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This one is for the shoppers. Dublin is awash with fantastic opportunities
to spend your money (even if, like me, it is money you don't have). On the south side of the river is a wonderful
place called Grafton Street. Grafton
Street is the destination in Dublin for any fashion buff. I, often to no avail, fancy myself a fashion
buff and when shopping I like to create a sort of strategy for myself. Shopping for sport- why not?
Today's
strategy consisted of walking and spotting.
The play-by-play unfolded as follows. I walked onto Grafton Street and
spotted a number of places that seemed suitable enough, but in my spotting I
saw a beacon that seemed to call out to me above all the other
shop-fronts. The name of this place is
Brown Thomas, which I later found out is an Irish chain of department
stores. Now where I come from we have
department stores as well, but they are all the same in that they're poorly
laid out and often don't contain the most up-to-date styles that you, the
fashion buff, might be looking for.
After having received a very enthusiastic welcome from the door-man, I
immediately began browsing. I was
assisted by a wonderful saleswoman named Marie, who told me all about the
history of Brown Thomas. The store
itself has been called a number of different names, but was recently rebranded
to match the names of the original owners.
The woman who owns Brown Thomas now, Mrs. Hilary Weston, is one of the
richest women in Ireland - and it is no surprise. Some of the brands carried at Brown Thomas
include Prada, Gucci, Armani, Dolce and Gabana and Dior. Believe it or not, that's the short list. One
designer I was particularly interested in is the Irish designer named Louise
Kennedy. Some of her current collection
was on display during my spree at Brown Thomas, and I was astounded by her
creations that were infused with traditional silhouettes but retained a sense
of modern elegance. The range of options
afforded to you, the fashion buff, at Brown Thomas make it very clear why it is
renowned as one of the finest retail chains in all of Europe.
Now
while I could continue to write about my favorite place in Ireland, there is
much more to see and do on Grafton Street.
There is, no joking here, another branch of the Brown Thomas chain
called BT2 that caters to the younger consumer by stocking up on the trendiest
products from all around the world. The
famous Irish food and clothing hall Marks and Spencer has a store on
Grafton. One of the oldest jewelry
stores in Ireland as well as some of the oldest and most famous Dublin literary
dives are located in the multiple alley streets that branch off of Grafton
Street. Perhaps my favorite thing about
this shopping and culture center is that the street itself is probably no more
than a quarter of a mile long. For a
break from all the food and shopping fun available here, there are multiple
roving musicians and mimes that make there way up and down the street to
entertain the masses. Flanked by Trinity College to the east and St. Stephen's
Green to the west, make sure and drop onto Grafton St. to fulfill the shopping
bag fetish that any shopping buff would have from the moment they stepped off
the plane (don't deny it!).
Written by Joe Gayk - Summer of Travel 2007
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