The Creative Tourist guide to Xmas shopping.

From high-end shops to Christmas markets, Ben East comes up with the ultimate guide to Christmas shopping in Manchester – for the creative tourist, naturally

Christmas shopping usually means one thing: desperately rushing around faceless shopping centres and grabbing the first half-decent gift with a 3-for-2 offer on it. Not exactly a recipe for memorable, thoughtful presents, is it? But Manchester is different – if you know where to look. There’s a unique gift around every street corner, with markets, boutiques and craft shops crammed with interesting, quirky and lasting fare. But of course, it’s not all about the giving: a subtle forwarding of this page to your friends should mean you’re quids in, too…

Best for shiny gifts

Just like Santa himself, Dazzle brightens the hallways of Manchester’s broodingly Gothic Town Hall every Christmas (daily, 23 Nov-2 Jan). A breathtaking selling exhibition of contemporary jewellery, there are over 50 designers selling their wares: everything from Jessica Briggs’s beautiful designs for men (she’s a favourite of REM’s Michael Stipe) to Kate Bajic’s delicate brooches. Best of all, if you’re in that mad Christmas rush, you can always browse online first and shop tactically. Also try: The Craft Shop at the Royal Exchange Theatre. Guaranteed to stock a wide range of exciting jewellery, while their seasonal exhibition, A Fairytale Christmas, features 11 makers from the Manchester area. (3 Nov-2 Jan.)

Best for unhurried Christmas shopping

If the bustle of the high street gets too much, then repair to the Craft & Design Centre in the Northern Quarter. This is a delightfully relaxed space, full of professional craftspeople and designers housed in individual studios within the old Victorian Fish and Poultry Market. The range of unique gifts here is massive, too: independent makers selling clothing, furniture, textiles, ceramics, jewellery, art and interesting accessories. On 28 November there’s also a ‘winter extravaganza’ with live music, mulled wine and, most importantly, a 10% discount in all the studios. The rest of the time, the centre’s Cafe Aromat is the perfect place to refuel when shopping bags are weighing you down. Also try: St Ann’s Arcade. Often overlooked in favour of the bustle of St Ann’s Square or the bling of Barton Arcade. Hit Ran, an independent shoe and fashion store, bespoke tailors Nicholas Jones or surely the coolest opticians in town, Seen.

Best for recycled gifts

Take a look at the fashion press and you’ll see Manchester is making quite a name for itself as a hub of vintage clothing. These aren’t posh charity shops, but boutiques selling genuinely recycled clothing sourced and lovingly restored or reworked by cutting-edge seamstresses. Leading the way in the Northern Quarter is Rags To Bitches, probably the best place to buy a party frock for yourself before you start shopping for others. Also try: Nearly every street in the Northern Quarter has a vintage shop, so it’s best just to wander around. But head for the famous Pop Boutique if you want clothes in their unaltered, original form, or Junk Shop if you’d prefer them spruced up. Or check our comprehensive guide to vintage shopping for the full run-down of secondhand boutiques.

Best place to get in the Christmas spirit

From relatively small beginnings, Manchester’s Christmas markets (18 Nov-21 Dec) have steadily grown into surely the best of their kind in the UK, covering Albert Square, Brazennose Street, St Ann’s Square, Exchange Street, New Cathedral Street and Piccadilly Gardens. Many visit simply for the glühwein, bratwurst and atmosphere, but that would be dismissing the incredible variety of gifts on show here – you could festoon every spare inch of your home with Christmas decorations bought from the many stalls. And with stocking fillers aplenty, it’s something of a winter wonderland, though if you happen to stumble across a talking reindeer, it’s not a sign you’ve had too much glühwein, it’s just one of the many kitsch attractions on offer here. Also try: Blame the film Love Story, but there’s now something inherently Christmassy about open air ice-skating in city centres. Manchester’s temporary rink is at Spinningfields this year (12 Nov- 3 Jan),and alongside is popular Christmas haunt The North Pole bar, selling seasonal drinks including the vodka-infused ‘Winter Crumble’. Top tip: you might want to hold off on ordering that third cocktail until you’ve exited the ice rink in a dignified manner.

Best for unique gifts

Museum shops aren’t often on the Christmas gift circuit, which is odd: they do, after all, sell items you can’t usually find on the high street. Remember Manchester inventor Vernon Kerswell’s miniature anti-gravity car and helicopter on Dragons’ Den? Great for gadget fans and big kids alike, they’re stocked at MOSI (along with a whole host of scientific goodies and gadgets that make for perfect stocking fillers). Manchester Art Gallery, meanwhile, has over 50 prints from its collection for sale – everything from LS Lowry to more modern Mancunian artists such as Liam Spencer. Also try: The Cornerhouse bookshop is perfect for an achingly cool art or film book – and if you head down on 30 November (11am-6pm), you may even get a bargain: this is the date of their one-day-only, annual art and film book sale. For the music fan in your life, the Richard Goodall Gallery is nigh-on essential: it sells an impressive range of framed, one-off, artist-designed gig posters (best of all, you can spread out the cost of big purchases with the Own Art scheme).

Best place to get all your Christmas shopping done in one go

Sometimes you just have to treat Christmas shopping like battle: quick entry, minimum contact with the enemy and speedy withdrawal. If military precision is your thing, may we point you towards Kendals (and yes, we know it’s called House of Fraser now but to us locals it’ll always be good old Kendals). This six-floor department store basically sells everything for the time-poor shopper – and while the gifts on sale may not be unique, they will be good. And the store is also celebrating Christmas with weekend events including mulled wine and mince pies, a Christmas party guide (which includes a glass of bubbly) and, naturally, Santa in his grotto. The creative tourist will appreciate the fine art deco architecture, too. Also try: Harvey Nichols and Selfridges, worth checking out for the glitzy Christmas window displays alone.

Best place for post-shopping food

After all that shopping, you’re going to need some serious sustenance. We can think of nothing better than to head to the Restaurant of the Year, The Modern. It’s right in the city centre, its location at the top of Urbis afford spectacular views over the city… and the festive Taste Of Manchester Menu for £15 (three courses, 5pm-7pm) is pretty hard to beat. Also try: If you’re on the way back to Piccadilly Station after a long day shopping, pause at Michael Caines’ restaurant in the Abode Hotel. One of Manchester’s finest, the spectacular two course Christmas menu (£19.95) includes turkey with the trimmings, as you’d expect, but also hake and risotto.

For more information on visiting Manchester during Christmas (and beyond), go to Visit Manchester, or try their alternative guide to Christmas.

Ben East is an experienced arts journalist based in Manchester who has written for Metro, The Observer, FHM, Filmstar and The Word magazine.

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