Think Boutique

Check out these cool photos of Southside based fashion shop (currently online only)  Think Boutique's images of their new collection. The photoshoot took place in the Govanhill Baths, its such a brill space, makes for some very atmospheric and unsual shots.

"Inspired by a passionate lecture on ethical fashion while studying for her Masters in Fashion Marketing Think Boutique's founder realised that it was possible to strike a balance between her lifelong love for fashion and her concerns about the nature of the fashion industry's moral code. After a long period of research and development of ideas and skills Think Boutique was finally launched in September 2010. Putting her stamp on a collection of ethical clothing where the fashion credentials come top of the list and the ethics of each item are carefully researched the resulting Think Boutique collection is bound with a strong element of the founder's personal style and values.

 

Combining wearable style with eye-catching one off statement pieces the Think Boutique collection brings together the most exciting and fashion-forward ethical brands to appeal to fashionistas from all walks of life with a common interest in making their statement in the world a positive one. Think Boutique strives to retail clothing that have the highest possible social and environmental credentials. Products are from Fair Trade, organic, sustainable, up-cycled or locally produced sources. With every detail of the shopping experience carefully thought through from first click to delivery Think Boutique brings the personal service experience of boutique shopping online."
Think Boutique
(Registered address)Grantley Gardens
Glasgow
G41 3PY

T 01416495414

fashion@thinkboutique.co.uk

Eve Boutique

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, the little zone of shops on Nithsdale Road at the triangle with Darnley Street is another of our favourite wee places for a wander and a browse. A newish shop (opened 6 months ago) in the area is Eve Boutique

The owner Nicola Finlay used to be a accessories buyer for Harrods and knows her stuff, with ranges including womenswear brands David Meister and Yoana Baraschi, cashmere from Mani-Stone and jewellery from Susanne Friis Bjørner and Alex Monroe, none of which are available elsewhere in Scotland.

There are now quite a range of really interesting clothing stores in the Southside, stocking quite unusual items. Maybe they should all get together and run a little fashion show in the summer to show off their wares, a little bit of Southside Chic?

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Eve Boutique
8 Kildrostan Street
Pollokshields, Glasgow,
G41 4LU
0141 423 4343
Mon-Sat: 9.30am-5.30pm
Sun: Closed

Last Weekend Before Christmas - Shop Local

Christmas is almost upon us and this weekend is the last before the big day. Whether it's the last bits and pieces you need or like us the majority of your shopping, why don't you turn your back on the large chain stores and busy city centre and shop local and support the independent businesses in your area.

Here's some ideas for gifts and places to get them.

1. Gifts of food such as hampers are a great gift and something people can share. Try 1901 on Skirving Street, Gusto and Relish on Pollokshaws Rd, Cookie in Strathbungo, La Teh Doh in Polloksheilds and Cherry Heather in Cessnock.

2.  For the Book worm in your life head to Young's Interesting Books for a first edition classic. On Victoria Road the Oxfam Book shop have a great collection of second hand books.

3. For the Vintage lover head to The Dresser's Room on Skirving Street and the lovely Jade will help you choose that unique item.

4. If it's a gift for the female in your life, then you are spoilt for choice with: Butterfly Kisses on Skirving Street, Hayes, Zig Zag, Glitz andGlamour on Pollokshaws Rd, Eve in Polloksheilds and Ladies Drawers in Strathbungo.

5. For Unique gifts try Paper Plane on Skirving Street, Marie Brown's in Polloksheilds, Pink Wafer in Langside, Pierrot et Coco just off Pollokshaws Rd, and Gifted in Clarkston.

6. For little kids Butterfly Kisses and Pierrot et Coco have beautiful childrens clothes and accessories, as well as a good selection of toys and other gifts.

7. Langside College have a variety of courses starting in January including Japanese and italian cooking courses and dressmaking classes a unique gift for the person who has everything. Salutation Station in Polloksheilds offers vouchers for Yoga classes which would also make a great gift.

