Thursday 3 December: Christmas Fayre at Stockport Town Hall, from 12pm.

Saturday 12 December: Stockport Makers Market, Christmas edition, on Market Place from 10am. Times and venues for every market are on our Christmas markets page.

Late night shopping. When we checked on 5 November, neither Merseyway nor the Underbanks traders had published 2026 late-night dates. Last year the Underbanks lights switch-on, on Saturday 29 November 2025, had the independents trading into the evening. We will add this year’s date when it is announced.

Parking. Our parking guide has the town centre car parks and their charges.

The Underbanks and Hillgate

1. Rare Mags, Lower Hillgate

Rare Mags describes itself as “an independent magazine and book shop” that specialises in “hard to find and international magazine titles”, naming Apartamento, L’Étiquette, Popeye and The Gentlewoman among them. It also stocks fiction, poetry and non-fiction from independent publishers, sells stationery, and serves coffee.

A magazine subscription or an annual from here is the obvious present for someone who reads everything.

Open Tue to Sat 9.30am to 5.30pm; Sun 10.30am to 4.30pm; closed Mon
Call 0161 222 3883
Address 5 Lower Hillgate, Stockport, SK1 1JQ
Website raremags.co.uk
Good for magazines, independent publishers, stationery, coffee, open Sundays

2. SK1 Records, Little Underbank

SK1 Records is a record shop on Little Underbank selling new and second-hand vinyl. Business Manchester reported its opening in November 2018, when the shop said it would specialise in vinyl along with CDs, cassettes and accessories, and Manchester’s Finest describes a range running “from jazz and indie to 80s synth pop and experimental rock”.

The shop also runs events and DJ mixes under the SK1 name, and sells gift vouchers through its website.

Open Tue to Sat 10.30am to 5.30pm
Call 0161 474 1233 (listed by Manchester's Finest)
Address 17 Little Underbank, Stockport, SK1 1LA
Website sk1records.co.uk
Good for vinyl, second-hand records, gift vouchers

3. SJS Smith Jewellery and Stockport Jewellery School, Little Underbank

This jewellery shop and workshop on Little Underbank says teaching jewellery making “has been at the heart of what we do” for years, and the business renamed itself in 2025 to put the school in its name. It sells handmade jewellery and runs jewellery-making classes, including private group bookings for birthdays and team days, so a class voucher is the gift here as much as a ring.

Open Fri and Sat 11am to 5.30pm; Sun 11am to 5pm; Tue by appointment; closed Mon
Address 20 Little Underbank, Stockport, SK1 1JT
Website sjssmithjewellery.com
Good for handmade jewellery, jewellery-making classes, group bookings

Stockport Market Hall, Market Place

4. Stockport Market

The glass-roofed Market Hall dates from the 1860s, and the market says Stockport has been “market trading since the Middle Ages”. The hall and the Produce Hall beside it hold dozens of traders, from cheese and wine to crafts, cards and sweets, and the three stalls below are among them.

It opens four days a week, so a Wednesday or Sunday trip will find it shut.

Open Tue, Thu, Fri and Sat 9am to 4.30pm
Call 07792 418222
Address Market Place, Stockport, SK1 1ES
Website thestockportmarket.co.uk
Good for food stalls, crafts, gifts, Foodie Friday evenings

5. Glass Umbrella Art, Market Hall

Glass Umbrella Art opened inside the Market Hall in 2018 and takes its name from the local nickname for the hall’s glass roof. It sells “quirky and unique arts and crafts made by local artists and makers”: wall art, handmade jewellery, mugs, tea towels and cushions, seasonal decorations, cards and calendars.

It also makes personalised gifts, turning photographs into wall art, restoring old photos and printing pictures onto mugs, coasters and hanging ornaments.

Open Tue, Thu, Fri and Sat 9am to 4.30pm
Address Stall 28, Market Hall, Market Place, Stockport, SK1 1ES
Website glassumbrellaart.com
Good for local makers, personalised gifts, photo restoration, Christmas decorations

6. Stockport Provisions, Market Hall

Stockport Provisions calls itself a “cheesemonger, deli and wine merchant”, trading from a unit inside the Market Hall. Its website does not publish its own hours, so the market’s trading days are the safe guide.

A cheese board for Christmas week is the reason most people would make the trip.

Open Market Hall days, Tue, Thu, Fri and Sat
Address 34 Market Hall, Market Place, Stockport, SK1 1ES
Website stockportprovisions.com
Good for cheese, deli, wine

7. Wineboy, Market Hall

Wineboy is “an independent wine store in Stockport specialising in natural and small-batch wines”, with locally brewed beers and ciders on the shelves as well. Its website writes up the growers behind the bottles, such as a Rioja Alavesa producer who works his vineyards with a plough horse, which makes it a good place to ask for a bottle with a story for a present.

Open Tue, Thu, Fri and Sat 9am to 4.30pm; closed Sun, Mon and Wed
Call 07789 330460
Address Unit 2a, Stockport Indoor Market, Stockport, SK1 1ES
Website wineboy.co.uk
Good for natural wine, small-batch wine, local beer and cider

Warren Street

8. Serenity Booksellers, Warren Street

Serenity Booksellers is a family-owned bookshop that opened in Romiley in April 2023 and added this town centre shop in December 2024. It says its shops are “treasure troves of gifts, handmade art and books”, covering fiction, non-fiction and children’s books, and it runs book clubs, a creative writers’ group and author events.

