Simply irresistible

SCOTLAND IS BLESSED WITH AN ABUNDANCE OF ‘MUST-VISIT' SHOPS. KATE PATRICK PICKS SOME OUTLETS THAT ARE WORTH A JOURNEY IN THEIR OWN RIGHT

A famous novelist of my acquaintance once went to Edinburgh to search for examples of his particular passion in life: antique machine tools. He found exactly what he wanted; but it took several hours of negotiation with the vendor, who couldn't bear to part with a particularly fine antique plane, even though the novelist was offering good money for it. That's passion for you. Time was when shopping in Scotland was fine if all you wanted was whisky, tartan rugs or marmalade. But Glasgow is now the largest retail centre in Britain outside London and very compact, with shops a short, latte-fuelled stroll from each other.

Meanwhile the quality of shopping in Edinburgh has improved out of all recognition. Even five years ago, no one would have believed that Louis Vuitton would be setting up a signature shop there in 2003, or that branches of Harvey Nichols, Penhaligon's and Jo Malone would open.

But it gets better. Scotland is also crammed with destination shops. These are one-offs, often owned and run by people, like the antique-tool man, with a passion for what they're selling; places which alone make their location worth visiting. In fact, for true shopaholics, the destination is virtually irrelevant; they just have to have what's in that store, be it in Tokyo or Timbuctu.

Even people who are not shopaholics are highly likely to have called in to a destination store – if only to bring back a branded carrier bag with a small souvenir.

The following listing of destination s...

To read the rest of this article you can do any of the following.

• By : Kate Patrick
• In : Contemporary Scotland
• Issue : 9
• Page : 66
• Words : 2,392