8. You can also buy gift vouchers from many local restaurants, why not treat someone to dinner at a new or favourite restaurant

9. Treat someone to a massage or beauty treatment, try Urban Beauty and Rock N Rollers on Pollokshaws Rd

10. For the Runner in your life, take a trip to Run Urban on Cathcart Road.

Happy Shopping

Gifted @ 36 Busby Road

Gifted is a great wee gift shop in Clarkston, set up by husband and wife team Fiona and Barry Leathem to showcase new designers. They have a wide selection of items, from kids toys and clothes to decorative glass, gift cards and note books. The shop is small but very well packed and you are likely to find something to suit anyone you are buying for. Think our favourite things were the mugs shown below with the split fruit symbols but also liked Gillian Kyle's Teacake tote bags too.

With a lovely selection of items at Gifted, a couple of good wee charity shops nearby and Eat accross the road, a trip to Clarkston makes for a nice morning browse topped off with some tasty treats.

Gifted Website


Gifted
36 Busby Road Clarkston Glasgow G76 7XJ


Mon-Sat: 9.00-5.30


0141 6200346

Youngs Interesting Books - Skirving Street

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What a pleasant discovery I had today, wandering down Skirving Street I came across the newly opened Young’s Interesting Books, a book shop specialising in second hand and antiquarian books, run by Barry Young and Noelle Carroll

They buy and sell general second-hand and antiquarian books on a wide range of subjects and have books on a number of subjects including: Scottish, Art, Literature, History, and Philosophy. There are some really interesting antiquarian pop up books and a whole selection of classics and annuals.

Along side the more expensive collectable books are an assortment of fiction and non fiction modern books starting from £1.

I was quite impressed with my self control, as I only bought one book. It’s the only shop of it’s type in the Southside and is a great addition to Skirving Street. For more information contact youngsbooks@btinternet.com or 0141 6499599

Monday - Saturday 10am - 6pm

Thursday 10am - 7pm

Sunday 11am - 4pm

Gifts

Our post about Note: the other day sparked a small flurry of emails about other gift shop suggestions in the Southside - here are a few of them.

Pinkwafer: 36 Battlefield Road, Langside, Glasgow G42 9QH Telephone No: 0141 649 5362

Cupidus: 685 Clarkston Road, Glasgow, G44 3SE 01416333377

Regalia Gift shop: 1083 Pollokshaws Road

Butterfly Kisses: 8 Skirving Street,Shawlands
Glasgow, G41 3AA 0141 649 3552

Ok thats four but I'm sure there are lots more, who else has a suggestion of where to buy your last minute Christmas Gifts.

The Dresser's Room - 47 Skirving Street

Hidden at the bottom of Skirving Street, in Shawlands, is The Dresser's Room. This vintage boutique offers a real cacophony of vintage delights from across the eras. The lovely owner Jade Halbert, an experienced fashion editor and stylist, opened the boutique in April of this year.

Each piece in the store, whether it is one of the fabulous 1920's evening gowns or the 1940s coats and dresses has been expertly chosen, is unique and is very good quality. Jade also sells handbags and accessories by Pea Cooper and Dazed Dorothy

It's not just the clothing that is impressive the store itself and the presentation of the wears is impeccable. I could spend hours browsing and yes I did purchase a dress - I just couldn't help myself. Jade is very charismatic and obviously has a real passion for vintage clothing and her work in general. The Dresser's Room is very unique boutique and a great addition to Skirving Street.

Opening Hours:

Monday - Saturday 10am - 5.30pm

Thursday - 10am - 7pm

Sunday - Closed

Website

other articles about the dressers room

Urban Beauty - Pollokshaws Road

So on Saturday I tried out Urban Beauty on Pollokshaws Road, since it's been open - which is over a year - I've been meaning to drop in and check it out. Anyway I'd called on Friday and the first appoointment I could get was on Wednesday, but I was offered a place on their cancellation list. Well who ever had the 10am appointment had obviously been out the night before and had cancelled...result.

