The Save the Children shop in stornoway is a great wee example of a charity shop…read more The volunteer staff are always friendly and helpful and though the shop is one of the smaller ones in the town there's always a great variety of stuff. They sell mainly clothes and soft furnishings but also have a selection of books and kids toys and other knick knacks. You can also buy a variety of brand new goods including a great rage of wrapping paper and greetings cards, small gifts and a great selection of small kids toys. The shop is bright, clean and airy, always a pleasure to visit.

Bayhead gift house is a treasure trove of goodies, you are guaranteed to find what you are looking…read morefor here! It is a ten minute walk from the centre, which is advised as parking can be very difficult to find. The shelves are full of ornaments, toiletry sets, kids items. The one bad thing is that it is so filled with items that you have to move around the shop very carefully so that you do not knock anything over. The sales assistance are helpful and the shop always appears clean and relatively tidy. It also has many tourist souvenirs so you can take away a reminder of your holiday here.

The Bayhead gift house is a great shop that's a short walk from the town centre…read more Fab place to go if you can't think of what to get anyone as they're something here for everyone, great selection of china, dishes, glassware, photoframes, candles, ornaments as well as a selection of electrical gadgets, watches, decorativ lighters, diaries, notebooks and more! They have a nice selection of Stornoway/ Lewis souvenirs and also stock daily papers, soft drinks and sweets. Bargain prices and friendly helpful staff, a real treasure trove of finds.

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!

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!

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!

Mosaic is a great wee shop in the centre of town. It has been painted a blue/green colour so you…read morecan't miss it. It is a small shop but it has lots of beautiful items. The shop has a clean fresh feel to it with wooden floors and white walls. They sell a range of gifts as well as items made by local crafters. From Harris Tweed cushions and bags to jewellery and notebooks. They also sell incense and beautifully made candles. This shop is definitely worth going into when visiting Stornoway, it is unlikely you will not find a gift (or three) that you like. The staff are friendly and helpful and if they have sold out of an item you are looking for they will re-order it for you.

A great little independent gift shop relocated to the town centre…read more Bright, clean and airy inside they stock a nice variety of gifts and trinkets aswell as jewellery, glassware and a fab selection of candles, bath bombs and cards. The emphasis is on the more modern, quirky but beatiful items, though sometimes items can be a bit on the pricey side. They fully support local craftspeople and stock a range of handcrafted local items including tweed bags and notebooks. The staff are always friendly and super helpful, well worth a visit.

Events is the place to go when looking for a birthday gift or a gift for many occasions really…read more They have a large range of cards from birthdays to christening to humerous. They have a selection of little birthday cakes and many little trinkets like photo frames and jewellery boxes. Comedy t-shirts are available as well as a range of posters, books, 21st birthday gifts. The shop is small and crammed with items so walking with caution is advisable. The staff are friendly and helpful. An ideal place to come for many things from a joke gift to a graduation present. Highly recommended!

Events is one of the more expensive places to go in the town for a gift or card…read more When I went in last for a birthday card their selection wasn't that great and what was there was expensive for the kind of card they are. They stock a range of little gifts for special birthdays, anniversaries etc from baby girl piggybanks to me to you bears. There's also a small range of jokes, hen & stag night props, fancy dress costumes and so on. Small range of gift paper and bags but do stock some fabuous helium balloons. Staff are always friendly and helpful, worth popping in just to see what they've got.

Video network is stornoways only dedicated dvd hire shop…read more A few minutes walk from the town centre the shop is bright and airy with a great range of dvds for hire, from the latest releases to classic films. Films stocked cover the whole film genre spectrum from kids to comedy to horror. The shop also stocks a wide range of sweets, crisps, popcorn, ice lollys and soft drinks as well as rollover hotdogs at lunchtimes. The cost for film hire is per night and is roughly about the same as any other bricks and mortar hire shop nowadays. The only downside to the shop is that it's superbusy at lunchtimes with schoolkids as it's on the road into town from the Island's secondary school and it's the normal stop off to stock up of sweets and fizzy juice. So if you need to pop in to get a dvd or to be served quickly avoid going between 1 and 2 in the afternoon.