Shopping

SHOPPING in GALWAY – Baboró Recommends

Books, books, books – no visit to Galway is complete without spending a few hours browsing and choosing what to buy from the enormous selection of books in Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop at the Cornstore on Middle Street. Be warned though, you could lose a day in there, there’s such a variety and selection of books to buy!

Eason’s is a newsagents par excellence – books, magazines, all the local, national and world papers and arts and crafts supplies

We’re a bit spoiled in Galway for clothes shops, boutiques, children’s clothes, lovely men’s clothes – here are some of our favourites Mexx and French Connection on Church Lane, Klassy Kids and K2 on Cross Street, and of course Mothercare, for everything for baby and you. And for the ladies – the very classy Select Boutique on St Augustine Street and the stunning landmark Wedgewood building The Treasure Chest which has everything for the visitor – fashion, gifts, crystal, and the huge variety of shops in the Eyre Square Centre

Artisan cheeses, meats, specialist coffees, and a host of other fine things to decorate your plate can be found in Sheridan’s Cheesemongers, or you could nip upstairs for a restorative plate of stew or a cheese plate and a glass of wine. Go on, you’ve been shopping for hours, you deserve it.

Galway also has all the usual chains, Penneys, Dunnes, Debenhams, and it’s very own branch of Brown Thomas (although the locals still refer to it as Moon’s!), many of them in the Eyre Square Centre

For pottery, crafts and intriguing jewellery wander down Kirwin’s Lane and visit potter extraordinaire Judy Greene –then back up Quay Street to Wooden Heart, where you can find some of the most beautiful, finely crafted wooden toys for children of all ages!

Or head out the Headford Road to the Galway Retail Park (beside the Black Box Theatre), where apart from Aldi, Curry’s, and Woodie’s DIY, you will also find Smyth’s Toy Superstore – ahhh – everything you could possibly need to keep the family entertained in between shows!

Feeling a bit jaded after all that shopping? Then drop into Evergreen on Mainguard Street, where they’re bound to have something wholesome to lift your spirits and give you the energy you need to keep going in this fun, vibrant city.

If you’re off out to Clarenbridge to dine at Moran’s of the Weir – some of the best seafood in the land - drop into Squisito on the Main Street, for some very high fashion.

If you decide to head west, then you’ll probably end up in Clifden – most people do. Pay a visit to the Courtyard shops at the Station House Hotel. The hotel is on the site of what was the train station, the final stop on the Galway to Clifden line, long gone now, but the hotel’s owners have preserved many of the fine old buildings and put them to good use. Here you’ll find Design Platform Millar’s, antiques, art and loads more, and it’s the location of the Station House Theatre – a brand new theatre located in one of the old Engine Sheds. Turn off from here to head up to Renvyle House Hotel the award-winning hotel on the shores of the Atlantic. Head back into Galway via Letterfrack, and stop at the stunningly beautiful Kylemore Abbey and stroll around the grounds, have a cup of coffee and buy some of the wonderful crafts available