The interior of Urban beauty is really nice, it's quite small inside but well thought through and decorated. They have a large range of beauty and complementary therapy treatments including massage, skin treatment etc and all at reasonable prices,. I would recommend you try Urban Beauty the staff were lovely and really friendly and it's a nice and relaxing environment.

They are open late Wednesday to Friday.

916 Pollokshaws Road, Glasgow G41 2ET
Phone: 01416 166602

For more information click here

Candy Love

Last week a brill new shop opened in Shawlands and as you can see from the below I got a bit carried away taking photos but it all looked so tasty. I've not got a huge sweet tooth, but I find the colours, shapes and packaging of sweets very interesting and I love a good sweet shop.

The new shop is the run by Alison MacNeil, who is a very enthusiastic and friendly shop owner who is obviously very excited to be starting up this new business. This enthusiasm seemed to be rubbing off on the customers and everyone was leaving, laden with bags full of tasty treats.

On the opening day when I dropped in the whole family were in helping out, Alisons husband was putting up some more shelves and their two children were doing a tremendous young apprentice job of manning the til - spotting that I'd short changed (by accident) when I paid for my goods. It must be every kids dream, to have a mum who owns a sweet shop - they are prob the most popular kids in class now.

The shop stocks all the old school favourites, sour plumes, sherbet lemons etc plus a load of more designy up scale chocolate for giving out as gifts. There were a couple of items that I was looking for that they didn't stock but when I mentioned these to Alison she added them to a list of new products to buy in so Ann will be able to buy milky teeth soon.

With Woolworths closing, there was definitely a gap in the market for a pic n mix style shop and with the local schools nearby I think they will do well. If the new cinema at the Cell does go ahead just slightly further down the road then they could be sitting on a gold mine.

Despite me saying above that I don't have a sweet tooth, I still managed to go home with six packets of different sweets. The wee girls were also at the door of the shop, handing out a sample pack of mixed sweets to passers by. There was something very enjoyable about walking down the street and everyone you passed was chewing away with big smiles on their faces. Maybe there should be a new law about free sweets for all. Might make us all a bit happier though I suppose if there were loads of free sweets all our teeth would fall out so the smiles might be quite as nice.Opening times are initially 9 - 7 but this might change to match customer needs.

Candy Love - 1125 Pollokshaws Road, Shawlands, G41 3HY 0141 632 2700

En-Listed

As we mentioned before we were asked to write the introduction for a section on local shopping in the southside for the List. Sadly they chose not to go for our fake cover and used quite a scary looking lady instead. The guide itself is pretty good, though it turns out our introduction is actually the whole thing. Wish we had, had more space or been allowed to mention cafes/ delis etc - we could have filled a few pages listing great Southside places.

The guide covers all areas of Glasgow and there is even more to be found online at the List's website, just goes to show what good independant shops we have in Glasgow if you know where to look. (See below for a read of the article)

Cancer Research goes Vintage

Yesterday, while wandering around Shawlands in the sun, we stopped into the Cancer Research shop on Pollokshaws Road, to buy a couple of birthday cards. It’s one of the best charity shops in the area, it always has a good selection of second hand books, dvd’s and board games…and it has recently devoted a large section of the shop to their vintage and retro collection. The last time I was in the store, they had a few rails of vintage, but now they have a fun and quirky decorated area, to the rear of the shop dedicated to vintage and retro, selling female and male clothing, shoes, bags, jewellery and some retro items such as a telephone, vintage lamps and even some old classic films.

Jewellery and bags are displayed on antique furniture, some funky retro lights create a nicer light and atmosphere. They also have a large selection of vintage shoes…including a great pair of red ones, which unfortunately were not in my size, and a large selection of hats, scarves and bags.

I particularly like their handmade signage on the walls, made from pieces of vintage fabric.
The store sources their items from other Cancer Research Stores in Glasgow. Before Jackie and her collegue came up with the idea, vintage items were just mixed in with the rest of the stock, frequently these would end up being 'ragged'. Turning the store into a specialised vintage shop has increased the revenue dramatically. It means that customers looking for vintage now have a one stop shop, instead of looking through lots of charity shops for that perfect 50's dress, they just head for Pollokshaws Road.

