Shopping in Scotland
 

I will be visiting Edinburgh, Stirling and possibly Glasgow in late July. I am not planning to do much shopping, but I am interested in purchasing a nice wool sweater. Can you recommend a store or two? Also I have a gold travel charm bracelet and will want to buy a charm. Can you recommend a jewelry store? I don't want to waste valuable time "looking" for stores.

Thanks.

I got a really pretty blouse in Jenners, a terrific department store that someone on the Forum called the Harrods of the North and someone else responded that Harrods was the Jenners of the South.

Edinburgh Woollen Mills shops are in several places. I bought a couple of sweaters, one for myself and one for my daughter. I know mine is genuine wool because a moth ate a hole in it quite early in the spring. Fortunately, a tailoring shop mended it for me.

Sorry, Jenners is in Edinburgh.

I'm overwhelmed by the possible answers to this question...

What sort of sweater? Craft, machine made, luxury? What sort of price? £20? £200?
In Edinburgh look on Princes Street for anything from Edinburgh Woolen Mill (which is OK, pretty cheap and very touristy) to Marks and Sparks, which is where real people shop, to Jenners, which is where posh people shop. Victoria Street and the Cowgate, have more independenty shops.

In Glasgow the first equivalent would be Sauchiehall Street, or Argyll Street. Princes Square for the fabby stuff. Byres Road for one offs.

Goodness knows about Stirling.....

Mackays or Primark.

EWM or the discounters: they're all made in Turkey or Bangladesh anyway.

And at least at Primark or Mackay's, you know the jobs created are being done by people who need them.

Ignore him Roaslind; he's obviously in a bad mood tonight:)

Rosalind, I turned to Scotland the Best! and find, under "Where to buy good Woolies..."

Belinda Robertson Palmerston Place, Edinburgh- cashmere- scary.

Number Two, St Stephen Place Edinburgh-innovative since the 1960s.

Kinloch Anderson, Commercial Street, Leith.

Ummm- that's it in your shopping cities of choice.

Not remotely.

Buying clothes on the grounds that they're made by Scots is the worst possible reason(well almost worst: being made by Americans, Irish or English is just as bad a reason).

Buying clothes because it gives jobs to the world's poorest people is an excellent reason. Since EWM and Mackays both buy from the same source (which is also the same source as M+S), why pay extra at EWM?

And since Britain, unlike the US, doesn't impose quota limits (or import duty) on Turkish or Bangladeshi sweaters, you'll get good value here.

Rosalind,
In Edinburgh just walk up & down both Princes Street and the Royal Mile and you will find many opportunities to purchase wool sweaters, tartans and much more. I kept having to tell myself, you live in southern California, you don't need wool! Like carolyn mentioned, Jenners is posh and interesting and worth a visit, even if you don't actually buy, I always try to have lunch in their second floor cafeteria and hope for a table near the window to watch what's going on down on Princes Street.

Another interesting shopping spot in Edinburgh is the Leith Mills in Bangor Road - they have demos, weaving displays, a restaurant and a large comfy sofa for the non-shoppers. Oh and almost forgot, there's a weaving center on the Royal Mile right next door to the Castle where they also demonstrate historical weaving methods, and you can get your picture taken in traditional Scottish garb, which I did this spring when I was there. Yes, it may sound touristy, but it's my favorite souvenir of my trip - since like I said wool sweaters are a bit impractical where I live.

Lots of designers use use the raw products from Scotland and put them to far more stylish use than some gormlessly made/styled jumper!

Vivienne Westwood makes liberal use of Harris tweed, she even designed her orb logo (representing" the past, the present, the future") after seeing a similar shape used by Harris tweed.

Rosalind,

In Edinburgh if you are looking for a sweater that's a little different then try either Number two in St Stephen's Place as mentioned by Sheila or Judith Glue on 60 & 64 High Street. Judith works in Orkney and all her sweaters are knitted on the Orkney Islands. You can look at her knitwear on her website www.judithglue.com. BTW her sister Jane Glue is a well known Orkney artist - Judith's shop probably has some of her paintings in it too.

For your charm bracelet there are loads of jewellers on Princes St although they are all chain stores so may not give you something that bit special. Posh jewellers are on George St - Mappin & Webb and Hamilton & Inches. James Ness and Goodwins on Queensferry St do second hand/antique stuff, I think. James Whyte in Rose Street is a nice little independant jewellers.

In Glasgow the Argyll Arcade is full of jewellers.

I didn't know Judith Glue had an Edinburgh shop.

Scotand the Best lists the Kirkwall one. I love the stuff she does with runes on.

Ooops, maybe the Judith Glue Edinburgh shop is closed - yell.com doesn't list it - just the Broad St, Kirkwall one. It certainly used to be there and yahoo still have it on their travel pages. I've not been down the shops in the High St for ages.

Rosalind - I'm sure you'll be up & down the High St anyway so you can always look out for it. If it's not there you'll just need to include Orkney in your trip!

Sheila, runic designs are one of my favourites too - I have lovely runic Ola Gorie jewellry and hubby has Sheila Fleet runic cufflinks. Keep meaning to have a trip back up to Orkney - it blew me away (physically as well as mentally!) when I went up there in 2000.

While in Edinburgh I stumbled upon a cashmere store that I really liked. It was on the Royal Mile, and on a corner. I can only vaguely remember the name...I am pretty sure if was House of Cashmere. Otherwise it was Cashmere House, lol! Anyway, the employees were very helpful and I loved the sweater so much I bought a scarf and gloves as well. They are still among my most favorite items and bring back memories when I wear them.

Rosalind,
I like to buy charms as souvenirs, too. I never found a good place in Edinburgh (although I admittedly didn't spend a whole lot of time looking for one), but I did find this link to all sorts of charms once I got back home:
http://www.treasures-standrews.co.uk/charms.htm
Enjoy!
Annette

I buy charms everywhere I go as well, and bought a luckenbooth (traditional scottish symbol) at RL Christie Watchmakers & Jewelers on Bank Street off the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. They were still there when I was there last May, not sure if they are now. The shops on Princes Street didn't have a thing, there were a couple on the Royal Mile that catered more to tourists and I think I saw others along there. Good luck!

In terms of shopping in Edinburgh, I'd want to go to Jenners first, as they do have such a nice selection of gifts, particularly their Edinburgh Crystal collection. A few years ago, I bought a lovely Edinburgh Crystal paperweight with a celtic design carved on the bottom, which was much appreciated by the recipient-(now I wish I had kept it for myself!). I don't remember whether they have a jewelry department, but certainly I'd look at their selection of wool or cashmere sweaters-it's bound to be a good selection of the highest quality. Harrods really is the Jenners of the South.