SHOP!

Easter Artisan Market - Book Now!

2012-02-15T14:54:00.001Z

For full information about the market and to bookan Easter pitch for just £5 - download an application formHERE.

The next Artisan Market will take place onthe 7th April from 11am - 4pm and will super-fun as befits our wonderfullocation! Ssssssh, rumour has it there's even going to be a Easter eggrolling competition!

Here are some pictures of former Artisan Marketson the beautiful Christmas Steps:

Happy Valentine's Day, SHOPlettes!

2012-02-14T11:28:00.001Z

The End of the Affair, by David Sedaris

Last night, Hugh and I went around the corner to see The End of the Affair, a Neil Jordan adaptation of the Graham Greene novel. He sobbed from beginning to end. And by the time we left the theater, the poor thing was completely dehydrated.

I asked if he always cried during comedies, and he accused me of being grossly insensitive, a charge I'm trying to plea bargain down to a simple obnoxious. Looking back, I should've known better than to accompany Hugh to a love story. Such movies are always a danger as, unlike battling aliens or going undercover to track a serial killer, falling in love is something most adults have actually experienced at some point in their lives.

The theme is universal and encourages the viewer to make a number of unhealthy comparisons, leading to the question, "Why can't our lives be like that?" It's a box best left unopened. And its avoidance explains the continued popularity of vampire epics and martial arts extravaganzas.

The End of the Affair made me look like an absolute toad. The movie's voracious couple was played by Ralph Fiennes and Julianne Moore, who did everything but eat one another. Their love was doomed and clandestine, and even when the bombs were falling, they looked radiant. Something about Julianne Moore and Ralph Fiennes put me on the defensive.

I'm not as unfeeling as Hugh accuses me of being, but things change once you've been together for 10 years. They rarely make movies about long-term couples and for good reason. Our lives are boring.

The courtship had its moments, but now we've become the predictable part two no one in his right mind would ever pay to see. Hugh and I have been together for so long that in order to arouse extraordinary passion, we need to engage in actual physical combat. Once, he hit me on the back of the head with a broken wine glass, and I fell to the floor, pretending to be unconscious. That was romantic, or would have been had he rushed to my side, rather than stepping over my body to fetch the dustpan.

Call me unimaginative, but I still can't think of anyone else I'd rather be with. On our worst days, I figure things will work themselves out. Otherwise, I really don't give it much thought.

Neither of us would ever publicly display affection. We're just not that type. We can't profess love without talking through hand puppets, and we'd never consciously sit down to discuss our relationship. These, to me, are good things. They were fine with Hugh as well until he saw that damn movie and was reminded that he has other options.

The picture ended at around 10:00. And afterwards, we went for coffees at a little place across the street from the Luxembourg Gardens. I was ready to wipe the movie out of my mind, but Hugh was still under its spell. He looked as though his life had not only passed him by, but paused along the way to spit in his face.

Our coffees arrived, and as he blew his nose into a napkin, I encouraged him to look on the bright side. "Listen," I said, "We maybe don't live in wartime London, but in terms of the occasional bomb scare, Paris is a pretty close second. We both love taxidermy. We take vacations to fun places like Croatia. What more could you possibly want?"

What more could he want? It was an incredibly stupid question. And when he failed to answer, I was reminded of just how lucky I truly am.

Movie characters might chase one another through the fog, or race down the stairs of burning buildings, but that's just for beginners. Real love amounts to withholding the truth, even when you're offered the perfect opportunity to hurt somebody's feelings. I wanted to say something to this effect, but my hand puppets were back home in their drawer. Instead, I pulled my chair a few inches closer, and we sat silently at our little table on the square, looking for all the world like two people in love.

NEW STOCK!

2012-02-13T15:59:00.002Z

We got stock! There is new homeware, women's skirts, blouses, tops and jumpers and some bits and pieces like suitcases and doilies (of course!). Here's a selection of a few of the pieces:

Party plates!

Handbags at dawn...

Spangles

Slightly less spangles...

Nice cardie... Must not take home, must not take home...

Verynice Jaegar blouse... Must not take home either, must not take home either...

Blouse and jacket in one!

Skirt of spring colours

Skirt of sailing colours

Skirt of erm... with buttons!

Easter colours!

Nice yoke (that's not an Easter pun)

Jumper with pretty tie.