Jackie told us the venture has been a great success, they have had customers travelling across the city and even from Edinburgh to browse the rails. 'They’ve heard about the store through word of mouth or from the 5.30 show which featured the store last month'

It’s a great venture, allowing you to find that perfect unusual dress or jacket and also giving to an important charity at the same time. If that vintage dress is just a little too big or too long you can always nip across the road to raw vintage and get them to alter it.

The Cancer Research shop is open Monday - Saturday
You can call the store on 0141 632 4961

If I had a hammer

About a month ago I set out to decorate my flat and while I admit I ordered my main wall paint from Tesco (boo - but it was £15.99 a tin cheaper than anywhere else) I did decide to buy all my other bits of equipment, brushes, white spirit, masking tape, dust sheets etc from the local shops.

I think that a decent local hardware store is a must have for an area. Its one of those shops that every area needs to make it feel complete - the other main ones being a butchers, a green grocers, a chemists and a news agents with a large old school sweetie selection.

Unfortunately with the increase in giant DIY stores around Glasgow a lot of the smaller independent stores have struggled as it is harder for them to match the cheap prices of the massive bulk buying superstores. With even Tesco now getting in on the DIY act, how do the smaller stores compete?
Well the main thing that the smaller stores have to their advantage is their staff. While in the big stores the staff are decently trained - they don't often have the same in depth knowledge and experience that the owners of these independent stores have. The staff in the larger stores also don't have the same time or inclination to have a good chat about what you are doing or advise about the best way to approach it.

The staff in the great wee DIY store Pearson Brothers on Minard Road support my claims. When I went into the store there were two customers ahead of me - both were older ladies who I suspect were partly in for some tools, partly in for some advice and partly in just for a bit of a chat.

Each customer was given a complete service, talked to about what they wanted to do and given help to choose the products that they needed - though one lady seemed to be only after a single nail - which sadly Pearson's is no longer able to provide, their nails now come in sealed mini packs.

Pearson's throughout most of its long life has been a decorators shop - specialising in paints, papers and pastes. Check out the photos above, they have dozens and dozens of different wallpapers. It feels a bit funny walking into the shop and seeing such a big choice in such a small area.

When I first moved back to the Southside a few years ago they were still predominately a decorators but slowly over the last few years they have started to widen their range as more customers came in looking for things and now the place is jammed to the gunnels with every DIY tool and apparatus that you can think of.

Within a minute of asking for the things I needed the extremely helpful shop assistant had buzzed all around the shop picking up different bits and bobs and I was able to get everything I needed. They really do sell tons, from yacht varnish to chalkboard paint, from drain cleaner to spirit levels.

I also had a nice chat about the history of the shop and about the old ironmongers that had been on the site before it.

Sadly due to my camera memory card going missing (pinched I think) it took me quite a few weeks to get round to writing up this post. Despite the delay, I've still only managed to finish two rooms - it always takes longer than you plan.


Support your local - shop south

Listing to the South

We have just been asked to write an introduction to a feature on Southside shopping for a future issue of The List magazine. Its to cover any and all shops apparently so will have to get our thinking caps on for interesting and unique Southside locations. If anyone has any suggestions for a favourite southside business then drop us an email.

Super bad design

We got an email from James Brown at the weekend. (Not the godfather of soul one RIP but another one who also it seems has his brushes with fame) James was alerting us to the fact that Somerfield on Victoria Road is to close its doors on the 28 February and reopen as a Lidl at the beginning of March.

James has a great post on his site about his experiences and thoughts on Somerfield here.

Got to admit I agree with him on Somerfield - it is the scafiest looking of all the supers closely followed by Morrisons - all that black and yellow, its like the shop is run by bees.

