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Leo Pollock of arts and listings guide Le Cool Barcelona selects their favourite high-end shops and boutiques – from designer fashion and interiors to gourmet food and wine • As featured in our Barcelona city guide Leo Pollock guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 8 June 2011 11.46 BST larger | smaller
Art attack … you can spend hours browsing at Ras bookshop and gallery, Barcelona.
Ras A bookshop, a gallery and an experimental exhibition space, ideal if you're shopping for the latest coffee-table book from your favourite photographer, authoritative volumes on architecture and contemporary art, the freshest design publications or a fashion magazine. With an interior of polished concrete and cast iron – as design savvy as the publications on offer – it's always a pleasure to peruse the books and if there's an exhibition on, all the better. This Raval gallery plays an active role in the Barcelona art scene, nurturing and providing a platform for local and international artists alike. • Carrer del Doctor Dou 10, +34 93 412 7199, rasbcn.com. Open Tues-Sat noon-8pm
The Outpost
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Shoes, shoes, shoes. Oh, and lots of accessories. And here's the twist: they are all for men. This ever-so-sleek Gràcia store – with a beautiful wooden interior courtesy of local interior designer Pilar Libano – provides the discerning gentleman with a carefully selected array of drool-worthy footwear, bags, sunglasses, ties and more from an impressive range of top labels such as Jil Sander, Ann Demeulemeester, Balenciaga, Comme des Garçons and Falke. With every piece lovingly and painstakingly chosen by proprietor, Pep Esteva. • Carrer de Rosselló 281, +34 93 457 7137, theoutpostbcn.com. Open Mon-Sat 10.30am2.30pm, 4.30pm-8.30pm
La Comercial
Label addicts … get your plastic ready and hit Carrer del Rec, in the middle of the Born, Barcelona's centre for fashion boutiques. Here you'll find this small but impressive chain of minimalist shops specialising in haute couture. The two menswear and one womenswear stores stock Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, Givenchy, Paul Smith and Sonia Rykiel, while accessories come from Goti, Isabel Marant and Mykita. Three shops, one street: start saving now, this is going to be expensive. • Women: Carrer del Rec 52, +34 93 319 3463, Men: Carrer del Rec 73 and 77, +34 93 319 2435, lacomercial.info/. Open Mon-Sat 11am-9pm
Colmado Quilez
Entering this Eixample institution feels like travelling into the past, long before the days
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10 of the best high-end shops in Barcelona | Travel | guardian.co.uk
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of homogenised, generic supermarkets. This food-lover's paradise has been open since 1906. An old-school delicatessen with a vast selection of gourmet foodstuffs: caviar, foie gras, anchovies, olive oil, cheese, ham, tinned fish, vinegar, asparagus, saffron … and then there's the booze: 3,500 Spanish and imported wines, spirits and whiskies – a veritable playground for the tipple-inclined. While the customer service can be somewhat lacking, this is more than offset by the range. If you're attempting your annual operación bikini (local jargon for the global phenomenon that is the summer diet), steer clear. • Rambla de Catalunya 63, +34 93 215 8785, lafuente.es. Open Mon-Fri 9am-2pm, 4.30pm-8.30pm, Sat 9am-2pm
Vila Viniteca
With nearly 80 years of trading under its belt, and more than 6,000 bottles of Spanish wine, sherry and cava, this Born cellar is the leading outlet for wine connoisseurs in the Catalan capital. Pop in to browse the myriad wines lining the walls and crates stacked on the floor, and be sure to ask the staff for advice. They might point you towards a bottle from the Penedès appellation you'd otherwise never taste, or an exclusive 2009 12 Volts wine from Mallorca's 4 Kilos winery. If you're looking for culinary accompaniments, the adjoining delicatessen is stacked with cans and jars, honking cheeses and embutidos ibéricos. • Carrer dels Agullers 7, +34 90 232 7777, vilaviniteca.es. Open Mon-Sat 8.30am8.30pm, Sat in July, August 8.30am-2.30pm
