Brighton and Hove has just missed out in a place in the top 20 destinations for shopaholics.
The city has moved up two places to 21st in this year's Experian rankings of shopping centres in the UK.
The research is endorsed by the British Council of Shopping Centres and an area's position is based on indicators such as size of retail floor space and the number of major and independent stores.
Top of the shops is London's West End.
In the South-East, Brighton and Hove is behind Southampton and Reading while Bluewater in Kent is the first out-of-town shopping centre to break into the top ten.
Tony Mernagh, of Brighton and Hove's city centre business forum, put its performance down to the thriving business enjoyed by independent shop owners.
He said: "I'm pleased the ranking is going up. We are at a slight disadvantage in that we do not have a lot of big shopping spaces because of our historic street patterns.
"But we do have a huge independent sector which is probably the biggest in the South-East. That is a unique selling point and is what people are finding increasingly attractive about Brighton."
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