Shopping by Eva Arrighi
By Eva Arrighi, Lifestyle Editor - The Sunday Herald | |
| CITY CENTRE Buchanan Street The Golden Z is an eloquent way of describing the main shopping area of Glasgow consisting of Sauchiehall Street, Buchanan Street and Argyle Street. It's these arteries, along which every high street name has an outlet, that are largely responsible for Glasgow's reputation as the second largest retail centre in the UK. The list of shops is as long as your arm, and you literally can shop till you drop, but if I were to pick out the highlights they would be as follows. Buchanan Galleries, 220 Buchanan Street. Tel 44 (0) 141 332 2068 This is a haven, particularly in inclement weather. A vast shopping centre holding all the usual suspects, but particularly noteworthy are Mango and H & M for the Spanish and Swedish take on the season’s key look at a fraction of the designer price. Fine Scottish Chocolatier Maxwell & Kennedy’s tempting selection of truffles and sweets will play havoc with your healthy eating plan and John Lewis more than lives up to its edict that it is never knowingly undersold. With a fantastic glass section, great kids clothes, a large toy department and a haberdashery section (the sign that you're a real department store!) you could spend a day in here alone. St. Enoch Centre, 55 St Enoch Square. Tel 44 (0) 141 204 3900 The St. Enoch Centre was Glasgow's first big shopping centre and it ain't called the glass menagerie for nothing, being the largest glass structure in Europe. With over 80 stores, it's also incorporates the vast Debenhams store, where Designers at Debenhams deliver high fashion polish at high street prices. Princes Square, 48 Buchanan Street. Tel 44 (0) 141 221 0324 Any visitor to Glasgow should take time out to visit Glasgow's most upmarket shopping mall. With a mixture of restaurants, cafes and small boutiques and a few high street giants it strikes just the right balance for a perfect day out. It's a veteran of Buchanan Street now, and sometimes I think we take it for granted, but it really is unique and rather special. Highlights for clothes are Whistles with its inimitable and effortless mixture of their own designs and designer pieces and Reiss Women where their collections go from strength to strength each season. If you want to smell sweet and be totally seduced into the bargain then Jo Malone or Penhaligon’s are going to knock your socks off. Very different takes on traditional perfumiers, but both beautiful shopping environments. On a similar tip (being bedazzled/spending lots of money on tiny, perfectly formed packages) there is Space NK. I defy you not to be moved, and if you can get out without spending any money, you're a stronger woman than me. Finally, Danish furniture giant Bo Concept in the basement is fantastic not just for great furniture but also their keenly priced interior accessories - check out the handmade soaps, they are absolutely divine. Designer Exchange, 3 Royal Exchange Court (off 17 Royal Exchange Square). Tel 44 (0) 141 221 6898 Lorraine McDonald has been trading in this quiet lane behind Royal Exchange Square for twelve years, and her shop really is one of the best kept secrets in Glasgow. Her well heeled clientele know that this is where they'll pick up nearly new designer clothing and accessories well below the original price. Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Versace, Max Mara and Armani pieces make up the majority of her stock, and it's always worth popping in to find a real steal. L.K. Bennett, 32 Royal Exchange Square. Tel 44 (0)141 221 5500 Linda Bennett has made her fortune upon the weakness of women in the face of a pair of beautiful shoes. Her signature kitten heels are much in evidence, alongside irresistible butter soft boots and glittery satin sandals. Her classic with a twist clothing collection is also garnering acclaim. Enter at your peril. Urban Outfitters, 157 Buchanan Street. Tel 44 (0) 141 248 9203 So hip it hurts, Urban Outfitters can always be relied upon to be at the vanguard of new fashion trends, and with their kitsch household accessories, knowing gift section, and superb record shop it's an obligatory stopping off point if you want to keep up with what the cool kids are wearing. Office, 54-56 Buchanan Street. Tel 44 (0) 141 248 8346 Office, recently acquired by Scottish entrepreneur Tom Hunter, is the place where Glasgow buys its shoes. Encompassing the Offspring brand, which specializes in limited edition trainers and urban footwear, and Office’s kinky high fashion Poste Mistress label, they are always one step ahead of the pack. House of Fraser, 21-45 Buchanan Street. Tel 44 (0) 141 221 3880 Glasgow's grandest department store, full of delights, some easy to find, some you have to rout