Both shops have step-free access on one level and wide aisles for prams, the shop says. Its website does not list hours; the address and phone number below are from Creative Tourist’s listing.

Call 0161 270 5797
Address 11 Warren Street, Stockport, SK1 1UD
Website serenitybooksellers.com
Good for books, children's books, handmade art, author events, step-free access

Heaton Moor

9. Cork of the North, Heaton Moor Road

Cork of the North is “an independent, family-owned wine merchant” selling more than 450 wines in its Heaton Moor shop, with a home delivery service and wine tastings. The shop doubles as a bar in the evenings: walk-ins are welcome, and tables can be booked by phone.

Its website sells gift boxes and mixed cases, and the late opening makes it one of the few places on this list open after work.

Open Tue to Sat 12pm to 11pm; Sun 2pm to 10pm; closed Mon
Call 0161 442 7111
Address 104 Heaton Moor Road, Stockport, SK4 4NZ
Website corkofthenorth.co.uk
Good for wine, gift cases, tastings, open late, open Sundays

Bramhall and Hazel Grove

10. Simply Books, Bramhall

Simply Books calls itself “an award-winning independent bookshop in the heart of Bramhall” and has been a village bookshop for more than 20 years. Its current owners took it over in 2024, refitted the shop and added a speciality coffee café, and in the evenings the space becomes a wine bar.

It runs book clubs, author evenings and signings, and the events calendar is on its website.

Open Mon to Sat 10am to 5pm; Sun 10am to 4pm
Address 228 Moss Lane, Bramhall, Stockport, SK7 1BD
Website simplybooks.co.uk
Good for books, author events, coffee, open Sundays

11. Pure Cocoa, Hazel Grove

Pure Cocoa is “an award-winning, family-owned, independent chocolate company” that makes handmade chocolates in a small shop on Commercial Road, Hazel Grove, with a hot chocolate and coffee shop on the side. Its boxed gifts on the website include a box of sticky toffee pudding caramels at £17 and a large fresh selection box at £29.

Open Tue to Sat 9am to 4pm; closed Sun and Mon
Price boxed chocolates from £17 (online shop, checked 5 November 2026)
Call 0161 483 2228
Address 2a Commercial Road, Hazel Grove, Stockport, SK7 4AA
Website purecocoa.co.uk
Good for handmade chocolates, gift boxes, hot chocolate

Marple Bridge

12. Dutsons, Town Street

Dutsons is a delicatessen and kitchen that has served Marple Bridge since 2012 with “delicious produce from local, national and international suppliers”: cheese, wine, hampers and bread baked by Cowburns Bakery in High Lane, on sale Tuesday to Saturday. The online shop takes orders for collection, and for Christmas it says December orders must be placed before Saturday 5 December 2026, with the last collection at 12 noon on Christmas Eve.

Open Mon to Sat 8.30am to 5pm; closed Sun and bank holidays
Call 0161 484 5380
Address 22-24 Town Street, Marple Bridge, Stockport, SK6 5AA
Website dutsons.co.uk
Listing Our listing
Good for cheese, wine, hampers, Christmas orders for collection

How we chose

We looked for the independent shops people search for by name around Stockport: the Underbanks traders, the Market Hall stalls, and the long-standing shops in Heaton Moor, Bramhall, Hazel Grove and Marple Bridge. We read each shop’s own website on 5 November 2026 for its hours, address and what it sells, and used the Totally Stockport business improvement district’s pages, OpenStreetMap, Creative Tourist, Manchester’s Finest and Business Manchester where a shop’s own site left a gap; the entry says so where that applies. Shops whose websites gave no address or hours, or had lapsed, were left out rather than guessed at. For days out around the shopping, see things to do in Stockport, what’s on this month, Christmas dinner in Stockport, Bramall Hall at Christmas and Lyme Park at Christmas.

Run a shop that should be here, or spot something that has changed? Email newsdesk@stockporttoday.co.uk. Taken a good photograph of any of these places? Email it to newsdesk@stockporttoday.co.uk and we will add it with your name as the credit.

Frequently asked questions

When is late night Christmas shopping in Stockport in 2026?

When we checked on 5 November 2026, no 2026 late-night shopping dates had been published for Merseyway or the Underbanks. Last year the Underbanks traders stayed open into the evening for their lights switch-on on Saturday 29 November 2025. The confirmed dates so far are Spectacular Sunday on 15 November, with the town centre lights switched on at 4.45pm, and the Foodie Friday evening markets on 27 November and 18 December.

Which days is Stockport Market open?

The Market Hall on Market Place is open on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 9am to 4.30pm, and closed on Monday, Wednesday and Sunday. Glass Umbrella Art, Stockport Provisions and Wineboy all trade from the hall, so they keep the same days.

Which Stockport shops open on Sundays?

Rare Mags on Lower Hillgate opens on Sundays from 10.30am to 4.30pm, SJS Smith Jewellery on Little Underbank from 11am to 5pm, Simply Books in Bramhall from 10am to 4pm and Cork of the North in Heaton Moor from 2pm to 10pm. The Market Hall, Pure Cocoa and Dutsons are closed on Sundays.