I used to live in London but stopped going to Oxford Street some time ago, preferring Islington or Kensington or even cities like Maidstone instead to do my shopping.

Clearly that's a personal view, but today's newspaper (International Herald Tribune) tells me that a massive revamp is on the cards, particularly for the east side, and that the street is becoming increasingly intolerable due to the vast numbers of pedestrians, constant streams of buses (220 an hour at peak times), its need for improvement, and the general disfavour of Joe Punter who now prefers the big shopping mall at Bluewater, just off the M25 motorway.
I go to London fairly often but never to Oxford Street. So can anyone provide an up-to-date view on where, literal usage aside, Oxford Street now is?

I can't answer your question, Colin, I haven't been to Oxford Street in years.
I just wanted to say, that when I was at university in London, I worked at two different Oxford Street stores over the years, on Saturdays, and during the summer.
It was a crazy area of London to work, especially at Christmas time. The great thing about working there, was I got to meet people from all over the world.

They mean the eastern end, the end towards Tottenham Court Road, not the east side. There are stories that it will be improved. It has long been the scruffy, and cheaper end, of the street.

The pavements at the Oxford Circus end are very wide (i.e. where only buses and taxis can go down the street). Normally they are adequate. Whether they'll be so at peak times this Christmas I can't say but they were just tolerable last year.Over the years the numbers shopping in Oxford Street seem to have declined.It takes quite an effort of will to flog in to Oxford Street when so much, if not all, is in identical shops back home in, say, Romford or Croydon, or available online

So why does anyone go? Well, Bond Street tube is there, if you don't want to approach Bond Street from Green Park Perhaps you prefer to work [New] Bond Street and its environs from the North to the South, so finishing in Burlington Arcade, Fortnum's and The Ritz? (Can't think of any other reason )