Glasgow Shopping

From Urban Outfitters to Diesel and The White Company, Glasgow city centre is packed with the best fashion names and brilliant independent boutiques. Plus with a great choice of cool cafes, smart eateries and bars to stop at en route, no wonder Glasgow is one of Britain's best-loved shopping destinations.

One of the delights of shopping in Glasgow is the fact that everything is within easy walking distance, and bang in the heart of the city is Buchanan Street, the main shopping thoroughfare. Start at the Buchanan Galleries shopping mall. It houses all the best high street names, including John Lewis, Mango, Miss Selfridge and Gap and leads out onto Buchanan Street's buzzy stream of shoppers, where you'll easily come upon hip high-street favourites like Topshop, Zara and Urban Outfitters, and classic brands like Russell and Bromley and L'Occitane. USC is home to some of the hottest women and menswear labels around and the spanking new Apple Store will leave you itching to update your iPod, too.

Keep wandering down the street and you'll come upon more big names and worthwhile little off-shoot detours, including L.K. Bennett and a bustling Borders bookshop. Entrading in West Regent Street is most definitely worth a visit, for household pieces that put a designer spin on eco-friendly design. And, for anyone who ever wanted to make like Jean Paul Gaultier or Guy Ritchie, and wear a kilt on occasion, Slater Menswear in Howard Street is the place for you.

You'll also find some of Glagsow's gorgeous historic shopping malls at the south side of Buchanan Street, including the majestic Princes Square, and the delectably pretty early 19th-century Argyll Arcade, with its little rows of antique stores and traditional and contemporary jewellers like The Diamond Studio - a slick new kid on the block.

Then there's the city's flagship department store, House of Fraser, where you can shop to your heart's content and pick up everything from smart lifestyle goods to cosmetic brands like Stila and Mac, and designer collections by the likes of Donna Karan, Paul Smith and Pringle. Meanwhile, the St. Enoch Centre - at the foot of Buchanan Street - is home to one of the UK's largest Debenhams stores.