Indigo & Cloth
27 South William St., Dublin 2
Dublin dandies have it harder than most. Aside from raking through vintage and charity shop racks of outsized suit jackets, the high street is the only place to fill your wardrobe – apart from Indigo & Cloth, of course. This So.Wil. basement offers a lovingly-curated, excellently-sourced selection of hip-to-go men’s fashion brands (with a little something for the ladies upstairs), singlehandedly responsible for the proliferation of brands such as Our Legacy across town. I&C also play a big role in Thread Magazine, and their love of print is evident in its miscellany of magazines – it might just be the only place in town you can pick up Acne Paper.
Most likely to sell you shirts that only work buttoned up to the top.
O’Sullivan Graphic Supplies
14/15 Camden Street, Dublin 2
If you’ve decided that you want to give your bike a quick lick of paint to spruce it up a bit, or perhaps the end of October is nigh and you’re costumeless yet again, O’Sullivan’s is there for us all, pro-artistes and amateurs alike. Stationery creeps beware too, you’ll almost definitely leave with pens galore, but there are at least lots of bulk discounts to make the most of. Easily one of the best-stocked art shops in the city, and with a lifesize stormtrooper in the upstairs window to keep an eye on proceedings, O’Sullivan’s is definitely the place to kit you out so that you can go forth with appropriate artistic abandon.
Most likely to sell you shiny card, permanent marker and a pritt stick with which to knock up a last minute birthday card for your nearest and dearest.
Elastic Witch
Twisted Pepper building, Middle Abbey Street
What do you want from a record shop? I guess you want records first and foremost. Elastic Witch doesn’t have a million records piled high all along its walls, but you can be pretty sure that each record in there is there for a good reason. You won’t find yourself digging through piles of New Age/Jazz reissues just to get near what you want. You will find yourself wanting too much, having to pick and choose because behind every record you like the look of, is another one you like the look of. And they’re all cheaper than anywhere else in town, be that your mates new self-pressed 12″ or that lush Drexciya 2xLP reissue compilation.
If you’re unsure of something, anything, just ask. There is no friendlier shop owner in the city than Gib Cassidy. He knows things. Grab a mind-stimulating coffee from 3fe and let him tell you things. Then buy a record. Or a CD. Or a tape. They’re all good.
Most likely to sell you the latest 12″ to drop on Warp, probably along with a Silver Apples reissue, just so you know how it all got started.
All City
Crow Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2
Dublin is not a city blessed with a wide-range of quality record shops and the few we have don’t really have much of an international reputation. We have no Rough Trade, no Hardwax. The exception perhaps, is All City. Far more than just a record shop, it combines a refined taste is hip-hop, electronica, techno, house and jazz with a nice line in spray paint and associated miscellany and tops it all off as a home to a record label of wide-spread repute.
All City records is Dublin’s connection with LA, with the beat scene, with funk, hip-hop and psychedelic electronica worldwide. From Daedulus to Ras G, Tokimonsta to Teebs, as well as French hunk of funk Onra and homeboy Krystal Klear, All City have been the ones with their fingers on the skittery pulse.
Most Likely To Sell You: A psychedelic split 10″ featuring two stoned LA tastemakers and a six pack of spray paint to get you tagging.
Rhinestones
18 St. Andrew’s Street, Dublin 2
I don’t know about you, but we like our jewellery chunky. Not rapper chunky, but Audrey Hepburn scoffing a croissant in the window of Tiffany’s chunky. However, most contemporary jewellery shops don’t scratch this itch (or at least not for a realistic price point), and the green-tinged fingers and ear holes that high-street bling tends to leave is a high price to pay for cheap glamour. It’s for this reason that we love Rhinestones.
The antique and vintage jewellery stores stocks pre-loved jewellery arranged by style and era – from gothic Victoriana to oversized strings of sixties pearls – and super helpful and cheery staff are on hand to aid your quest for vintage opulence. Prices range from the very affordable (you can snap up a pair of clip-on earrings for less than twenty bucks) to the slightly more covetable – but what you’re getting your hands on is the real deal.
Most likely to sell you pearls somebody’s died in – don’t worry, that’s good luck.
Industry
5 Essex Street West, Dublin 2
A collision of old-world craft and modern industrial materials, a meeting of traditional weaves and wools with stainless steel, rough woods and tarnished leathers, these are just some examples of the eclectic mix of home-ware products housed in Industry. The loft-inspired content brings perfect order to seemingly chaotic and mismatched products that would be happy in any urban home.
Most likely to sell you an oversized wooden spool, a giant stainless steel letter, a scratchy throw and a glass bottle, none of which have a particular purpose, all of which look fantastic.
Casa Rebelde
6 Crow Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2 [casarebelde@gmail.com]
Temple Bar’s Casa Rebelde is Dublin’s lone outpost for natty football fashion and genral paraphenalia. They are stockists for a range of retro football shirts and tracksuit tops, t-shirts and tops from Copa and goalsoul, and their own Republic of Ireland-related clobber. Not only that, but they sell a selection of excellent books on the beautiful game, like Uli Hesse’s magnificent Tor! and Guardian scribe Jonathan Wilson’s quarterly periodical, The Blizzard. Recently they have branched out into ticket sales for some League Of Ireland games too.
Most likely to sell you that A.S. Bari jersey you’ve been looking for to complete your David Platt collection.
