Insignificant items spread around shopping precinct (5-4)
I believe the answer is:
small time
'insignificant' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'items spread around shopping precinct' is the wordplay.
'spread' is an anagram indicator.
'around' indicates putting letters inside.
'shopping precinct' becomes 'mall' (I've seen this before).
'items' is an anagram of 'stime'.
'stime' placed around 'mall' is 'SMALL-TIME'.
(Other definitions for small time that I've seen before include "Insignificant" , "Unimportant (slang)" , "Minor (colloq.)" , "Unimportant, minor" , "Mo may be so" .)