Baba-Shop (Granada, Spain)

    Calle San Antón, 16
    18005 Granada
    Spain
    Phone: +34 958 521 638
    Website

Baba-Shop is a must stop for me each time I visit Granada.

Tucked away in Calle San Antón, this bazaar has an ample shop with a large but non flashy shop window.

This would have been my perfect shop if it had existed when I was at University as it has everything that my younger self (a bit hidden now underneath my more glamorous me) loved and love: unique pieces of clothing and jewellery, colour, textures, earthy stuff, alternative fashion, world jewellery and decoration items, new-hippy, hipster, grunge - Paradise! Their website does not make justice to the shop.

I don't wear the sort of clothing they have or most of their accessories any more, but I do still wear and purchase some of the pendants and jewellery they sell, which are always beautiful and original. I super-love their silver jewellery cabinet, which is not too expensive for foreigners (a bit for locals).

This is a pricey shop in general, which offers sales just on sales periods. That is possible because they have a loyal clientele who returns over and over again, and prefer to pay for one unique alternative piece than for three mass-produced ones.

The attendants are matter of fact and won't bother you in your browsing unless you want them to open the magic cabinet or bring something down from the upper shelves. Browse peacefully, buy if you want.

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Swarovski Boutique (Perth WA)

Shop 3, 140 William St
Perth Western Australia 6000
(08) 9481 0047
Hours   
   Mon - Thu: 09:30 - 18:00
   Fri: 09:30 - 21:00
   Sat: 09:30 - 17:00
   Sun: 11:00 - 17:00
Website
Facebook

If you love good bling, you certainly love Swarovski crystals and Swarovsky exclusive branded jewellery, accessories and decoration figurines.

The shop at 200 Murray Street (also listed as 3/140 William St) replaced the now closed  small shop at Carillon. The boutique is large, with ample space to move around and browse the numerous wall and table cabinets. Most of the pieces are locked, except for some of their charms range. Their shopping windows are always beautiful and eye-catching.

The pieces at Swarovski range from the utterly beautiful and timeless to the daring baroque, from the classic to the just this season outrageous, and from the old lady to the spoilt-rotten little girl.

Prices are high, but you pay quality crystal from a renowned brand. However, they have seasonal sales and discounts, some of them considerable when new seasonal items are brought into the shop. The timeless pieces, though, are rarely reduced. They packaging and shopping bags are beautiful.

The service is good but a bit lacking and uptight at times. I think it can be explained by the fact that a huge amount of visitors enter the shop just to browse around. I do so regularly. However, once they see your interest, even if it is just to try something on, the guys are very helpful and nice.  

They accept exchanges within a 14-day period, if they are returned in their original packaging and tags attached. However, they do not accept returns for change of mind or during sales.

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Tayha Designs (Mt Lawley, Perth WA)

Shop 4, Astor Arcade
665 Beaufort St
Mt Lawley WA 6050
(08) 9371 6566
Website
Facebook
Hours:
    Mon-Sat: 10am-5pm

Tayha Designs is a tiny rocket pocket of a jewellery, selling only Western Australian jewels (designed and made in WA by Western Australian designers). It is located at the bottom end of the Astor Arcade, in Mount Lawley. I have passed thousands times by this shop, always sticking my nose to their shop window and telling myself that next time I am going to come in. And here I am to comment on my experience.  

Tayha sells solid silver and pearl designs made by the in-house jeweller Taryn Compagnoni, and by other local artists: Tamara Dixon, Amanda Hasenkam, Elizabeth Hesler, Kate McGregor. Roland Laval, Irvine Hay and Gillian Cordiner. The styles are varied, from the edgy, cool, creative, high design, or classic.

The do not only sell jewellery. They offer much more:
1/ They repair and clean your jewellery.
2/ They will melt your old stuff if you don't like it and turn it into whatever you want: earrings, necklace, ring. Anything.
3/ They will make come true any design that pops up in your head, wedding rings included.
4/ They will reproduce any drawing, mostly simple, you happen to like and turn it into a pendant.
5/ The shop has a workshop inside, where the in-house jeweller works, so they can adjust anything you buy on the spot.

Prices go from moderate to very expensive. Still, you can find unique earrings for 60-70 dollars. They rarely make sales or discounts, which is a pity and a bit inexcusable.

The quality of the silver, pearls and of the design is very good. The earrings I bought from them have caught the attention of many people already and they ask me if I bought them in Europe. No, in WA!

Customer service is excellent, by both the shop attendant and the young lady who happens to be the jeweller.

If you are the lazy kind, you can shop through their online shop, but as it always happens in these cases, what they offer online and in the shop is never the same or look the same.

The place looks posh from the outside, and a bit intimidating for your wallet, but the ladies inside will show and let you try anything you want, even if you tell them you are not going to buy anything. That is cool.

