These Irish retailers are saying NO to Black Friday, and they need your support

7,000 tonnes of waste a year is being generated by online shopping, a number that’s expected to grow by 28% year-on-year. Bricks-and-mortar boutiques will continue to downsize as e-commerce gains even more momentum from high-octane sale events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. When an animal becomes extinct, the whole food chain is affected. Similarly, when an independent boutique closes, cities and towns across the country will lose more than just a retail space.

Independent retailers make up the fabric of not just the capital, but all of our towns, boroughs, suburbs and villages. Employing 285,000 people in 37,400 retail and wholesale businesses around the country, they bind together regional economies and mould the country’s infrastructure.

ICYMI: I’m in my twenties and shop in boutiques and here’s why you should too

But more than that, the excellent (very personal) service you receive from them doesn’t just make the difference between walking away with the perfect piece you didn’t know you needed, but it’s also a lovely way to build relationships with the women and men you’re buying from. There’s a deep-rooted value to these fostering relationships and taking time to enjoy buying something special is one of life’s little luxuries.

Support Local

Independent retailers and boutiques offer a shopping ‘journey’, not just the end prize. Shop owners, buyers and staff take the full experience into consideration so that women like me feel welcomed and wanted, but never pressured to buy (an assumption often associated with boutique shopping). So this year, in anticipation of Black Friday, some retailers are taking extra steps to encourage buyers to spend with them.

Art and lifestyle store Hens Teeth, one of the cities newest dwellers, is just one example. This Black Friday, they’re enticing shoppers to spend money with them instead and are offering a clever solution in exchange for support: If you shop in any of the surrounding local boutiques (with Om Diva, Nowhere, The Collective Dublin and Costume in its vicinity, you won’t be stuck for choice), you’ll get 10% off in-store.

 

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Black Friday isn’t much craic for independent business, so we’re offering a wee discount if you shop with our neighbours this Christmas. Buy something worth €25 or more at an independent store in our locale, and we’ll give you 10% off everything in store starting Black Friday, right through ’til Christmas Eve. . . Stores like @wearedesignist, @wearebarn, @industrydesign, @irishdesignshop, @loosecanoncheeseandwine, @tales_for_tadpoles, The Printmaker’s Gallery, @omdivaboutique & @theragedublin. . . This neighbourhood is pretty sweet, shopping locally helps keep it that way. Big love, Hen’s Teeth crew ? . . #shoplocal #dublin #fadestreet #independantshop #irishart #prints #buyart #hensteeth

A post shared by Hen’s Teeth (@hensteethstore) on Nov 20, 2018 at 3:10am PST

Located in the epicentre of the Dublin city – on Fade Street – the shop boasts a selection of Irish and international limited-edition prints, books, homewares and apparel, as well as hosting national and international art exhibitions. Eclectic knitwear label Electronic Sheep, founded by designers Brenda Aherne and Helen Delany, is also taking a leaf from Hen’s Teeth book by rejecting Black Friday and promoting Irish design instead.

 

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#noblackfriday

A post shared by Electronic Sheep (@electronicsheep) on Nov 19, 2018 at 2:58pm PST

It’s time to turn our backs on one-day bargains and support Irish. Are you with us? Scroll below to shop our wish list pieces, straight from our favourite Irish boutiques.

Siopaella, Wicklow St