Best Gift & Specialty Shops in Ireland You REALLY Should Visit if You Want to Impress Someone
Finding the best gift & specialty shops in Ireland is as easy as finding a good pint of Guinness. After all, it’s a place where local artisans always preserve culture and heritage through artistic endeavours.
The country is known for its rich culture and natural beauty—an inspiration you can find in their local handicrafts and products. In this article, we’ll talk about where you can find such lovely and unique trinkets for gifting.
Cost of Buying in Gift Shops in Ireland
It’s quite difficult to break down the rates of items you can find in Irish gift shops. The cost of each item varies depending on several factors like who made it, how it’s made, and the materials it’s made of.
But to give you an accurate average cost, we made sure to consult different sources like blogs and customer reviews, and this is what we found out: on average, you’ll spend around €200.00 in gift shops.
This €200.00 can either be one decent large gift or a collection of small trinkets you can find. If it’s not for a special someone, the latter will be a good idea so you can give gifts to many people.
Top Gift & Specialty Shops in Ireland
These are the criteria we’ll use to evaluate the best gift shops in Ireland:
1. Burren Perfumery
| Location and vicinity | ★★★★☆ (4/5) |
| Gift selections | ★★★★☆ (4/5) |
| Customer reviews | ★★★★☆ (4/5) |
| Staff behaviour | ★★★★☆ (4/5) |
| Extra services | ★★★★☆ (4/5) |
What we love about the Burren Perfumery is that it has a unique concept – its perfumes and cosmetics are inspired by the Irish landscape. It’s also a family-owned business, which gives its products a more personal touch.
The place itself was lovely—even though it’s quite difficult to find and access since it’s a hidden gem. It’s like a miniature oasis—it’s surrounded by nature and will give you instant peace when you step on it.
We love their products as well—mostly perfume and cosmetics that they make in the Blending Room. The place also has its own Herb Garden where they provide visitors samples of herbs they use.
Another thing—there’s a perfume workshop you can attend. There’s also a 20-minute free tour the place conducts for visitors at least twice a day.
We think you’ll also love the Tea Room where they serve organic breads, pastries, and cakes. This is one of the highlights of the visitors whom we talked to—amazing cakes and teas that are made from natural ingredients!
Don’t expect cheap pricing though. The products are handmade and are made from organic ingredients, so you’d need to shell out more than what you’re probably willing to shell out—but we think it’s worth it!
Also, make sure you call the Burren Perfumery before you go. There are instances wherein the place is closed when you arrive because it wasn’t announced in the website or their pages.
Customer Reviews
Has a perfume workshop
Took part in the”Introduction to Perfume making Workshop”. Fantastic, really enjoyable and delivered by a very knowledgeable lady who made us feel at ease from the off. Really friendly staff in the café also. One of the best days ever. Can’t wait to visit again soon
—Departure41803571189, Trip Advisor
Beautiful facility with high-quality products
I’ve visited several times – both alone and with family members. The facility is beautiful, and the products smell amazing and are handmade with the highest regard to quality. They offer very interesting free 20-minute tours a couple of times a day. Also, there is a cafe on site with delicious light meals and cakes/pastries. Highly recommend!!
—Bajan Girl, Google Reviews
2. Kilkenny Architectural Salvage & Antiques
| Location and vicinity | ★★★★★ (5/5) |
| Gift selections | ★★★★★ (5/5) |
| Customer reviews | ★★★★☆ (4/5) |
| Staff behaviour | ★★★★☆ (4/5) |
| Extra services | ★★★★☆ (4/5) |
Kilkenny Architectural Salvage & Antiques offers mostly unique garden items and furniture, but they sell other gifts that you might find interesting. It’s a family-owned business located on the north side of Kilkenny, so it’s easy to access.
What we love about the place the most is that you can get unique gifts here. In fact, that’s the reason why people drive an hour to get here—to get unique gifts and items like mantle sleepers, mirrors, barrels, and wrought iron garden stakes among others.
We love that the store also does customisations. So in case you need to customise some items, just let them know!
The delivery is fast and flawless as well! Since some items are huge, you need to have them delivered, and you’ll get them in no time!
We love that the staff are accommodating as well. Let them know what you want and they can recommend or discuss information with you—they are knowledgeable about their products, and we appreciate that!
Most of their items are yard items, but like what we have mentioned, there’s a bit of everything for everyone. So if you’re looking for a place that offers unique gifts, this antique shop is one of the best places to go.
Just a little heads-up—while some items have reasonable prices, the others might be way above your budget. So just don’t expect things to be really cheap, that’s all!
Customer Reviews
Great delivery service
Delighted with the whole lot. Excellent service, product and delivery. Real cast iron crest, great detail, couple of pounds weight and looks great on my backyard bar. I’m so impressed with it I’m ordering another one to hang on the wall. Thanks Harry it’s exactly what I wanted.
—Anthony Roles, Google Reviews
Has some unique gifts
Got some lovely bike plaques. Very happy with items and price.Delivery fast. Great site to get unique gifts.if I’m ever in Kilkenny will definitely try and visit.
—Pip Spock, Google Reviews
3. Jam Art Factory
| Location and vicinity | ★★★★★ (5/5) |
| Gift selections | ★★★★★ (5/5) |
| Customer reviews | ★★★★☆ (4/5) |
| Staff behaviour | ★★★★☆ (4/5) |
| Extra services | ★★★★☆ (4/5) |
If the one you’re giving a gift to is an art lover, the Jam Art Factory is the best place to visit. Located in Dublin, near Temple Bar, the place is easily accessible to anyone in the area.
