Shop by craft
Best of Glasgow; search or filter for all 28
Albino, Bergamo, Italy (Founded Glasgow, 1822)
The other great Scottish shirting name, founded in Glasgow in 1822. DJA was the preferred fabric of London's West End tailors and supplied the British military for over a century.
Best for Bold-striped and checked Scottish shirting woven by Albini
Saltmarket
A micro-batch bean-to-bar chocolate maker in Glasgow, founded by Cameron, a former automotive mechanical engineer, and Lara, a food photographer and chef, working from a railway arch and making chocolate in roughly 30kg batches.
Best for Glasgow micro-batch bean-to-bar chocolate
Bare Bones Chocolate is run by two founders, Cameron and Lara, who came to chocolate from unrelated careers: Cameron worked as a mechanical engineer in the automotive industry, and Lara was a food photographer and chef who had worked with chefs and food producers in London. Operating from a railway arch in central Glasgow, they make chocolate in small batches of around 30 kilograms at a time, roasting cacao on a modified coffee roaster adapted for the purpose rather than standard chocolate-industry equipment. Their bars are made without soya lecithin, added vegetable fats, or other industrial additives, a stripped-back approach reflected in the 'Bare Bones' name. The business also carries an explicit sustainability angle in its packaging: boxes are made from recycled paper coffee cups, wrappers are plant-based material sourced from Vegware, and all packaging is designed to be recyclable or compostable, sourced within the UK. The chocolate has been recognized by the Academy of Chocolate's awards, and chef Rick Stein has been quoted praising it directly on the company's own materials.
West End
An independent bespoke jeweler designing and making fine jewelry in its Glasgow workshop.Established 2012.
Best for Bespoke fine jewelry designed and made in a Glasgow workshop since 2012
Blair & Sheridan was formed in March 2012 by Douglas Blair and Roddy Sheridan, who brought complementary backgrounds to the partnership: Blair as a jewellery designer and goldsmith, Sheridan as a specialist in diamonds and precious stones. The pair had worked together for years before opening as a joint business in Glasgow's West End, on Great Western Road near Kelvinbridge.
The workshop designs and makes its jewelry in-house, specializing in bespoke engagement, wedding and eternity rings alongside bracelets, earrings, necklaces and pendants made to individual commission. The business sources diamonds and gemstones directly from Antwerp's diamond district, and has built more than a decade of experience working with lab-grown diamonds, which it positions as a lower-impact alternative to mined stones for clients who want that option.
The shop operates by appointment, allowing for unhurried, one-to-one consultations on bespoke commissions rather than walk-in retail. Beyond the workshop, Roddy Sheridan has served on the fundraising board of Maggie's Glasgow, a charity supporting people affected by cancer, reflecting a community tie the business has maintained alongside its trade.
West End
Family-run secondhand and antiquarian bookshop on Great Western Road at Kelvinbridge in Glasgow's West End, established 1986, spanning two floors with a strong stock of Scottish literature, history and philosophy titles.
Best for Secondhand and antiquarian books since 1986
Caledonia Books has traded as a family-run secondhand and antiquarian bookshop since 1986, on Great Western Road near Kelvinbridge in Glasgow's West End. The shop is known for a densely packed interior - books arranged in rows on the floor, piled in boxes, and stacked to the ceiling across two floors - with particular strength in Scottish, literature, art, history and philosophy titles. Stock is almost entirely secondhand and sold at modest prices, with genuinely rare or antiquarian volumes the exception rather than the rule.
Glasgow
Category Is Books is an independent LGBTQIA+ bookshop at 34 Allison Street in the southside of Glasgow, describing itself as a space for queer books, history, art, activism and storytelling.
Best for Queer books and community bookshop
Victorian Market, Inverness, Scotland
Colin Campbell founded this goldsmith's workshop in 1975 after completing his apprenticeship in Glasgow, and has run it from Inverness's Victorian Market since 2000. His son Paul, also apprenticeship-trained, now works alongside him on bespoke commissions and a workshop that handles around 100 repairs a week.
Best for Bespoke gold and silver jewellery, repairs
Kelvinbridge
East End Press makes colourful paper decorations and stationery designed in Glasgow and screen-printed by hand in Jaipur. Its garlands and greeting cards use paper made from recycled cotton pulp. The shop at 427 Great Western Road is beside Kelvinbridge Subway Station and carries the brand's full collection alongside other selected gifts.
Best for Hand-printed paper garlands and stationery in Kelvinbridge
East End Press begins with a printmaker's interest in colour. Its garlands and paper decorations use screen-printing, a process that can leave small variations between impressions. Those slightly offset colours are part of the appearance, rather than something the studio tries to remove. Recycled cotton pulp forms the paper used for its own products.
