Meet Kirsty Noble.  She’s a garden designer, writer and photographer from Australia who moved to Buenos Aires and decided to start her own business.  She needed to find something that uses her eye for good design, passion for finding new and interesting objets d’art and her love for the city of Buenos Aires – so she created the business model for BA Boutique Tours.

I went with her last week on one of her Palermo Fashion Tours and honestly – four hours passed in a flash.  We started out meeting Kirsty and the rest of the small group of girls also on the tour at a cafe in Palermo.  We enjoyed some coffee and really just broke the ice.  As part of the tour, Kirsty gave us complimentary tote bags filled with a tailor-made itinerary with addresses of all of the stores for our small group, one of the latest style magazines, discounts and V.I.P. cards as well as some great suggestions for spending your time in BA.

As the tour began, I noticed right away that Kirsty was really speaking and most importantly, listening attentively to what each of the girls in my group had to say.  To me, that’s all she had to do to sell me that this was going to be a fun time.  Also something really important to know from the beginning was that she doesn’t work on commission, so I didn’t feel any kind of pressure to purchase something that wasn’t right for me.

Since this particular tour went through Palermo (she also does tours in Recoleta and San Telmo), I figured that I would have gone to at least some of the stores that she led us to, but I was totally mistaken. She took to these hidden gems that I’ve passed walking the down the street probably 40 times and said to myself, “Hmm. That place looks cool-” but never had the chance to stop in there or was too intimidated because I thought it would be too ridiculously expensive.  I was so pleasantly surprised and proven wrong about the prices each time. As we went from store to store, Kirsty would introduce us to the salesperson, explain to them what we were looking for and in each case, learned so much information about the products and people behind the design that each person in the group felt really connected to them.  I walked out of each place saying to myself, “I didn’t realize that this place that I passed up so many times was so interesting!”

Most tours end up with a luncheon at a chic new restaurant in the area and a chance to rest your arms from all the bags you might be carrying.  Tours are open to the public and rates are very, very reasonable considering all of the energy, effort and organization that Kirsty has put into her programs.  I highly recommend the fashion tour if you’re here alone, with friends (and this is NOT just for us ladies…) and even if you live here as a local, you’re guaranteed to find some new and interesting places (like I did!).

For more information on her Boutique Fashion, Photography or Garden Tours, go to her website: BA Boutique Tours.  Her contact information is listed at the bottom of her web page.

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