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5 Scarlett Row
Beautiful, modern, exclusive, minimalist. If that's what you're after, try the creations of Eley Kishimoto, Zero, Irish designer Sharon Wauchob or menswear label Unis. Co-owner Eileen Shields worked with Donna Karan in New York before returning to found her own gorgeous shoe label, which retails here.
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Alias Tom
Dublin's best designer menswear store, where friendly staff guide you through casuals by bling labels Burberry and YSL Rive Gauche. Downstairs it's classic tailored suits and Patrick Cox shoes.
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Angles
You won't find Claddagh rings or charm bracelets here, just cabinets full of handmade, contemporary Irish jewellery, most of it by up-and-coming Dublin craftspeople. Commissions are taken and items can be sent on to you abroad.
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Appleby
The best known of the jewellery shops that line narrow Johnson's Court, Appleby's is renowned for the high quality of its gold and silver jewellery, which tends towards more conventional designs. This is the place to shop for serious stuff - diamond rings, sapphire-encrusted cufflinks and Raymond Weil watches.
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Arnott's
Occupying a huge block with entrances on Henry, Liffey and Abbey Sts, this is our favourite of Dublin's department stores. It stocks virtually everything you could possibly want to buy, from garden furniture to high fashion, and it's all relatively affordable.
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Asia Market
This large, friendly food emporium should be your first port of call if you want to whip up an oriental feast. For a start it's really good value and you'll find everything here from kitchen implements to hard-to-come-by ingredients like grass jelly, habanero chillies, brown basmati rice or - should you wish - chicken's feet.
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Ave Maria
If Tina Turner were in Dublin, she'd shop here. Glam up with neon net, sequinned and satin cocktail dresses from Queenie, Manoush and Consumer Guide, and some seriously bling costume jewels.
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Avoca Handweavers
Combining clothing, homewares, a basement food hall and an excellent top-floor café, Avoca promotes a stylish but homey brand of modern Irish life - and is one of the best places to find an original present. Many of the garments are woven, knitted and naturally dyed at their Wicklow factory. The children's section, with unusual knits, fairy outfits, bee-covered gumboots and dinky toys, is fantastic.
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Barry Doyle Design Jewellers
Goldsmith Barry Doyle's upstairs shop is one of the best of its kind in Dublin. The handmade jewellery - using white gold, silver, and some truly gorgeous precious and semiprecious stones - is exceptional in its beauty and simplicity. Most of the pieces have Afro-Celtic influences.
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Big Brother Records
DJs, vinyl junkies and other creatures of the night can seek solace and the latest house, hip hop or dance groove in this basement store (beneath All-City Records) that never, ever sees daylight. And it's just the way they like it.
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Blackrock Market
The long-running Blackrock Market takes place in an old merchant house and yard in the seaside village, and has all manner of stalls selling everything from New Age crystals to futons.
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Blarney Woollen Mills
This is the Dublin branch of the best-known Irish shop in the country - the actual mills are located in County Cork, within sight of the famous castle and its gab-bestowing rock. This branch shouldn't disappoint, with a particularly wide range of cut crystal, porcelain presents and its trademark woolly things.
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Blue Eriu
Less of a cosmetics shop and more a beauty experience with a Celtic twist, this supertrendy retreat serves up one of the best facials in town (or so we're told); the products used are strictly from the top shelf, including Kiehls, Chantecaille and Shu Uemura.
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Book Fair
Bad, secondhand potboilers, sci-fi books, picture books and other assorted titles invite you to rummage about on Saturday afternoons. If you look hard enough, you're bound to find something worthwhile.
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Brown Thomas
Soak up the Jo Malone-laden rarefied atmosphere of Dublin's most exclusive store, where presentation is virtually artistic. Here you'll find fantastic cosmetics, shoes to die for, exotic homewares and a host of Irish and international fashion labels such as Balenciaga, Stella McCartney, Lainey Keogh and Philip Treacy. The 3rd-floor Bottom Drawer outlet stocks the finest Irish linen you'll find anywhere.
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BT2
The kiddie's table in Brown Thomas' exquisitely laid-out dining room, BT2 is the annexe shop for the city's trendy young things, targeting an audience who want to look the contemporary part and set the tone for tomorrow. Brands include DKNY, Custom, Diesel, Ted Baker and Tommy Hilfiger.
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Cathach Books
Our favourite bookshop in the city stocks a rich and remarkable collection of Irish-interest books, with a particular emphasis on 20th-century literature, including some rare first editions by the big guns: Joyce, Yeats, Beckett and Wilde.
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Chester Beatty Library Gift Shop
A wonderful little gift shop, with postcards, books, posters and other memorabilia of this extraordinary museum.
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Circus Store & Gallery
If you are looking for the most elegant, one-off creations by Irish designers - from dresses for that fancy occasion to pins to tie up your hair - and fancy looking at some contemporary local art in the meantime, this wonderful new shop is perfect for you. You mightn't know any of the designers represented here, but that's only because they're still busy making their time come.
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Claddagh Records
An excellent collection of good-quality traditional and folk music is the mainstay at this record shop. The profoundly knowledgeable staff should be able to locate even that elusive recording.
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Clark's
This well-known shoe store stocks not only its own brand but others too; it also has an excellent selection of Birkenstocks. There's a branch on O'Connell St that stocks women's shoes only.
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Clery's & Co
This elegant department store is Ireland's most famous retailer, a real Dublin classic. Recently restored to its graceful best, it has sought to shed its conservative reputation by filling its shelves with funkier labels to attract younger buyers.
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Costume
Costume is considered a genuine pacesetter by Dublin's fashionistas; it has exclusive contracts with some of Europe's most innovative designers, such as Isabel Marant and Anna Sui. It also has the city's best range of Tempereley and American Retro. Local designers represented here are Helen James, whose Japanese-influenced obis are enormously popular, and Leighlee.
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Cow's Lane Market
A real market for hipsters, on the steps of Cow's Lane, this market brings together over 60 of the best clothing, accessory and craft stalls in town. Buy cutting-edge designer duds from the likes of Drunk Monk, punky T-shirts, retro handbags, costume jewellery by Kink Bijoux and even clubby baby-wear. It's open from June to September; the rest of the year it moves indoors to St Michael's and St John's Banquet Hall, just around the corner.
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Crafts Council Gallery
One of several craft shops in the Powerscourt building, this gallery has a fine selection of glassware, pottery and jewellery, although you'll need a flexible credit card.
