First character raced around some shops (6)
I believe the answer is:
arcade
'some shops' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'first character raced around' is the wordplay.
'first' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'character' becomes 'a' ().
'around' indicates an anagram.
'raced' with letters rearranged gives 'rcade'.
'a' put next to 'rcade' is 'ARCADE'.
(Other definitions for arcade that I've seen before include "shopping precinct" , "Lots of games" , "Colonnade" , "Covered passageway with shops and stalls" , "Covered way with shops on either side" .)