First Rate Bureau De Change

I must say, I was very very impressed with these guys.
Even though they had nothing to gain financially from assisting me (they didn’t have what I needed), they went out of their way to help how they could.
So I was looking for Indian rupees. I called every single bank I could think of. Answers ranged from «Eh, I’m not sure — check our website?» (Bank of Ireland), to «No. We don’t have them. I don’t know where you’d get them. Can I put you on hold? Hi I’m back, what did you want? No, I don’t think we have that. I have no idea.» (AIB) to «Ehmm, I’ll take your number and get someone to call you back that’ll know (beeeeeppppp)» (Ulster)
So it turns out that Indian rupees are a restricted currency, meaning you can’t actually buy them outside of India. You can if you order them quite far in advance, but generally speaking, the advice is to take cash with you to change and your ATM card to withdraw money once you’re there.
The dude also directed me to O2 where you can get a money card which is useable all over the world.
All in all, extremely helpful, in fact way above and beyond. And very very much appreciated.

In this world there are plenty of things which take way more time than they should. First Rate Bureau de Change isn’t one of them. They carry a large number of obscure currencies as well as slightly more popular ones — I had no problem getting my Brazilian Reais on the day I went in when other institutions (BOI & AIB) didn’t stock them.
As far as price, the rate was within about 5% of what I’d seen on
(which is per million Euro anyway, so never wholly reflected in the rate you get). Commission was around about 2% as well so no complaints there — when I take more cash out from the ATMs in Rio I expect to get a little more shafted than that!
Open on Saturdays too so very convenient.

I travel a lot and I’m a real tightass. As a result, Ive shopped all over town for the best exchange rates! Time and time again I come back to First Rate on Westmoreland Street. I’ve seen some places match their rates but I’ve never actually found lower than here. There’s the added benefit of an under-​used cash point across the road — handy for withdrawing Euro to exchange. Plus First Rate has an actual shop front with the rates in the window and holds a good range of obscure currencies on site (so you can leave it to the last minute to get your Kopecks or Ringgit or Rupiah). I like the fact that the staff wear uniform and there are security cameras. This is a pleasant change from places where you go up the back to a pokey desk and feel like you’re doing some sort of shady narcotics related transaction.