Fat Buddha Store Blog // All the News

Walk past this building most days on way to work and its kinda one of my favourite buildings, always been a fan of Alexander Greek Thomsons stuff, mone classical civilisation at uni and always like greek architecture. Heres a snippet from an article in the telegraph, read the full thing here. Tall, brooding, purposeless, a magnificent ruin for years - but that's enough about me. Today's building is what is left of the Caledonia Road United Presbyterian church in the Gorbals district of Glasgow, designed by Alexander "Greek" Thomson in the 1850s. "Greek" referred to his architectural preferences rather than his private life - he was an elder of the church, and a square-jawed paragon of Scots rectitude who thought arches were decadent. Thomson belonged to a generation of designers across Europe who rejected the stark lucidity of Enlightenment classicism in favour of an informal, romantic and wildly eclectic style in which the prototypes of ancient Greece were ...

In Glasgow we have managed for years to be fairly devoid of the tacky Scottish shops that plague Edinburghs Royal mile like a big bunion, the only one we have of note is Heritage on Union Street, it sells braveheart swords and all manner of gash, Slanj do a range of Scottish T's which at least have a bit of humour, there are some ok ones mixed in there. Now we have the above mentioned Kilts & Cashmere of Scotland come to the city of Glasgow, they are one of the stores that plague Edinburgh and when you look at the product, none of it is Scottish, all made in China & India, Scottish Cashmere, i don't think so. It seems Scottish history is reduced to t'shirts that say Scotland in Glitter and diamontes, kilts for much cheapness and all made in another country, having a look round the shop it is hard to find anything remotely Scottish to be proud of. You would think the lack of a castle in Glasgow would cause the tourist-mongers to stick to Edinburgh, i hope they do. R...

Anyone who knows me, will know i love GLA , the more you travel the more you appreciate how good a city Glasgow is, great shops, great bars, loads of clubs, the west end, botanic gardens, pollockpark, glasgow green, transport museum, kelvingrove art gallery and the last can go on. Fat buddha got a mention in the NY Times, for shops to visit whilst in Glasgow, read the full article here. You can cycle from town alaong the canal, to bowling on the west coast or go east and either cycle to Grangemouth, Falkirk and onto Edinburgh, or even cycle along the clyde for hours. We have the best football team in Europe, we have sectarianism, obesity, lowest life expectancy in Europe, Serious alcohol problems, and thats just the good stuff. Glasgow is the biz, we are 'Miles Better' than Edinburgh, who all as it happens smell like jobbies, its true it is, and as Kirst McColl the famous poet once said 'Elvis works down the local Chip Shop' So if you are reading this from Glasgow, sto...

Had a squink in the window of the new Hellfire store on Queen street, its down towards Argyle St and on the same side as their existing unit. Firstly, what a great sign, it looks amazing while they haven't done much to fit it out from what was there, it looks great, some nice lil touches and the shop looks great. The brand mix seems to be spot on for Michaels customer and he was right to do this unit, take the higher end product out the west nile st store and give it space to look good and open it up to a wider audiene, hes taken a few chances here, Ed Hardy was a major surprise to me, but from what ive heard its selling fast & furious for him. Good to see an independant retailer doing well, and with 3 units in Glasgow, all with their own identity, wish him all the best. To think he started with the wee shop on West Nile St, now he has opened up 2 more big units, wish i had his cash, but hes out there doing things and making it happen, must admit im a bit jealous but power to ...

The other day (by that, I mean about 3 months back) I was asked a question. Scene-party, wrecked, bump into someone who has heard I 'write'. They asked a fair if very naive question-what's the best book you've ever read? That's almost impossible to answer, as he soon realised when I explained I owned a few thousand books and probably read about 250+ books a year. As a minimum. "My goodness" he was heard to exclaim, in slightly stronger vocabulary. So I figured I'd recommend a few of my personal favourites and pick out some books I particularly rate at Fat Buddha. It's worth noting my taste is not really everyone's cup of tea, so tread carefully. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski This is, over The Shining or anything in that vein, the most frightening book I've ever read. What's particularly nerve racking is the idea of the book itself coming to get you... Danielewski's first novel (or something like that) is my favourite boo...

