Shopping

Shop Till You Drop

Necessity or pleasure, flush or broke, hate it or love it, we all do it. Shopping. Glasgow, the second largest retail centre in the UK, is second only to London as a shopping destination. Susannah Thompson wears out some serious shoe leather to bring you the essential guide to shopping in Glasgow.

Glasgow encompasses a variety and quality of shops matched only by the inexhaustible shopping energy of its inhabitants. With a range of independent retailers and second hand shops which would make Naomi ‘No Logo’ Klein proud and designer boutiques to tempt the ‘fashionistas and footballers’, the city reinforces the old cliché that there is ‘something for everyone’.

St Enoch Shopping Centre

The mainstream city centre shopping ‘experience’ can basically be described as being composed of the ‘big three’. The three main streets - Sauchiehall, Argyle and Buchanan are flanked by a trinity of malls - St Enoch Shopping Centre (Above), Buchanan Galleries (left), Princes Square (below) and the Italian Centre (below) - all situated either on, or close to, the three main streets.

In The Gallery

The daddy of the three malls, in terms of size, is the long-awaited Buchanan Galleries which opened in Spring 1999 to a storm of protest from disappointed architects and designers and equal numbers of nonplussed punters who were too busy shopping to notice the surroundings. Buchanan Galleries claims to offer ‘the ultimate shopping experience for the whole of Scotland … without equal’. However, many of the shops are simply second or third branches of chain stores which are already situated in other parts of the city. Despite its faceless ‘could be anywhere’ look there are a surprising number of specialist outlets and good quality shops exclusive to the Galleries, which appeal to the ‘common pocket’ as well as the Platinum Card consumers.

Sauchiehall Street

If you have time to browse, student and budget favourite H&M still manages to produce great bargains while retaining its reputation for being up to date with (and occasionally ahead of) fashion trends. The only UK branch of Mango is also housed within the mall, selling good quality clothes in designs which avoid the mass-produced offerings of most high street chain stores.

Virgin Vie Cosmetics, as well as its own skin, body and hair care beauty products also encompasses ‘Living River’, a beauty salon with a vast pampering and preening menu which includes a barely-legal Swedish Full Body Massage and an aromatherapy manicure and pedicure entitled ‘Glee’ which comes with champagne and chocolates.

The music and ‘end of the club night’ lighting of Girl Heaven may be off-putting to the casual shopper and it is hard to decide who are their biggest customers – little girls or students. For Miffy and Hello Kitty accessories and an exercise in ‘sugar and spice and all things nice’ nostalgia, Girl Heaven fits the bill.

Tinkerbell kids’ cosmetics and those cute jewellery boxes with padded tops and musical ballerinas inside the lid can all be easily found within the shop’s ceiling-to-floor range of tack, kitsch and tiaras, much like Claire’s Accessories, also within Buchanan Galleries.

Other shops within the Galleries include a huge Habitat (with café and changing gallery programme), a great little flower shop in the foyer area, Gap, Levi’s, Jane Norman, Oasis, and the monumental John Lewis - the only department store to rival the omnipresence of House of Fraser which is further down Buchanan Street.

Princes Square (Buchanan Street)

Fit For Royalty

Princes Square is located on Buchanan Street (look for the peacock design on the rooftop) and houses four floors of specialist and designer shops around a central atrium. Whistles, Karen Millen, Lacoste, French Connection, Reiss Womenswear, Space NK, Penhaligons, Crabtree and Evelyn and jewellery designer Sheila Miller are only a few of the shops on offer.

Space NK is best for beauty products which are otherwise only available in London or the US (Stila, Laura Mercier, Khiels etc). The Whisky Shop and indulgent confectioners Maxwell and Kennedy are located on the lower ground floor around a central courtyard which acts as a play area for children, and is surrounded by cafés, bars and restaurants. Great for young parents, babysitters and the rest of us who simply can’t take the pace of ‘shop till you drop’ power-purchasing.

Despite the label-conscious shops, Princes Square is fairly unpretentious and is good for those who like designer shopping but find the exclusivity of the Italian Centre intimidating. Princes Square is a good place to treat yourself to a little luxury or two, in pleasant surroundings.

European Chic

The Italian Centre, as the smallest (and most exclusive) of the three shopping centres, has attempted to incorporate a European-style ‘complex’ of residential flats, offices (the architects Page and Park are based here) and cafés as well as exclusive retail outlets of the ‘doorbell-ringing’ variety.

The Italian Centre in the Merchant City

Just east of the city centre on Ingram Street in the Merchant City, the Italian Centre was one of the first in an ongoing regeneration and redevelopment of this area into a trendy ‘urban village’ of designer shops, clubs and restaurants. In keeping with the Italian theme, Armani and Versace have their bases in the Italian Centre (Versace’s first UK shop). The rooftop sculptures by Alexander Stoddart are neo-classical statues of Roman gods (including the god of trade) and add to the general air of decadent and extravagant spending.