Lovely ladies suitcases!

Alisdair Gray

2012-02-06T23:09:00.000Z

We live and have lived
And die and will die in this city
And millions have been,
And will be forgotten,
Each with a backbone and heart
We struggle to keep,
Before we are folded in sleep
And go rotten.
And most, before dieing, give blood
to a son or daughter
And when the bones of these children
crumble, remain as words in a document
Names cut on stones, otherwise we
are all a procession as featureless as water
And some sit late filling books
With tall words 'til the birds whistle,
Trying to see what we are and what we wanted to be.

The Big Refurb!

2012-02-06T13:28:00.000Z

It was a week of freezing conditions, general grafting, lugging stuff, whacking stuff, cutting lino - oh, and a lot of painting! BUT, it is finished and we are really, really happy with the results.

SHOP is now clean, fresh and light and can remain that way for a long time to come! Hopefully it is a happier place to shop and to hang-out in.

Here's some pics!

Moving stuff!

Stuff moved.

Look how disgusting that floor is!

Flattening the lino (with other lino) before it is fitted.

Jumping on the lino to get it flat (more of this later).

Painting gold gloss on the window frames.

Painting more gold gloss on the window frames!

Trying not to paint the Steps...

One window down, three to go.

The gold step is back!

Putting things in their new homes.

Shady Tunnockses waiting to be scoffed

Jumping on the new rugs to flatten them out.

New fresh lounge!!!

Indeed.

Light and lovely.

New arrangement of the homeware section.

New arrangement of the Whoaman's section.

A view from within, with sneaky little birdie.

Check out that lino, phwoarrrr! We fitted that, you know.

Outside! New white and gold exterior and new a-board.

The window of number 18 is now dedicated arts space, space.

New look a-board!

Indoor/Outdoor.

But, of course the pictures don't do the reality justice - the best thing is to come and see it for yourself :-D

SHOP Relaunch & February Events!

2012-01-28T12:42:00.001Z

THE REFURB!

The bad news is ... SHOP is going to be closed for one week from Monday 30th January until Sunday 5th February, but the GOOD NEWS is that it's for a very good reason ... we're having a total refurb!

As you may know, throughout January SHOP has been home to The 50p Rummage Room, with the intention of raising money for a new floor and rugs for SHOP. See how we got on with raising the money and the FINAL totaliser on the blog here!

During the refurb week we're going to: replace the floor, insert new rugs, rearrange the furniture (possibly) and weather permitting bling up the outside, quite literally, with gold gloss paint and a brand new a-board! Check the blog or twitter for updates on our progress throughout the week!

Of course you're all invited to the relaunch - see below for details and for another February event!

REFURB RELAUNCH

MONDAY 6TH FEBRUARY
11am - 6pm

Come and see how we've to make SHOP more beautiful and join us in a glass of pretend Champagne.
Congratulatory slaps on the back optional.
*

POP-UP CAFE

SATURDAY 18TH FEBRUARY
11am - 6pm

On the 18th, the SHOP Arts Space will play host to a pop-up veggie/vegan cafe. Two dedicated home-chefs are menu planning as we speak, but you can expect 'Real Meal Deals' - a main, a drink and a cake, all freshly baked with real ingredients and for a very reasonble price!

When the foods gone, the cafe will vanish too, so make sure to get in quick.
*

EXHIBITION

20TH - 25TH FEBRUARY
12pm - 6pm
UWE MA Fine Art students, Caroline Bacon and Seila Fernandez Arconada take over the Arts Apace for a week. The booking has just been taken, so check the blog and twitter for more details as we get them!

*

MAKING THINGS CLUB

29TH FEBRUARY
7pm - 9pm

Everyone likes makings things, but there's nothing better than making things with other people, it's socialable AND you will find you are more productive, fact!

You can bring something you're already working on (sewing, knitting, painting - anything!), or just bring along something (anything!) to nourish those creative urges for one night only.

You'll feel better.
*

New Floor Totaliser: FINAL WEEK!

2012-01-28T12:00:00.000Z

That's right, the last day of the 50p Rummage Room has arrived and we're totting up the final amount going towards SHOP's new floor and rugs.

We also had some excellent floor-related news this week - SHOP had a generous donation of some second-hand (fitting for a vintage shop) lino, almost exactly the same as the sample we found! Aren't we the luckiest? This means that the aim of £300 is now happily way above what we need.