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Kartique (Mt Lawley, Perth WA)

559 Beaufort St
Mt Lawley Western Australia 6050
(08) 6161 7179
Website
Facebook
Hours:
    Wed-Sat 10:30 - 17:00
    Sun 11:00 - 16:00

Kartique is a  chic gift shop selling jewellery, decoration and gift items, and  a small selection of vintage furniture. The name of the shop and their shop window convey well what you will find inside: arty ethnic real vintage pieces, and a few antiques. This is not an antiques shop per se, although some of the pieces sold are. They have a focus on ethnicity, affordable vintage, and  unique pieces hand-crafted by foreign craftsmen or local designers. There is harmony between the ambience of the shop and the items they sell - all very organic and zen. 

Half of the shop is devoted to silver and stones jewellery, with a small selection of mate gold, and the inner part of the shop occupied by furniture and decoration items. They have super-cute mugs and tea cups, cheap and wonderfully colourful Indian Jewellery cases, colourful cushions and items of furniture that I would certainly buy if I had a house of my own and a a bit of money to spare.  

The prices are less expensive than you could think before entering. Most of the unique antique jewellery pieces are around 100-150 bucks, which isn't cheap, but compared to average mass produced jewellery sold in Perth, it is. Of course, we like it beautiful, good and affordable, and there are many things that fit the bill at Kartique, with silver an stone earrings as cheap as 50-60 bucks. The furniture is not cheap, you can expect that, but many of the home-wares and decoration items are reasonably priced. For example, the Hindu jewellery wooden cases are 20 bucks, and a huge house-shapped one was 50. Of course, if you, like me, like the truly special items, then you can only sigh and enjoy the view. 

The older lady attending the shop is very welcoming, serviceable, and very classy and nice to customers. The way I like it! 

I do not like finding products unpriced in any shop. You ask for the price and get the price, but I never know  if you are getting the real price or what the sellers think is what you personally should pay. I know they have a lot of stuff at Kartique, but pricing everything in a shop is a must - to me. 

Kartique's website is nice, but has just a few items on display and for purchase, and some of them don't even mention the price. I wonder why people bother to create online shopping sites and then put so little effort in making it appealing and fully functional, so we have everything in the shop available online, too. On the other hand, Kartique has wonderful stuff, so why displaying the boring pieces plus the super-expensive instead of the whole range of wonderful mid priced? It truly escapes my understanding. 

Kartique is a great place for gifts, and to add a bit of ethnic classy flavour to your space no matter you are twenty something or sixty something. They do lay-bys.

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Pearls in the City (Mount Lawley, Perth WA)

657 Beaufort St
Mt Lawley Western Australia 6050
(08) 9271 8854
http://www.pearlsinthecity.com.au/
Hours:
    Mon-Wed, Fri 9:00 - 17:30
    Thu 9:00 - 19:00
    Sat 9:00 - 17:00
    Sun 11:00 - 17:00

Pearls in the City Mt Lawley opened its doors beside the Astor Theatre last October to bring class to the fashion retail in the area. They sell trendy fashion jewellery in different materials plus a huge range of pearls in different styles suitable for women of all ages, not the usual  granny stuff. I especially like their Stirling silver and enamel pieces, and the mix-and-match pendants by Dutch brand My IMenso, which were the first thing that caught my eye.

This is not a cheap shop, but many of their pieces are affordable. All of them are timeless, classy, artsy, and some of them unique. Something you can wear over and over again until the end of times. The shop is perfect to "poshify" your wardrobe or to give a classy gift to a love one.The shop even has a gift-wrapping service with beautiful boxes if you really want to impress them.

A lovely lady called Ljljiana attends to her customers with great attentiveness. If she sees a spark in your eye in front of any piece on display, even if you don't intend to buy, she will be happy to let you try anything you fancy.

Drop by if you are in Mount Lawley, even if it is just to browse around. Don't be discouraged by the posh atmosphere or the this-is-not-a-shop-for-me sort of feeling, or by the nahh-this-is-a-middleagies-shop thought. or even by the they-are-going-to-call-the-police-to evict-me-from here angst you feel when you know that your budget is tight for this sort of shop. Be brave. Trying on is free! They are on sales right now.


Don't get confused by the poor boring selection of pieces displayed on their website. The shop is much much much better!

Put a ring on their Like thumb in Blingybook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pearls-in-the-City/328966716172 

If you are a man and give your lady a gift from here, you'll go from Pearls in the City to SATC in the blink of an eye :P.

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City Gems (Carillon Arcade, Perth WA)

 
Shop H16, Hay St Level
Carillon City Arcade
Perth Western Australia 6000
(08) 9321 5853
http://www.citygems.com.au/ 
 Opening hours
     Monday-Thursday: 9:30am - 5:30pm
     Friday: 9:30am - 7:30pm
     Saturday: 10:00am - 5:00pm
     Sunday: 12:00pm - 5:00pm

City Gems is a gem on its own - a humble but noticeable mini-shop in the Carillon Arcade that has been catering for unique Venetian glass (now rarely seen), nice pieces of silver, resin, and local designers jewellery for quite a few years. They were the first to cater for Venetian glass pieces in Perth, but in the last two years or so they have decided to cater the ubiquitous fashion for the masses Pandora, which is surely more profitable than the local designers' pieces. Still, City Gems has a good eye to bring to their window unique  colourful pieces in different materials, colours and styles. They will will satisfy the Indie in you if you also have a colourful creative personality infused in a bit of "poshness". Have a look at their website to get an idea. If you like what you see, run to the real shop and try their "thingies::  http://www.cityge...

