Shopping in Dublin
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George's St Arcade
Dublin's best nonfood market (there's sadly not much competition) is sheltered within an elegant Victorian Gothic arcade. Apart from shops and stalls selling new and old clothes, secondhand books, hats, posters, jewellery and records, there's a fortune teller, some gourmet nibbles and a fish and chipper who does a roaring trade.
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Asia Food Market
This large, friendly food emporium should be your first port of call if you want to whip up an Asian feast. For a start it’s really good value, and you’ll find everything here from kitchen implements to hard-to-come-by ingredients such as grass jelly, habanero chillies, brown basmati rice or – should you wish – chicken’s feet.
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Bretzel Bakery
The bagels might be a bit on the chewy side, but they've got their charms – as do the scrumptious selections of breads, savoury snacks, cakes and biscuits that have locals queuing out the door on weekends. Recertified as kosher since 2003, the bakery has been on this Portobello site since 1870.
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Powerscourt Centre
This upmarket shopping mall in an 18th-century town house is where discerning shoppers quietly visit boutiques, beauty salons and the 1st-floor art, craft and antique shops. The Design Centre and FCUK are also here, as is a great vegetarian restaurant and a wig store. The courtyard Powerscourt Cafe is a pleasant spot to gather yourself.
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Tower Craft Design Centre
Housed in a 19th-century warehouse that was Dublin's first iron-structured building, this design centre has studios for local craftspeople. They produce jewellery in both contemporary and Celtic-inspired designs, and work with Irish pewter, ceramics, silk and other fabrics. Besides jewellery they knock out pottery, rugs, wall hangings, cards, leather bags and various other handcrafted items. It's immediately opposite the Waterways Visitors Centre, off Lower Grand Canal St.
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Cow's Lane Designer Mart
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 babywear. 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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Vivien Walsh
One of Ireland’s best-known jewellery designers, Vivien Walsh uses Swarovski crystal, glass, feathers, pearls and beads to create delicate, fantastical pieces that hark back to the 1920s and beyond. The elaborate necklaces, in vivid turquoise, pink, purple and green, are quite an investment, but simple bracelets can be had for under €40. French and Italian leather bags and shoes complement the displays.
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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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Sheridan's Cheesemongers
If heaven were a cheese shop, this would be it. Wooden shelves are laden with rounds of farmhouse cheeses, sourced from around the country by Kevin and Seamus Sheridan, who have almost single-handedly revived cheese-making in Ireland. You can taste any one of the 60 cheeses on display and pick up some wild Irish salmon, Italian pastas and olives while you're at it.
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Waterstone's
Although it is large and multistoreyed, Waterstone's somehow manages to maintain that snugly, hide-in-a-corner ambience that book lovers adore. The broad selection of books is supplemented by five bookcases of Irish fiction, as well as poetry, drama, politics and history. There are book-signings every Thursday evening; check the board outside for details. There's also a cafe on the 2nd floor.
reviewed
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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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Moore Street Market
An open-air, steadfastly 'Old Dublin' market, with fruit, fish and flowers. Traditional vendors hawk cheap cigarettes, tobacco and chocolate among the new wave of Chinese and Nigerians selling phonecards and hair extensions. Don't try to buy just one banana though – if it says 10 for €1, that's what it is.
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Tommy Hilfiger
'Traditional with a twist' is how Tommy Hilfiger describes his own fashions, and he's right, if the twist is designing clothes that are as appealing to a yummy mummy as to a rapper. The American designer himself landed in Dublin in 2008 to cut the ribbon on this elegant store on the city's most prestigious shopping street.
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Walton's
This is the place to go if you're looking for your very own bodhrán (goat-skin drum) or indeed any other musical instrument associated with Irish traditional music. It also has an excellent selection of sheet music and recorded music.
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Havana
This is as exclusive as Dublin fashion boutiques get, but the rewards for a trek out here are the best of Irish design – Lucy Downe’s Sphere One cashmeres, Joanne Hynes’ elegant evening wear – as well as a host of other top international names. Shoes, jewellery and accessories fill out the rest of the stock.
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Penney’s
Ireland’s cheapest department store is a north-side favourite, a place to find all kinds of everything without paying a fortune for it – it’s the best place in town for men’s socks and jocks. True, the stuff you’ll find here isn’t guaranteed to last, but at prices like these, why quibble over quality?
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Francis Street
Some of the most interesting - and wackiest - shopping is done along Francis Street in the Liberties, the home of antiquarians and, in recent years, art dealers of every hue. Although you mightn't fancy transporting the hand luggage, you can have that original Edwardian fireplace you've always wanted, shipped to you by the shop.
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Retrospect
All you children of the 1960s and ’70s can relive the era that taste forgot (or took off, depending on your viewpoint) at this vintage interiors shop. In here you’ll discover fantastic plastic objects of desire, Formica-top tables, original lava lamps and swinging egg seats, all of them in glorious technicolour.
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Original Print Gallery
The gallery’s back catalogue of work from 150 Irish and international printmakers is available for purchase, along with new, limited-edition work. It’s a great place to browse for pressies (yes, for yourself, too) – many starting at under €100 – among the diverse range of prints on display.
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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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Rhinestones
Exceptionally fine antique and quirky costume jewellery from the 1920s to 1970s, with pieces priced from €25 to €2000. Victorian jet, 1950s enamel, art deco turquoise, 1930s mother-of-pearl, cut-glass and rhinestone necklaces, bracelets, brooches and rings are displayed by colour in old-fashioned cabinets.
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Irish Historical Picture Company
With a print collection that’s second only to the holdings at the National Library, this place has more than 12,000 pictures taken around Ireland at the turn of the 20th century. The prints cover all 32 counties and range from town streetscapes to images of bog cutters. Mounted prints can be framed within minutes.
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Weir & Son's
The largest jeweller in Ireland, this huge store on Grafton St first opened in 1869 and still has its original wooden cabinets and a workshop on the premises. There's new and antique Irish jewellery (including Celtic designs) and a huge selection of watches, Irish crystal, porcelain, leather and travel goods.
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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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Jenny Vander
More Breakfast at Tiffany's chic than the cast-offs from Hair, this secondhand store oozes elegance and sophistication. Discerning fashionistas and film stylists snap up the exquisite beaded handbags, fur-trimmed coats, richly patterned dresses and costume jewellery priced as if it were the real thing.
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