Alongside ‘Versace & Armani’ lies Cruise, which has several Glasgow branches and stocks avant-garde fashion labels such as footwear designer Tracey Neuls (a rising star at the moment), Jil Sander, Prada (and labelmate Mui Mui), Paul Smith and all the other usual, and unusual, suspects.

Lingerie outlet Liaison Corsetry is also tempting for underwear fetishists and classy corsetry. As well as swimwear and posh panties it claims, amazingly, to stock bra sizes from A – GG cup (GG?!). For plainer knickers go to Gap Body (basement of Gap at the corner of St Enoch’s Square on Argyle Street), CK Underwear in Princes Square or the La Senza and Knickerbox shops at Buchanan Galleries.

House of Fraser also have a good lingerie department but if all else fails you could also go to Marks and Spencer - again.

Off The Beaten Track

While some dream of ringing the doorbells of the Italian Centre, equal numbers of beautiful people are content to look for their one-offs at smaller ‘homegrown’ clothing stores and second hand outlets (or ‘vintage/antique’ stores as they are known when in fashion), found in the Merchant City and the West End. Many of the small design and retro clothing shops in the Merchant City are retailers who, until 1999, were housed within the now defunct Virginia Galleries.

Virginia Galleries favourite Mr Ben can now be found at King’s Court, King Street. The Victorian Village (West Regent Street) is an antique shopping mall containing good vintage and antique clothing shops. In the West End Starry, Starry Night is a favourite for period clothing and accessories (Dowanside Lane, off Byres Road). Retro (Otago Street off Great Western Road) does exactly what it says on the tin (it also stocks a good selection of curtains, linen, bedclothes etc.). Both are next door to great antique shops. Supplying cool clothes to the Farah Fawcett fixated and ‘ironic mullet’ set these cool little shops provide a more interesting (if not always more successful) look than the ‘it’s expensive so it’s good’ school of overly tanned shoppers who copy from magazines and run into the designer section of House of Fraser.

Street Style

Skateboarders, snowboarders, hip hop kids and those into ‘urban street style’ should check out the following: Doctor Jives on Candleriggs, Merchant City is the only Stussy retailer in Glasgow. It also stocks, among other things, X – Large, Silas, APC and Hysteric Glamour. The gear is expensive but worth it if you’ve got the cash. Their discount shop further along the street is definitely worth checking out.

Boardwise has two branches - one in the city centre at Royal Exchange Square (a favourite hangout of pre-pubescent skateboarders) and one in the West End on Argyle Street. Boardwise and Clan are good for people who actually skateboard and snowboard – they sell equipment as well as natty threads. Clan (Hyndland Street in Partick) stock their own clothing label Poizone, as well as many other skate company brands. Tribal Junki (Merchant City) and Cult Clothing (Queen Street) are similar street-style shops stocking a good selection of well and little-known designers. Style Wars, (basement of Flip, Bath Street) stocks hip hop orientated clothing and is also a specialist shop for graffiti-related books, videos and magazines. Flip itself is good for Hawaiian shirts, faded Levi’s and the like.

Quality shops such as Schuh

Feet On The Ground

For shoes, as well as the abundance of sports shops, you will find three branches of Schuh (Sauchiehall Street just outside Buchanan Galleries, Union Street and Argyle Street, opposite St Enoch Underground Station). In a quirk of fashion consciousness, Glaswegians have adopted Caterpillar’s Colorado boot as their very own. So as you trek around the city, look down and you you’ll notice those distinctive Cat classics being proudly modelled by ‘in the know’ natives.

In A Spin

Record shops are spread out – it is easy to find HMV, Borders and Virgin but if you are looking for vinyl or specialist dance music 23rd Precinct (Bath Street), Fopp (Byres Road in the West End, Union Street in the City Centre – good for bargains) and Rub a Dub (Howard Street, behind St Enoch’s underground Station) are the places to go for new plastic and DJ-ing equipment. Brand new and second-hand stockists Defunkt and Missing (both Great Western Road), Mixed Up Records (Otago Lane, West End) and the mighty Barrowland (just ask for ‘the Barras’) are the places to go ‘diggin in the crates’. Avalanche (next to Queen Street station) may also be worth a look for CDs.

As long as London continues to look north to Glasgow as its second in command, shoppers will find it a mean city on the wallet. However, as it is now able to cater to your every consumer wish and shopping whim there is only one course of action in Glasgow: Go Forth and Multiply your Purchases – spend, spend, spend!