I was in Edinburgh last week, and walked the Royal Mile from the Castle nearly to Holyrood (drat the rain)... and while it pains me to say this, I wonder if anyone else has had a similar experience. I preface this by saying I had money and was looking to buy a tank if I could get a reasonable deal.

I saw and went into the 4 or 5 Gold Bros shops. All were full of what I could easily identify as "tourist" items a.k.a. crap, as far as their kilts, though I noticed they did have some 100% wool kilts that looked alright at first glance. They had lots of other things, most of which were just window dressing items. The shops were full of people, and I was asked at least once in each shop if I needed help.

I went into 4 "real" kilt shops (the Woollen Mill next to the Castle, Celtic Croft, Nicholson Highlandwear, and another whose name I cannot remember). And I was roundly ignored in all four. In particular, I knew from their website that NH had something in stock that I wanted to see. But for the life of me, I couldn't get anyone to help me. In one shop, the woman wouldn't even get off the obviously personal phone call she was taking...

In the end, I purchased nothing... and was left very disappointed in the experience.

So my question is... Is this typical with the reputable shops?

Just my $0.02. YMMV.