Bargains, rip-offs and sales.
A steal
HAPPY HOURS Pay €10 to get into the O'Briens Wine Fair, at the RDS in Dublin today, and you can taste all the wine you want from 10.30am to 5.30pm. With more than 50 winemakers from around the world, it'll be a miracle if you can still stand by the end of it. But then, if you're a real connoisseur, you should be using the spittoons anyway. Tickets from O'Briens shops.
CLOSE THE DEAL If you buy a pair of readymade curtains at Marks & Spencer at the moment, you get a second pair for half-price. So pull yourself together and get down there.
JOIN THE Q Be sure to arrive early for the second Billion Dollar Babes sale, today from 8am to 6pm at CHQ, beside the IFSC in Dublin. Tales of long queues last time around say something about the quality of the bargains, and once again there's 80 per cent off stock from the likes of Diane von Furstenburg (below), Issey Miyake, Tocca, Eileen Shields, Aideen Bodkin and dozens of others. The nice part is that the €4 admission charge goes to the charity Action Breast Cancer.
A robbery
We thought Habitat's mission was to bring style to all at affordable prices. So the "modern antique" dining chairs for sale at €400-€600 look a little out of place in the Dublin shop. Habitat's new "20th century furniture" section brings in some beautiful pieces, but on a recent visit they were displaying dozens of high-priced chairs and little else. If they are so abundant, why are they so expensive?
Contributions from Eoin Lyons, Conor Goodman, Eimear McKeith and Eleanor Fitzsimons. If you spot a sale, a bargain or a rip-off, e-mail salestalk@irish-times.ie