Shops
The local newsagent and small grocer combined. 'Going to the shops' means stepping out to the nearest one, often without further specification. Treated as a collective even when one shop is meant: 'I'm just running to the shops' may mean a single small premises.
Etymology
From the standard English 'shops' (plural of shop), but with the Hiberno-English specialised use: collectively the local small retailers, particularly the newsagent-grocer hybrid that serves Irish villages and town suburbs. The shift from many-shops to one-named-collective is a Hiberno-English quirk that English-elsewhere does not share.
In a sentence
"I'm just running to the shops - do you need anything?"
Historical notes
Shops in this Hiberno-English use is a small piece of cultural geography. The Irish village or suburban shop - newsagent plus grocer plus post office plus turf accountant - is the social hub of much of rural and small-town Ireland. The plural form acknowledges that the village often has more than one but does not bother to name them: 'the shops' covers the lot. Visitors who try to clarify ('which shop?') get a quizzical look.
Sources
- Oxford English Dictionary, entry shop n. (Irish English collective use). · dictionary