I'm ready for my celebrity shop

Justin Bieber was mobbed on Grafton Street this week. Given the kerfuffle they cause, why do pop stars want to shop on tour?

‘TIME TO HIT the streets of Dublin . . .” A single tweet from Kenny Hamilton was enough to spark a stampede towards Grafton Street on Monday. But then Hamilton is Justin Bieber’s bodyguard. The Canadian tween sensation, one of the most powerful brands in music, was reportedly making his way to Monsoon and Tommy Hilfiger for a spot of shopping before taking to the stage of the O2.

Leaving aside the oddity of a 17-year-old boy shopping at Monsoon, why do pop stars, who have people who can do that kind of thing for them, bother with shopping at all?

Pop stars don’t go shopping on tour out of necessity. It’s more complex than that. Their touring bubbles are so tightly constructed, the stars so micromanaged, that they seize any chance to act as though they retain some element of control – even if constructing that sense of freedom means shuffling around as bodyguards buffer them against mobile-phone-wielding crowds.

Brian Spollen, who books high-profile acts for festivals and concerts organised by MCD, one of the country’s biggest music promoters, says that touring is mind-numbingly boring. “When you’re a superstar you have your minions to do everything, from opening your bottled water to everything else.”

Typically, he says, a big American act will do 12 shows in 12 cities in 18 days, “and it’s all plane, car, hotel, plane, car, hotel. They just say, ‘Let’s bust out.’ And, if you’re an American star, when you go to Dublin or London or Paris these are mystical places. You’re staying in the Merrion, your PA comes back, says Brown Thomas is the best place to go shopping, and you say, ‘Let’s go.’ In the boom times Grafton Street had a great rep for being a good shopping street. Certain cities on the European circuit have reputations as fun places to go out and about, and Dublin is still high on that list.”

Stars’ desire to break the monotony of touring can come at our expense, with department stores willing to shut their doors or open late to allow big names to shop in private. Brown Thomas, the visiting pop star’s favourite, remains tight-lipped about its approach to A-listers. “Brown Thomas has a strict policy of giving customers complete privacy, and that customer confidentiality is of utmost importance,” says a spokeswoman. “All customers, celebrity or otherwise, have the option of booking a complimentary personal-shopping service.”

There have been some memorable splurges by recent touring pop stars. In 2003 Justin Timberlake spent almost €50,000 on Waterford Crystal, including €27,500 for a crystal Formula 1 car for his dad, during a late-night visit to the Kilkenny shop on Nassau Street with Cameron Diaz, his girlfriend at the time. (Bill O’Herlihy’s PR company proudly explained how it engineered the spree to generate “almost €100,000” of publicity for Waterford Crystal, a client, in a submission for a public-relations award the next year; the document is on its website.)

In 2009 Beyoncé hit Chica, in Westbury Mall, reportedly spending several thousand euro. (Later in the year she lowered her budget and bought miniskirts at River Island.)

In 2004 Britney Spears supplemented the glamour of Grafton Street – she and her then boyfriend, Kevin Federline, had reportedly spent €15,000 during a private evening at Brown Thomas – by travelling to Atattooed, in Bray, Co Wicklow, to have pink dice tattooed on her wrist.

Justin Bieber is well aware of the kerfuffle he causes when stepping out; pop stars’ decisions to go shopping are also a great way to get press coverage the next day, ensuring their tours are on the radar of both the media and the ticket-buying public. And there’s added kudos if they’re seen hitting the cooler spots of a city – although that doesn’t explain how Bieber’s mentor Usher, the platinum-selling RB singer, ended up in Charlie’s Four, a late-night Chinese takeaway on South Great George’s Street, a fortnight ago.

Then again, no one ever said pop stars were predictable.