Designer Ellie Hodesdon started the business in Glasgow in 2015. Production initially happened there too, but the growing garland range outgrew her setup. In 2018 she went to Jaipur to find printmakers, and a family there continues to make the brand's products. The distinction matters when choosing a souvenir: these are Glasgow designs with Indian printing and making, rather than a claim of entirely Scottish manufacture.
The shop is at 427 Great Western Road, beside Kelvinbridge Subway Station. It carries the full East End Press collection and a selection of other gifts. Greeting cards and wrapping paper offer smaller purchases. Garlands and hanging decorations are options for bringing colour to a room.
Hyndland, Glasgow
Good Story mixes unisex knitwear and organic-cotton basics with candles, drinkware and skincare in Hyndland. The lifestyle edit favours functional, quietly designed pieces across clothing and home categories.
Best for Unisex knitwear, organic-cotton basics, candles, drinkware, and skincare.
West End, Glasgow
A shop carrying Nordic and British textiles, glassware, fragrance, plants, books, and locally knitted toys. Owner Karen Harvey selects the shop’s Nordic and British brands.
Best for Nordic and British textiles, glassware
Kelvinbridge, Glasgow
A group of rooms selling ethically sourced homeware, Japanese tableware, candles, soaps, brushes, and handmade decorations.
Best for Ethically sourced homeware, Japanese tableware, candles, and handmade decorations
Kelvin Rooms occupies the first floor of 39A Otago Street, above the Perch & Rest café at the corner of Otago Street and Otago Lane, in Glasgow's Kelvinbridge district. Trading online as Kelvin Apothecary, the shop describes its purpose as helping to 'promote a more conscious, ethical way of life' by 'creating and curating functional and beautiful lifestyle products using sustainable, raw materials and processes' — a philosophy that shapes both the goods it stocks and, in some cases, those it makes itself. The range spans ethically sourced homeware, Japanese tableware, candles, soaps, and brushes, alongside handmade decorative pieces, assembled with an emphasis on natural materials and traceable, low-impact production over mass-manufactured alternatives. The shop is a small, team-run operation; its published materials name Emma, credited with the founding vision, working alongside production manager Niamh on sourcing and making. Set within a converted first-floor space rather than a ground-level shopfront, Kelvin Rooms functions as much as a considered, editorially curated selection of sustainable lifestyle goods as a conventional shop — its stated aim being to keep customers 'in touch with nature' through the everyday objects it sells, from tableware to bath and body items, sourced or made with an explicit ethical standard running through the range.
City Centre
Independent record shop at 34 Dundas Street, Glasgow, near Queen Street Station; buys and sells new and secondhand vinyl and CDs across rock, metal, punk, soul, hip hop, reggae and jazz, with a strong Scottish-artist selection.
Best for Scottish vinyl, new releases and used records
Love Music is an independent record shop at 34 Dundas Street in Glasgow, just beside Queen Street Station. It buys and sells CDs and vinyl LPs seven days a week, stocking new releases alongside secondhand stock, with a particular strength in rock music and a stated bias toward Scottish acts. Sections cover metal, punk, reissues, Americana and country rock, soul, hip hop, reggae, jazz, blues, electronica and dance, soundtracks, world music, audiobooks and comedy.
City Centre
Independent secondhand record shop at 51 Oswald Street, Glasgow, established 1984. Sells used vinyl, CDs and DVDs organized alphabetically by genre, plus mail-order sales online.
Best for Secondhand vinyl across genres
Missing Records has operated in Glasgow since 1984, currently trading from 51 Oswald Street in the city centre. It is an independent secondhand shop dealing in used vinyl, CDs and DVDs across genres, with stock organized alphabetically to aid browsing, including limited-edition box sets and collectible pressings. According to long-time customers, the business has gone through several changes in scale over the decades, at one point operating as many as four or five outlets, before consolidating back down to its current single Glasgow shop.
West End
Mixed Up Records is an independent record shop in Glasgow's West End, buying and selling new and secondhand vinyl since 1997. The Otago Lane shop also stocks CDs and DVDs across genres from jazz to punk.