[For the same reasons that that yellow and black color scheme works for the cheap as chips discount DVD shop posted below I don't want the same feeling when I go into my supermarket - makes me feel like all the food is second hand or tainted in some way.]

Can't say I think too much of Lidl's graphics or colours scheme (see above) they tend to look like they have been made out of the cheapest material they could find and look about as attractive as a mechnao kit - why are so many supermarkets so badly designed graphically? Does that make us buy more food? Again I agree with James, the Co-op also gets my vote - its pretty nicely designed inside and the food is pretty good value and is reasonably ethical in its sourcing.

I've not really had much experience with Lidl, when they first opened in Scotland I did pop into one but through oddly displayed pricing I ended up buying an advent calender for £9 when I thought it was only 60p. It was very nice though with 3cm high 3D moulded chocolate figures each day that I felt guilty to eat - especially the little chocolate baby Jesus, he looked so sad - but was very tasty.

Whats black and yellow and goes toot toot?

In the first of our posts about local alternatives when it comes to your shopping, we thought we should make mention of this curious little southside institution. Started by Charlie Hayes on Pollokshaws Road before briefly flirting with a City Centre venue near Central Station - this bright banana of a store has been selling its wares for 20+ years. Despite its age and despite it being such a brightly coloured and identifiable part of the south - we didn't know anyone who had actually been into the shop.

Possibly that is to do with the stores unusual opening times for example its only open two hours on a Sunday. But when we asked a few people why they hadn't been in, they said that they thought it was a pirate DVD shop or catered for more adult interest. I guess I can see why people might have got that idea, the shop does use quite a lot of the same components that those kind of shops use - stark colours, hand written signs, bold text, no windows. It seems our friends weren't the only ones, as a sign on the front door states.

"We do not sell copies, pirate or adult material - DON'T EVEN ASK."

Must get annoying to be constantly asked for something you don't sell. We can reassure everyone (and probably disappoint a few) that there no pirate or adult items on sale - what they do sell are pretty decent pre-owned CD's and DVD's. They are also very interested in doing exchanges (hence the shops name) and also pay for your old unwanted discs which in the current climate might be a good scheme for making yourself an extra bit of dosh.

As you can see from the photos the inside of the shop is the Aladdin's cave that you would hope - with piles of DVD's and CD's lining the walls. There's a pretty good selection - obviously being an exchange shop its not all the latest releases but theres still plenty so choose from. I opened a few cases to check the health of the discs and am pleased to report no scratches or scuff marks on any of the disks I had a look at which is a failure a couple of other exchange stores I know of have suffered from.

That this little places has kept going for 20+ years while bigger places like Woolies and Zaavi have started closing their doors means they must be doing something right. I bet they've seen a lot of changes for a start they won't need as much storage these days compared to the days of records, VHS and cassettes. (How rubbish were cassettes? - it seems weird to think we'd all carry piles of these odd shaped bits of plastic now we live in the mp3 era.)

I must admit I strangely like the decor of the shop - maybe I'm just so used to seeing it, but there is something charming about its hand crafted nature and it certainly gives the place some character - even if it is a bit in your face. Currently there is a sale on - with £2 off any DVD and a further 50p off if you take along the voucher below - with DVD's costing about £6 its no a bad bargain and with Woolies no longer around - its one of the few stores in the Queens Park area where you can pick a quick DVD or CD for a birthday present.

Anyway - what do people think? Who's used Record Exchange? Did you get a good deal? Anyone have any further suggestions on places in the south to get music etc from?

Butterfly Kisses - Skirving Street

The New Butterfly Kisses shop, on Skirving street in Shawlands, has been open for a couple of months now. I have been meaning to call in and have a browse, but with us being away in Japan and the crazy festive period I've not had a chance. However I came across these pictures on the Glasgow Architecture website today. The place looks great - it's been beautifully designed by Jonathan McQuillan. I've attached a few links to some articles about the new shop...but I can't find an actual website for the shop. I'll let you know what it's like once I've been

Glasgow Architecture and Scottish Architecture