Kenmare's craft tradition is genuine and the shops along Henry Street and Shelbourne Street are worth a slow browse — local pottery, woollens, jewellery, and the lace for which the town was once famous. The annual fair days draw producers in from the surrounding country and are the best time to visit.
Quill's Woollen Market carries Aran sweaters and Irish knitwear; Kenmare Lace is the surviving outlet for the town's nineteenth-century craft. Smaller galleries dot the side streets — paintings of the bay, jewellery in silver and bog oak, and the occasional excellent print.