Best for New and secondhand vinyl, CDs and DVDs across every genre
Tucked into Otago Lane in Glasgow's West End, Mixed Up Records has been buying and selling vinyl since 1997, making it one of the city's longer-running independent record shops. The stock runs wide rather than narrow: new pressings and reissues sit alongside secondhand crates spanning blues and jazz through punk, electronic, hip hop, reggae, soul and world music, plus a rotating stack of CDs and DVDs. The shop also buys collections outright, a service it promotes directly to customers looking to sell or downsize, with staff on hand to talk through what's being offered. Seasonal sales - a summer clearance, a dedicated CD sale, a running "back in stock" shelf - keep the browsing changing without turning the shop into a pure bargain bin, and pre-order and new-release sections track current titles from major and independent labels alike. The physical store at 16-22 Otago Lane keeps regular hours, Monday to Saturday, and ships UK orders with free delivery over £75. For a shop operating in a city with no shortage of record stores, the mix of depth (new releases, pre-orders, reissues) and turnover (secondhand stock bought weekly from local sellers) is what keeps regulars coming back rather than just passing through once.
Merchant City, Glasgow
A home and gift shop selling European-sourced glassware, candles, stationery, and decorative objects. The business moved from a Barras Market stall into a permanent Saltmarket-area shop in 2024.
Best for European glassware, candles, and stationery
Modern Love Store sells design-led homeware and stationery at 8 Parnie Street in Glasgow city centre. It is a short street beside the railway line where a pet shop has traded for over a hundred years. Owner Sarah Gibbons started the business in 2020, when her career in music events stopped under lockdown restrictions. Her own house was already full of the colourful objects she liked. She asked two friends whether they would buy such things if she imported them from Holland and Denmark. They said yes and helped her at the start. The first physical spot was in the Cooperage on Glasgow's Southside, followed by a two-year stint at the Barras market. Then came the move to Parnie Street, where the shop number eight happens to be her lucky number. The shop describes itself as small and independent, and women-owned. It stocks only pieces the owners would welcome into their own homes. Hand-blown glass vases and quirky candlesticks sit with stationery and tableware sourced mostly from Europe and America, along with work by local artists. The Sunday Times Style Magazine has listed it among the UK's fifty most stylish independent shops, a listing the shop cites on its own site. Online orders can be collected in the shop or delivered within the UK.
Merchant City
An independent record shop closely connected to Glasgow’s labels, musicians and live-music community. Established 2002.
Best for Deep ties to Glasgow's labels, musicians, and live-music scene since 2002
Monorail Music opened in December 2002, the result of what its founders describe as a three-year search for the right location and business model. The founders identified what they saw as a gap in Glasgow's cultural landscape — a city with a genuinely vibrant music scene that nonetheless lacked, in their words, "a great record shop" — and set out to build the kind of independent shop they themselves would seek out while traveling. It first opened in modest premises that had previously housed a Mexican restaurant, before later relocating to its current site at 97 King Street, within Kings Court in Glasgow's Merchant City. From early on, Monorail positioned itself as more than a retail counter: the shop built close working relationships with figures and organizations central to Glasgow's independent music scene, including the promoters Optimo, the label Chemikal Underground, and bands Teenage Fanclub, Belle & Sebastian and Mogwai, treating the shop as a community meeting point as much as a point of sale. That community-first approach has remained the shop's identity through more than two decades of trading.
Merchant City
Independent vintage clothing shop founded in the 1990s in Glasgow's Virginia Galleries, now trading from Kings Court on King Street in the Merchant City. Stock includes antique wedding dresses, vintage bowling shoes and retro football tops.
Best for Long-running vintage clothing in Merchant City
Mr Ben Retro Clothing was founded in the 1990s in the Virginia Galleries in central Glasgow, an arcade of independent boutiques in the city's Merchant City district. The shop has since relocated to its current premises at Kings Court, 101 King Street, still within the Merchant City area, and has become one of the longest-running retro and vintage clothing stores in Scotland. Its stock spans an unusually wide range - antique wedding dresses, vintage bowling shoes, retro football shirts, fur coats, denim, jackets, jewellery and woollens - much of it labelled with the era and, in some cases, the origin of the piece.
Merchant City (Kings Court, King Street)
A vintage clothing shop in Kings Court, the courtyard off King Street near the Trongate, stocked with garments from the 1960s through the 1980s. Rails hold jackets, dresses, footwear and accessories alongside period Levi's, Converse and Dr Martens.
Best for 1960s-80s vintage clothing
Thornwood, Glasgow
Orzel is an independent menswear shop in Glasgow's Thornwood area that offers clothing and accessories from several labels. Its brand list includes Corridor and orSlow, alongside Kestin and other makers selected for the shop. The physical store gives customers somewhere to try garments and discuss fit, complementing the business's online catalogue.
