Morven Gallery, situated 20 minutes by car from Stornoway, is a great gallery. Open from Easter…read moreuntil October, they showcase several art exhibits by well known artists over the summer months. The gallery is spacious, giving enough room to walk around without bumping into others whilst admiring the many paintings and sculptures. The space is well lit an important factor in a gallery! It's a great place to go for a day out. Not only can you peruse the gallery, they have a gift shop with many items made from local craft producers and also a café which provides fresh tea, coffee and home baking. The owners are very friendly, helpful and welcoming!

Borve Pottery tucked away just off the main road, overlooks the Borve River. If you are over on…read morethat side of the island you must go in for a visit! The pottery is beautiful! They have a huge range of items from plates, to bowls, to vases. My favourite is the pottery wine glasses. They come in a range of colours, they are slightly expensive but will last a lifetime and are simply stunning. The shop isn't very big, but it has a very personal feel to it. The owners are incredibly helpful. The best pottery on the island in my opinion!

We visited The Celtic Clothing shop in 2016. It was simply wonderful!!…read more The Hebrides Jewerly we bought was beautiful! We loved the Braveheart Bears we got for our friends little girls:) It is a wonderful shop that reflexs the kindness of the Scottish people. The owners even invited us to there home to see how the Harris Tweed was woven. How great was that!

Celtic Clothing in Stornoway is the place to go if you want to hire a Kilt for a function…read more Helpful, friendly staff who take time and great care to ensure you get what you're looking for. Wide range of tartans and sizes are available for hire along with a wide variety of accessories, all for a reasonable price (for kilt hire!) It's a must to book a fitting and kilt hire in plenty of time though to ensure you get what you're looking for as they can get really busy, especially when there are big Island weddings and special occasions like the school 6th year dinner dance. If you're looking to splash out then you can have a custom kilt handmade to your exact request by an experienced kiltmaker. They also have for sale a small selection of ladies jewellery and tweed accessories available, along with clan crest cufflinks and kilt pins, hip flasks, ties and so on.

The Hebridean Hobby Shop opened recently and is proving to be a much valued shop. It is the only…read morededicated shop to hobbies such as painting, crafts, jewellery making and such. It is a small shop filled with crafting items so you need to walk around carefully watching your bag does not hit into the shelves. It is about time we got a dedicated hobby shop but the one bad thing is that they are quite expensive. Certainly not a place to go for all your crafting needs if you are on a budget! You are able to walk there from the town centre although there is usually a space or two outside for parking.

The only dedicated hobby & craft shop on the Island is just a couple of minutes walk from the town…read morecentre carpark, which is good as though there is street parking it's usually difficult to nab a free space. They stock a wide range of goods from paper and card supplies, to stamping, knitting, glass painting, model building, beer brewing kits and so on. The shop itself is quite small and packed full of things but though the range of goods is wide they tend to only stock a small selection of goods in each category. Unfortunately too they're rather expensive so unless I'm in desperate need for something I usually just use the internet which is a shame really as the staff are always friendly and helpful. Worth a browse around anyway, you might find out about a new hobby you'd like to try!

Blythswood book shop is a very small bookshop located just off the main street in Stornoway. It is…read moreat the top of a cobbled street (along from the great chip shop). It is small but full of books of all varieties. I really like coming to this shop. It is quite amazing what you can find in there! Sometimes relatively recent books to older book you have always wanted to read but struggled to find a copy of! Their books are affordable and it's not uncommon to leave with an arm full. There is usually only one member of staff on when you go in as it's a pretty quiet shop but he/she is friendly and often up for a yarn when you go in. If visiting it cold be worth a look to see what gem you may find!

Murdo Macleans is located smack bang in the centre of town. It has 2 floors the downstairs floor is…read moremy favourite part. It is an ideal place to come when looking for a gift for weddings or anniversaries or even just for a birthday. The floor is full of household items like plates, cups, wine glasses and much more. To the back is a section of materials and sewing items. Lots of organza, silk and other linings as well as thread, ribbons and needles. The staff here are friendly and helpful and wrap all items well. Gift wrap is also available for an added cost. Upstairs is the clothes, I personally never shop here but it is popular with locals. They have a large range of men and women's clothes and shoes. I find them a bit overpriced and dated but it is worth a look anyway as you never know what you may find!

Murdo Maclean's is a great local shop stocking a massive range of goods…read more Right in the centre of town there's a large downstairs area the front filled with ornaments, cookwear, glasses, mirrors, clocks, cutlery sets - lots of great gift ideas or just to treat yourself. In the back downstairs has a large range of soft furnishings and a nice selection of fabrics (The only place to buy fabrics off the bolt on the island) and a nice selection of ribbons, trims and associated sewing supplies. Staff are always super friendly and helpful and always make sure your purchases are well protected. Upstairs is split levels, in the middle is the shoe section, they sometimes have nice shoes at a very reasonable price, but others can be on the more expensive side, you just have too know what to look for. Staff are trained to measure feet and are always helpful when trying on footwear. There's also a mens section which mostly stocks posh clothes, work shirts, suits etc but has a small selection of casualwear too. There's a nice selection of Posh womens hats and bags (Think weddings and church) and a range of womens wear and underwear which is mostly suited to the more mature lady but sometimes you can find a great modern young person piece. Staff are always helpful and you can nearly always find something to suit your budget.

Maclean, Mair Nicolson and Co, more commonly known as Nicolson's to locals is one of two newsagents…read morefound in the centre of town. They are the smaller of the two but stock much more magazines. They have an entire wall filled with magazines of all kinds music, fashion, cars, knitting, pregnancy etc. I've found I can usually find the magazine I'm looking for here when the other newsagents doesn't stock it. They also have the daily newspapers. They also have shelves full of puzzle books like sudoku and crosswords, local magazines from Comunn Eachdraidh's, fios etc. To the back of the shop is a section for stationary, cards, gift wrap and pens. An added bonus since Woolies closed down. They have a selection of confectionary, soft drinks and a fridge with sandwiches as well. So many times when you go in here for a paper you come out with much more!

Nicolsons is a great little local newsagents…read more They stock a wide variety of magazines and newspapers from national to local along with soft drinks, filled rolls and sandwiches, sweets and tobacco. You can order your newspapers and magazines here to make sure you get them everyday. They also have a great selection of stationary, party stuff like balloons and crepe paper, diaries and notebooks and a fab selection of greetings cards at very reasonable prices. Staff are always very helpful and friendly. The only downside to the shop is that it's quite small so can sometimes feel a tad claustrophobic

Sarder & Sons, or just Sarders as locals call it, is a great wee shop packed to the rafters with…read moreadult clothes, shoes and other acessories and very reasonable prices. There's a fab range of footwear from dressy to casual in a wide range of sizes. Clothes range from prom style dresses to branded tops like golddigga to nighties for the older lady! You really have to go in as there's always a chance they might have what your looking for though the sizes stocked generally range from a size 6/8 to a size 14/16. Stock is always changing and sometimes only one or two items in a style come in so well worth going in every couple of weeks. They also stock a small range of local/scottish themed tea towels, thimbles and trinkets like that that you love to pick up as a moment on holiday. It's a family run shop and the staff are always super helpful and really nice to deal with.