Objeto de Deseo
This remarkable gallery and shop in the heart of the Eixample neighbourhood is the project of interior designer Jorge Subieta, it caters for those who welcome a touch of inspired individuality in their lives and homes. You'll find an eclectic and vast array of objets d'art, ranging from decorative pieces by contemporary designers to rare antiques. Cacti on ceramic legs, a porcelain ear, a golden Bart Simpson devil figurine, a resin bust, a porcelain beaver skull with 16-carat gold coated teeth: these are but a few of the weird, wonderful and delightful offerings. • Carrer de Balmes 237, +34 93 415 7282, objetodedeseo.es. Open Mon-Fri 10am-2pm, 4pm-8.30pm
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10 of the best high-end shops in Barcelona | Travel | guardian.co.uk
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Vinçon
Design is one of Barcelona's fortés, and Gràcia's Vinçon is one of its home emporiums. Even its carrier bags (sporting the striking graphic design of Mariscal, América Sánchez and Pati Núñez) bear the hallmark of contemporary thinking. And it's huge – you can easily lose a day engrossed in the cookware, tableware, soft furnishings, lamps, candles, coffee machines, left-handed gadgets and novelties. If that isn't enough to tempt you through its doors, there's an exhibition hall too, La Sala Vinçon, which has been hosting design exhibitions since 1973 – a recent exhibition celebrated 25 years of Oscar Tusquets' seminal design. • Passeig de Gràcia 96, +34 93 215 6050, vincon.com. Open Mon-Sat 10am to 8.30pm
L'Appartement
Clean lines, striking form, vibrant colour and contemporary design. L'Appartement's ethos is simple, to offer the chance to see, touch and buy the latest work from young designers with fresh ideas. The excellently presented furniture, poised on a raised platform or pinned to the walls, combines an outstanding visual aesthetic with practicality. Look out for beautiful Chibi lamps from Hiroshi Tsunoda, tempting flatpack racks from the Damaris & Marc studio, Myvinilo multicoloured vinyl and glowing Mathmos touch lamps. • Carrer d'Enric Granados 44, +34 93 452 2904, lappartement.es. Open Mon-Fri 10:30am-9pm, Sat 11am-10pm
Momo
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Authentic Japanese is the name of the game at this diminutive, hidden shop in the Barri Gòtic. Colourful patterned kimonos (for children and adults) hang from rails; tables are piled with exquisite Japanese plates, bowls, and cups; and teapots line the walls. Calligraphy sets lie in their open cases inviting you to test them, figurines and sculptures gaze at you from the shelves, and chromatic lanterns swing in the windows. The authentic Japanese paraphernalia includes woodworks, clothes and even mobile phone covers. Countless other pieces are hand-picked by proprietor Kaori, who travels several times a year to buy stock for the shop. Japan's number one outlet in Barcelona. • Carrer de l'Arc de Sant Ramón del Call 6, +34 93 412 2937. Open Mon 4.30pm-8pm, Tues-Sat, 11am-2pm, 4.30pm-8pm
Baluard Barceloneta
Photograph: Alamy A place of pilgrimage for bread enthusiasts. Suppliers to the best restaurants in town, the quality of the artisanal goods is unrivalled, as testified by the queue which regularly stretches on to the neighbouring Plaça de la Barceloneta. Inside, wafts of baking bread spill from wood-fired ovens as the bakers pummel dough in the back room. Choose between the Baluard baguette, the multi-grain loaf (perfect with cold cuts) or the olive oil and rye bread for pa amb tomàquet (from €1 to €3). For a more extravagant purchase, try the whopping 2kg pa de fruits secs, with dates, apricots, almonds and hazelnuts at €16. • Carrer de Baluard 38-40, +34 93 221 1208, baluardbarceloneta.com. Open Mon-Sat 8am-9pm • Leo Pollock works for arts and listings guide Le Cool Barcelona
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