Eltham's traditional town centre offers a good mix of retail outlets, combining specialist independent shops with a broad range of of over 30 national chain stores including a newly refurbished Marks & Spencer, Debenhams and Next. The town centre is well laid out and simple to navigate.

For food and grocery shopping there is the high quality M&S Food Hall in the newly refurbished store with easy parking at the entrance, a large Sainsbury's with ample parking, , Iceland, and a number of small independent grocery stores. A brand new Lidl store is due to open on the High Street in summer 2008.

The town centre also boasts a good selection of public houses, restaurants and cafes (see "Dining" section) where people can take a break from shopping.