What its patrons love the most is that it gives a chance to showcase the art of local artists. This is the reason why the shop has various unique art—they come from different artistic minds, which is a good thing.
We love that every day is a free exhibit for customers who step inside the shop. It’s quite small, so it might be a little too crowded during busy hours, but worth every visit because of the amazing and unique art you can find.
We also appreciate that while it’s an art shop, you can find other various gifts. There are books, jewellery, bags, candles, cards, and even concrete!
We also like that the store does easy deliveries. Their website is full of prints and art which you can easily click and order online, or you can visit and order from them in person.
Speaking of prints, some customers who order online told us that the art gallery really does give you high-quality fine prints. You don’t be disappointed with their products because they’re worth every penny (reasonable pricing as well)!
Just a heads-up though that there are more items online than on-site. This is probably because the on-site shop is a little too small for all art to be displayed, which is understandable.
Customer Reviews
Great art selection from local artists
What a great find!! John and Ruth were very helpful, friendly and went above and beyond to help me get my pieces in my luggage. They have a great collection of art all from LOCAL artists! I had a hard time deciding what to buy!
—Jodivowinkel, Trip Advisor
Quality prints
Fantastic selection of eclectic and imaginative print designs to choose from.
All the better that they are created by local Irish artists! I ordered 2 prints online from the website which was smooth and user friendly. I was thrilled with the speed of delivery and quality of the printed result. When I contacted them after delivery, Customer Service was above and beyond what I could have expected. The response was prompt, friendly, extremely kind and helpful..
—Shaki Henry, Trip Advisor
4. Skelligs Chocolate Co.
| Location and vicinity | ★★★★☆ (4/5) |
| Gift selections | ★★★★☆ (4/5) |
| Customer reviews | ★★★★☆ (4/5) |
| Staff behaviour | ★★★★☆ (4/5) |
| Extra services | ★★★★★ (5/5) |
For the sweet tooth gift receivers, Skelligs Chocolate Co. is the best shop to visit. Chocolates might be a common gift, but it’s also a gift that will always be appreciated—with or without a sweet tooth.
For one, chocolates are sweet, but there’s also a hint of bitterness that balances the saccharinity. This makes it an ideal and practical gift for just about anyone!
It’s always nicely packaged too. And what we love about this shop is that your chocolates can be wrapped as party favours if you like!
Another thing we love about this shop is that you have the opportunity to see how the chocolates are made. And in addition to this—you can get a free taste before you purchase anything, which is a total treat if you ask us!
We also love that there are just various chocolate flavours! So whatever the recipient of your gift wants, Skelligs probably has that flavour!
It has a coffee shop where you can relax after your tour of the place. If you haven’t had enough of the chocolatey presence, you should pass by the cafe as well.
It’s easily accessible by the way. The roads to Skelligs are smooth, and you won’t have a hard time finding it as well.
One warning though—there are days when it closes without announcements. Make sure you call the day before just to confirm they’re open the next day, or you’ll find yourself travelling for nothing.
Customer Reviews
Free taste-test
Probably the best chocolate I’ve ever had! It was a quiet rainy day but the staff was very attentive and extremely helpful with tasting / recommending products. It was quite cool as well to see how many people were working and producing the chocolate.
—Kris Boudreau, Google Reviews
You can watch how chocolates are made
If you love chocolate, you can’t not go to it.. its a bit out of the way but worth it. You can watch the process in operation and then taste before purchase. There is also a coffee shop.
—William O’ Connor, Google Reviews
5. Brian de Staic Jewellers
| Location and vicinity | ★★★★★ (5/5) |
| Gift selections | ★★★★☆ (4/5) |
| Customer reviews | ★★★★☆ (4/5) |
| Staff behaviour | ★★★★★ (5/5) |
| Extra services | ★★★★★ (5/5) |
While there are other various jewellers in Ireland, we can say that Brian de Staic Jewellers is one of those that stands out. It offers not only the typical classic jewellery, but also unique designs you can’t just find elsewhere!
In fact, according to some patrons we managed to talk to for a while told us that whenever they want to buy a gift for a special someone, they get it from here. The shop has various jewellery available you have many options to choose from!
In addition to this, we love that the jewellery shop can customise jewellery depending on how you want it to look like. It’ll cost additional money, but we think it’s worth splurging on most especially if it can give you that personal touch!
We also appreciate the staff for being so well-versed in their products. They can give design recommendations or give more information if you need to.
We honestly think that the craftsmanship is high-quality as well. Their jewellery is intricately designed, and you can easily see the effort and the time spent to put together such lovely pieces!
Again, please don’t expect the price to be cheap because these are handcrafted jewellery. But the end product is worth it that the recipient of your gift will truly appreciate the gesture.
Customer Reviews
Quality jewellery
What can one say, but to only experience and have a little peace of this fine recreation of Celtic and Irish history. Thank you to all thee wonderful caring staff in your Kerry shop.
—John Gray, Google Reviews
Unique designs
My daughter and I couldn’t wait to get there, and we were not disappointed!
She chose a gorgeous marcasite and emerald ring and a Bridget’s Cross necklace. I purchased a sterling band of shamrocks and one of Brian’s original design’s in a sterling necklace!! We could have stayed another hour, easily! The staff was so charming and helpful even when a large tour bus unloaded!
—Terri Flynn, Google Reviews