Best for Independent-label menswear in Glasgow’s Thornwood
Orzel is an independent menswear shop in the Thornwood area of Glasgow, founded by Grant Agnew, who has cited independent boutiques in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood as a direct influence on the shop's format and curation approach: a small, conversational, try-before-you-buy retail experience rather than a high-volume sales floor. The shop's own description invites customers to try things on and talk shop rather than simply browse, positioning it closer to the specialist menswear shops of New York's independent scene than to conventional British high-street retail. Its buy is built around premium American and European labels including 3sixteen, Corridor, Lady White Co., Wythe, Orslow, Kestin, Phigvel, and Service Works, spanning outerwear, knitwear, shirting, and footwear, alongside Glasgow-made watches and an in-house accessories line developed under the Orzel name itself, giving the shop both a curated multi-brand assortment and its own small manufactured range. The emphasis across the buy is stated explicitly as pieces intended to age beautifully, aligning the shop's selection criteria with a durability- and patina-focused reading of menswear rather than seasonal trend-driven stock.
West End
A Glasgow-born independent watchmaker known for design-led mechanical and quartz watches.Established 2013.
Best for Design-led mechanical and quartz watches from a Glasgow-born independent watchmaker, established 2013
Southside
A record shop and cafe on Glasgow's Southside stocking new and used vinyl across a broad range of genres. Coffee and cake share the space, and the shop hosts in-store sessions and signings.
Best for Coffee and cake share the space
Some Great Reward opened in March 2018, founded by Olly MacFadden, who grew up in the area and still lives locally. The shop grew out of his own rekindled interest in buying vinyl, turning a personal record-collecting habit into a business combining a record store and cafe on Glasgow's Southside. It takes its name from Depeche Mode's 1984 album 'Some Great Reward,' giving the shop a specific musical reference point rather than a generic name. Originally located on Pollokshaws Road, the shop moved in September 2022 to a new space nearby at The Cooperage, Unit 2, 674 Pollokshaws Road, still in the Southside. The record side stocks new and used vinyl across a broad range of genres, described by the shop's own materials as sourcing 'some of the very best new and rare music around,' while the cafe side serves coffee and cake for customers browsing or settling in. The shop hosts in-store sessions and signings, functioning as a small community music venue as well as a retailer. It has been covered by Glasgow culture press including The Skinny, Skiddle and What's On Glasgow, consistent with its standing as an established, still-operating Southside fixture rather than a recent or transient opening.
Mount Florida
An independent gift shop presenting work by Scottish artists, illustrators and makers. Established 2015.
Best for Work by Scottish artists, illustrators, and makers, est. 2015
East End
Glasgow’s historic weekend market of independent vintage, antiques, records, food and specialist traders.Established 1921.
Best for Vintage, antiques, records, and food from independent traders since 1921
City Centre
An independent specialist merchant for whisky, rum, gin, wine and other fine drinks. Established 2011.
Best for Whisky, rum, gin, and fine wine since 2011
West End
Glasgow textile and wallpaper studio founded 1990 by Alistair McAuley and Paul Simmons, Glasgow School of Art graduates; hand-prints its designs in a three-floor West End mill studio.
Best for Textiles and wallpaper from this Glasgow studio, est. 1990
Timorous Beasties was founded in Glasgow in 1990 by Alistair McAuley and Paul Simmons, who met while studying textile design at the Glasgow School of Art. The company began in a small studio on Raeberry Street before moving to its present West End site, housed in an old Glasgow mill-brick building and now spanning three floors, where its hand-printed fabrics, wallpapers, cushions, bed linen and home accessories are designed and produced. The studio is known for surreal, provocative motifs that subvert traditional decorative patterns. It has won industry recognition including the Walpole Award for Best Emerging British Luxury Brand (2007) and British Luxury Design Talent (2010), and now operates branded showrooms in Glasgow, London and Berlin.
Partick, Glasgow
A shop selling mid-century furniture, lighting, ceramics, fabrics, clothing, records, and locally poured candles. Jill Rodger runs the shop.
Best for Mid-century furniture, lighting, ceramics, records
Glasgow / United Kingdom
The Glasgow second-hand bookshop Voltaire & Rousseau has packed its Otago Lane rooms in the West End with pre-loved, antiquarian and rare titles. Alongside the walk-in shop, open 10am to 6pm Monday to Saturday, it runs a full online catalogue spanning first editions to 10-pound paperbacks.
Best for Secondhand-books, antiquarian, rare-books
West End
A family-run secondhand and antiquarian bookshop packed with rare, academic and literary titles.
Best for Secondhand literature, academic books and unexpected editions
Southside
Working pottery studio and shop on Pollokshaws Road in Glasgow's Southside, founded by potter Jen Smith in 2019, producing wheel-thrown functional stoneware for the home and table.
Best for Wheel-thrown functional stoneware made in-studio
Neighbourhood walks
Area names come from each shop’s published address record; ORBIS does not invent neighbourhoods.
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