The staff are very friendly, and they don't get crossed if you try gazillion things and don't buy anything, I know because I do so sometimes. However, most of the time, it is love at first sight for me as it  takes me a second to buy one of their pieces.

The prices are moderate, and the compliments you get are guaranteed. I have been getting compliments on my pieces for years.

The shop has a loyalty/reward points system that gives you discounts if you are a regular, which is very nice. We love discounts, don't we?

UPDATE

They don't cater from Pandora any longer, and have replaced it with Chamellia, which has very similar silver beds and charms.

They've also added some fun watches by Morellato to their collection, some authentic Venetian glass items, and Mexican dry flowers pendants.

Brands Polli and Parfait mien are the only Australian-made around, together with some isolated silver earrings, and some of the old art-glass pendants and earrings.

The price of a real good quality pair of earrings can go from 20 something dollars to 100, but can buy something beautiful for 40-70 dollars, and it is classy and will withstand the pass of time and go with everything you wear. Their silver is good quality and much cheaper than in other shops around, where prices are impossible.

Some of the fancier staff can be pricey, and not that classy, still so very artsy, and will get you lot of compliments and looks.

Their point reward system really saves you lots of money, if you like their stuff, as they do, and go there often. They also have private offers for their registered customers, and will email you with special events just for you.

To be honest, I cannot pass by the shop without buying something, so I try to avoid it as much as a I can. 

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Kara Jewellery (Plaza Arcade, Perth WA) - CLOSED

Shop 10 Plaza Arcade
650 Hay St
Perth Western Australia 6000
(08) 9221 2699
Hours:
    Mon-Thu, Sat-Sun 9:00 - 17:00
    Fri 9:00 - 19:30

Kara is an unpretentious boutique-like jewellery shop in the Plaza Arcade with beautiful classy pieces and an eye-catching shop window.

Kara is an official stockist for some of my favourite silver brands: Thomas Sabo and Georgini, but also caters for Rochet Bijoux (for men). If you fancy their pieces and style, or you just want something truly beautiful and classy for an special occasion or for every day, Kara is your place.They also have a small corner with pearls, but I did not find them as appealing as the other pieces in the shop.

The shop-attendant is actually the owner of the shop, a very nice kind lady, who will treat you with old-fashioned courtesy, which is so rare nowadays. If you request it with elegance, and show real interest, she will make a little discount or show you pieces within your budget. Most of the items are in locked shop-windows, so you have to ask the lady to take them out for you to try. Don't panic, she is human and won't eat you!

The shop is pricey in general, but many of the charms and tiny pendants are affordable, and will get lots of attention from both your girlfriends, you expect that, and from straight men, the latter being a surprise to me.

The volume of items of display is small, still is more than enough for you choose from. I miss always a standing mirror, and not the hand-mirror they have.

They don't have a website.  

UPDATE 
The shop has closed down permanently. 

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UHA Jewellery (Perth WA)

Shop H15 Carillion City
Hay St Level
Perth Western Australia 6000
(08) 9481 6668

Opening Hours:
Monday-Thursday: 9:00am - 5:30pm
Friday: 9:00am - 9:00pm
Saturday: 9:00am - 5:30pm
Sunday: 11:00am - 5:00pm

Bling is certainly the adjective that best define UHA - a small shop in the Carillon Arcade selling fashion jewellery, character mugs, calculators, land-line telephones, and mobile accessories. You have certainly passed-by their shop-window and stopped to look at those wonderful blingy 1960s-style crystal telephones in different shapes. The items on display are from Korea, Japan and, well, can you guess?, China. 

The phones are the best part of the shop, and those cute Hello-Kitty Mugs. The jewellery on display is very pretty, but nothing really wow. The prices are too high for the sort of items they are selling, and you will find similar pieces in Lovisa, Diva, Colette, and other chain shops at cheaper prices. To buy a piece of something there you have to ask yourself: Do I fancy this so much as to pay the price? In my case, the answer was yes, and I bought a pair or artsy creative earrings for 35 dollars, discounted. The real retail price of those should be AU$15-20 maximum. I really love them, but I can buy a simple silver piece for that price at some shops in the same arcade. I think other shoppers will opt for looking at the items on display and going elsewhere. 

My experience with the shop-attendant was very good, and the cute girl attending UHA -so very cute and fashionista herself- was lovely, helpful and very nice. She gave me a personalised shopping experience, so she was attending to me, not to the shop or to her computer or the cashier.

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