out, as they are tucked away in this labyrinthine Victorian building. With a fantastic shoe department catering to all purses, the best beauty hall in Scotland, Ronit Zilkha clothing and Kath Kidson homewares and everything else you would expect from a store of this size, it's certainly a one stop shop. The Victorian Village, 93 West Regent Street. Tel 44 (0)141 332 0808 The word ‘cornucopia’ is fast becoming overused in shopping guides, but in the case of The Victorian Village it is entirely apt. Two of the city's gems reside here. Putting on the Ritz owner Cheryl Rutherford's heart is firmly set in the Art Deco period, but her antiques and jewellery shop covers every period in the last hundred or so years extensively. From fabulous paste jewellery from the fifties, to major rocks, collectors and dealers flock here, and it's easy to see why. Upstairs is the taster for Saratoga Trunk's vast warehouse of vintage clothing and accessories, which can only be visited by appointment. Famous for providing clothes for films like Evita, Star Wars, Episode 1, The Phantom Menace, Cathy and May have archivists’ minds, and anything from opera glasses, vintage perfume bottles, and beautiful silk negligées can be found here. MERCHANT CITY The Merchant City, the area that runs east of Queen Street and down to Argyle Street, is fast becoming the Soho of Glasgow, and its main thoroughfare, Ingram Street is making a play to become the city's equivalent of Bond Street with a profusion of high-end designer shops. The former sugar, cotton and tobacco warehouses of Glasgow's wealthy eighteenth century Tobacco Lords have been converted into luxury apartments, bars, boutiques and restaurants where the city's new elite spend, rest and play. It's a buzzing, lively area, compact in size and replete with some distinctive independent boutiques. Its reputation as a designer shopping mecca will be complete when the monolithic Selfridges opens in 2007. Dr. Jives, 111-113 Candleriggs. Tel: 44 (0) 0141 552 5451 Dr Jives has an international reputation built upon the unerring instinct of owner Gordon Wagstaff to spot, stock and sell brands and designers way before anyone else. On the menswear side, Stussy, One True Saxon and Silas are only some of the cooler than school labels in attendance, whilst his womanswear includes cult French label APC, Belgian deconstuctivist Margiela 6 and lauded English-Japanese design duo Eley Kishimoto. Couple this with an exclusive range of imported Japanese Nike trainers and you'll see why the cognoscenti flock here season after season. Inhouse, 24-26 Wilson Street. Tel: 44 (0) 0141 552 5902 This has long been one of Glasgow's leading interior design shops, and it not only stocks the modern classics in furniture design by Cassina, Flos and Kartell amongst others, but has an unrivalled and distinctive selection of glasswear and accessories from the likes of Alessi, LSA and Littala. Always a godsend in a gift giving crisis. Dallas & Dallas, 18 Montrose Street. Tel 44 (0) 141 552 2939 Husband and wife team Ian and Elaine Dallas's cool and airy showroom is a pleasure to visit, and with contemporary furniture designers of the calibre of Frighetto, Matteograssi, Ingo Maurer and accessories by Boda Nova and Stelton, it's one of the best places to plan your dream home. Glasgow Style, Hutchesons' Hall, 158 Ingram Street. Tel 44 (0) 141 552 8391 Elegantly positioned on the ground floor of the National Trust for Scotland's Glasgow headquarters, this shop/showroom showcases local designers including ceramics by Fireworks, zingy handbags and scarves by Jan Milne and the spectacularly sexy stainless steel baths and washbasins by Submarine. Niche Optical Tailor, 119 Candleriggs. Tel 44 (0) 141 553 2077 In her time Brenda Connelly has designed and selected exclusive eyewear for a swathe of stars including Kevin Spacey, Tilda Swinton, Ewan McGregor, Meg Ryan, David Coulthard and Liam Gallagher. With a vast array of distinctive styles by Prada, Histoire de Voir, Persol and Alain Mikli, and a level of personal attention quite unknown in the modern age, she is without doubt the coolest optician in Scotland. Emporio Armani, The Italian Centre, 19 John Street. Tel 44 (0) 141 552 2277 If Versace represents the sizzling sun of Italian fashion then surely Armani is its cool, silent moon. Emporio Armani has had a presence in the city for over ten years now, and the store has recently undergone a makeover that makes the luxuriously minimal collections appear even more covetable than before. Cruise, 180 Ingram Street. Tel 44 (0) 141 572 3232 and Cruise Jeans, 223 Ingram Street Tel 44 (0) 141 229 0000 If you've got money to burn, then there's nowhere better in Glasgow than Cruise to do it. Split over two locations, Cruise can rightly claim to be the city's finest designer emporium. The main store houses tailored suiting, menswear, womenswear, children’s clothes and footwear from all the heavy hitters. Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Gucci, Burberry, Helmut Lang and Moschino are all represented along with more cutting edge designers such as Boyd, Hussein Chalayan and Sophia Kokosalaki. Cruise Jeans is, of course, the best place to pick up your designer denim, but it's not just a story of the blues: Fake London, Punk Royal, Maharishi, Zakee Shariff, Oki-ni, Orla Kiely and Pringle Scotland also feature in this hip offshoot of the main store. Ralph Lauren, 208 Ingram Street Tel 44 (0) 141 242 6000 Two floors of America's finest, Ralph Lauren's first boutique in Scotland opened at the end of 2002. With the Polo range, new Blue Label and a selected range of the prestige Ralph Lauren Black Label to choose from, the dark wood and buttery leather-filled shop feels to all intent and purpose like an upstate New York mansion. Very, very nice. PARNIE STREET / KING STREET AREA If the Merchant City is like Soho, then the leap across Argyle Street to the Parnie Street/King Street area is Glasgow's equivalent of New York’s East Village. This end of Argyle Street is not exactly genteel but its grungy delights, low rents, mix of art galleries, cutting edge theatre and musician-friendly bars ensure it's an underground playground, rough around the edges, but all the better for it. Mr Ben's, Kings Court, 99 King Street. Tel 44 (0)141 553 1936 A great favourite with the art students of the city, this second hand shop is a fashion lover’s haven where it's been known for vintage Gina and Prada shoes to turn up for a song, and sharp eyed aficionados could snap up a Halston if they are lucky. With a heavy slant towards the seventies and eighties, this is a well edited selection of vintage clothes you can actually wear. Print Studio Shop, 25 King Street. Tel 44 (0) 141 552 1394 A gem of a shop selling contemporary prints from some of Scotland's finest artists. Pick up a Christine Borland, Ken Currie, John Byrne, Ashley Cook or Adrian Wiszniewski edition for anything between £40-£5000. A selection of keenly priced ceramics and jewellery by local artists is also sold here. WEST END If the frenetic pace of Glasgow city centre is too much to bear then hop on the underground to either Kelvinbridge or Hillhead for the less frantic shopping experience of the West End. With its close proximity to the BBC and University of Glasgow, it has a laid back, bohemian feel, reflected in the quaint shops that line its main streets, Great Western and Byres Road. Felix & Oscar, 459 Great Western Road. Tel 0141 339 8585 Starting out in De Courcy's Arcade, Felix & Oscar has been a tremendous West End success, spread over three locations in close proximity. Two stores on Great Western Road cater for kids and adults. With some great lifestyle brands like Creed fragrances, Cath Kidson, Johnny Loves Rosie jewellery and hair accessories, Paul Frank, Hello Kitty and Alessi, it's simply stacked with lovely things. De Courcy's Antique Craft Arcade, 5-21 Cresswell Lane. Tel 44 (0) 141 334 6673 With an energetic mix of antique and craft shops, cafes, vintage record shops and the original Felix & Oscar shop, De Courcy's is a Glasgow institution. Very cool and full of character, this arcade is a microcosm of the West End itself. Just Cosmetics, 261 Byres Road. Tel 44 (0) 141 339 8984 Sharon Maclaren's homegrown perfume and cosmetics emporia is great fun, and friendly staff help make picking one of her gorgeously scented candles or signature scents a real pleasure. Relics, Dowanside Lane. Tel 44 (0) 141 341 0007 Steven Currie deals in stuff. Simply put, but there's no other way to say it. One man’s junk is another person’s treasure, and so it goes. Specialising in objects from the sixties and seventies, his pop culture savvy never fails to impress and although he gets the odd expensive design classic, you aren't paying London prices for this fantastic reclaimed memorabilia. Moon, 10 Ruthven Lane. Tel 44 (0) 141 339 2315 Moon has been tucked away down this lane since 1996. Defying the prevailing trends, it ploughs its own furrow, and in doing so has developed a distinctive identity. Stocking Betty Jackson, Zandra Rhodes, Holly O'Hara hats, Shirin Guild and beautiful jewellery ensure Moon has a loyal and highly individual clientele. The Sentry Box, 175 Great George Street. Tel 44 (0) 141 334 6070 You know how adults sometimes buy kids toys that are really for themselves? Well if a child's eyes widen in Toys R Us, it's The Sentry Box that melts the hearts of their parents. Be transported back to a more innocent time, of wooden building blocks, toy soldiers and Victorian scraps. Delightful. |