The Modern Croft

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Overview

The Modern Croft sits at 71 George Street, on Oban's main shopping street and a short walk from the town's car parks and the seafront. It's an independent shop dealing in household and lifestyle goods, run by its owner Isabella, who does the choosing herself. Stock comes from makers in Scotland and further afield, most of them small and independent, and much of it hard to find elsewhere in Argyll.

The name reworks the crofting tradition for a contemporary shop, and the range follows Isabella's own influences: simple geometric shapes, functional pieces that earn their keep, mid-century furniture and the current Scandinavian school of design. In practice that means homeware, jewellery, candles, cards and other provisions. Heritage and location inform some of what makes it onto the shelves, though they don't decide everything, and the selection is a long way from the tartan-and-shortbread end of the Oban gift trade.

It's a small, bright space, easy to cover in ten minutes and hard to leave without something.

Hours are worth noting before you set off. The shop opens 10am to 4pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, closes at 3pm on Wednesdays, and stays shut on Sundays unless advertised otherwise.

Location

The Modern Croft is at 71 George Street, Oban, PA34 5NN, in the middle of the town's main retail street with the principal car parks a short walk away. Open 10am to 4pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 10am to 3pm Wednesday, closed Sunday unless advertised. Oban is around 2 hours 30 from Glasgow by car on the A82 and A85, or roughly three hours on the West Highland Line, with the station at the foot of the street.

What's nearby

The Modern Croft is on George Street, so the rest of Oban is on the doorstep. The CalMac terminal at the south end of town serves Mull, Lismore, Colonsay, Coll, Tiree and the Outer Hebrides. Oban Distillery, founded in 1794 and one of the oldest in Scotland, is a couple of minutes away on Stafford Street. McCaig's Tower, the unfinished granite colosseum begun by a local banker in the 1890s, stands on the hill above town, and the North Pier ferry to Kerrera leaves from the seafront nearby. Hinba, the speciality coffee shop at number 62, is across the street.