If money wasn't a problem and i went shopping, this is what id buy Jacket £520 Goodlife, - Top £285 Goodlife, - Jeans £110 Size or Aspecto, - Shoes £100 Size Thats £1,015 just for starters, doesn't include pants, socks or a belt, anyone got a spare £1,000 kicking about. Which takes me back to how good Glasgow Shopping is, what other city in UK outside London, can you go out and buy this stuff, go to Leicester, Manchester & Liverpool and you will struggle to find good streetwear

A Dubai-based hotel company has unveiled plans for a "five-star super deluxe" hotel in Glasgow. Jumeirah Group hopes to open the 26-storey development in the city's Argyle Street in 2011. The hotel would have 160 guest rooms and suites and 85 serviced apartments. It would also feature a rooftop cocktail lounge, restaurants and bars. The development would be Jumeirah's fifth hotel in Europe and its first in the UK outside London. Construction of the hotel, designed by Ian Simpson Architects, would be overseen by Progress Property Developments. 'New dimension' Glasgow City Council leader Steven Purcell said: "Today's announcement is a resounding vote of confidence in Glasgow and its future ambitions. "This is made all the sweeter by the fact that Jumeirah does not operate anywhere else in the United Kingdom outside London." Simon Calder, the Independent's travel editor, said the new hotel would transform Glasgow's skyline and image. ...

Glasgow has made it into a list of 10 top world cities compiled by the travel guide company Lonely Planet. Scotland's largest city was the only UK entry on the list, which appears in the firm's Best In Travel 2009 publication. The guide states: "Forget castles, kilts, bagpipes and tartan. You come for the cocktails, cuisine and designer chic (plus the legendary native wit)." "Glasgow has shaken off its shroud of industrial soot and shimmied into a sparkling new designer gown." Included in the "what's hot" in Glasgow list is actor James McAvoy and pan-fried scallops. "Defining experiences" include cruising the Clyde by powerboat and "adding your voice to the Hampden roar". Lonely Planet travel editor Tom Hall said: "The time has come for Lonely Planet to let one of its worst-kept secrets out: Glasgow's got everything. "We're delighted to highlight such a fun, stylish city." The other cities in the top 1...

Boo Hoo, sunday night was a frantic evening, packed the whole shop into boxes and carted it all away into storage. The task of packing the shop is not to be taken lightly and with expert planning and a good list it was done in 5 hours. Big thanks go out to Callum, Evelyn & Steven for helping out with the packing, Blue Lagoon provided us with Sausage & Fish Suppers to keep energy levels going, at times like that apples & oranges just dont cut the mustard. The shop WILL reopen 100% on Saturday, it may even be kinda readyish friday at one point, but Saturday is the planned re-open, not so grand, no fanfare or prizes but it will be good to see some friendly faces on the day. We have our great neighbours upstairs in Rumours to thank for closing, their dodgy plumbing caused the flood we had, the water poured in, wrote off about a third of the stock and messed the floor up big style. Plastic pressure fittings should be banned or at least not sold to anyone who isn't certifie...

You dont realise how good the shopping is in glasgow till you spend a day trekking its streets, if, you have come from anywhere outside of London, you will love what glasgow has to offer, more shops than anywhere and loads of good streetwear stores, well 3, bit still good. I have decided to list my top 11 shops, the ones i'd visit when out shopping, mention my competition i hear you say, yes, i do say, the more people who realise Glasgow is the No1 shopping destination the better. Sauchiehall St (top end) is where you'll find bargains if your lucky, if not you'll find nothing of interest, i got a great pair of Brown Leather Air Max for £25 18 months ago, only now starting to fall apart, but the comfiest shoes ever. Also got a great case for when im on my travels, snazzy lil thing for much cheapness. Next on Bath street is the urban legend that is Fat Buddha, Vinyl Toys, Graffiti Supplies, Lifestyle and Clothing by brands like Carhartt, The Hundreds, Kikstyo, Recon, Penfiel...