SHOP has decided to use any surplus money to invest in improving the arts space lighting and to put towards repainting the exterior of SHOP, which is looking pretty rough right now to be perfectly honest!

Thank you to everyone who supported The Rummage Room, as always we couldn't do half the things we do without everyone's support. So, for that reason, we're going to give you the honour of pushing the Totaliser button for the last time!

Everyone ready?

Okay,

3 ...

2 ...

1 ...

PUSH!

TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY SQUIDS!! We're over the moon with that! Make sure to come and see the results of the make-over on February 6th when we reopen after our refurb!

New Floor Totaliser: WEEK TWO

2012-01-21T13:50:00.000Z

The Rummage Room has been doing brisk business in week two and The Totaliser is looking healthy! So healthy that we allowed ourselves to do a ickle bit of sample shopping for our new floor!

But before that, obviously you're on the edge of your keyboards waiting for the new total, so here it is.

OH FOR FUPP'S SAKE WILL YOU STOP SITTING ON THAT RUDDY BUTTON, IT'S NOT THERE FOR YOUR COMFORT, IT'S LIKE THE RED BUTTON IN THE WHITE HOUSE, DO YOU WANT TO CAUSE WW3?! WELL, DO YOU?!!! JUST LEAVE IT ALONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*Ahem*

So, BbbbbZzzzzzzzuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU.................................

Yup, that's right OVER half way!! Thank you to everyone who has parted with 50p and for taking the 304 items off our hands. However, don't fear if you haven't visited yet, as there is a still a week to go and plenty more bargains to be had, so get yo'asses down here!

To the lino! We wanted something that basically looks like our floor does now, but when we've just painted it and that stays like that for longer than about two weeks. So, we were thinking plain white lino, until we spotted this little beauty! It's kind of like pretend white laminate flooring, but in real life is much nicer than that sounds:

Check that lino out!

Come back next week to see what the final total is!

New Floor Totaliser: WEEK ONE

2012-01-13T13:04:00.001Z

It's week one of the Rummage Room New Floor Fundraiser at SHOP (catchy name, huh?) and we thought we'd update you on how the New Floor Totaliser is looking.

So, brace yourselves ... just got to find the button ... where is it now? Oh WHO SAT ON THE BUTTON?!

BbbbbZzzzzzzzuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU..................

That's right, that's just under 25% of the total after just four days and with another two weeks to go. Looks like that lino is going to ours, ALL OURS!

Although we're really pleased with the progress so far, there are still plenty of bargains (vintage and non-vintage) to be had. Here's some examples of the treasures already mined for JUST 50P!!!:

1970s exercise bike (still working)
Ikea chairs
LOADS of great vinyl
Fab old games
Two 50s projectors (still working)
Pictures
Jewellery
Books
Gilbert and George original exhibition poster
Umbrellas ellas ellas
Vintage dresses and coats

So get y'asses down here before the 28th January to pick up some bargains of your own!

JANUARY RUMMAGE ROOM!

2012-01-04T21:03:00.001Z

Beginning on January 9th at 11am and continuing right through until January the 28th at 6pm, SHOP introduces its first ever Rummage Room!

During January the SHOP Arts Space will be transformed from a chin-rubbing exhibition space to what we are affectionately calling our car-less boot sale!

Over the 5 years SHOP has been alive, we've managed to accumulate a whole load of general stuff - some unsung gems, some well ... let's call them rough diamonds - and the time has come to shift 'em!

You can be assured too, that the prices will be car-boot-tastic, much, much, much lower than SHOP's usual fair-prices.

The reason we've decided to do this is because we're raising money for a new floor. Those of you that have known SHOP a while may remember the blinding white of our gorgeous fluffy rugs when we first opened the doors to number 19 Christmas Steps. They're now somewhat mucky and the floor they cover isn't much better.

We want to sell off these goodies to raise money for some super-retro lino and some new less fluffy, less white, more durable (but still everso delicious) rugs.

So please come along and help yourselves to a few bargains and help SHOP reach the pinnacle of it's... New Floor Totaliser!

MERRY CHRISTMAS ONE AND ALL!

2011-12-16T15:17:00.000Z

Here at SHOP we're finding hard to believe another year is coming to an end, but being big fans of Christmas and of progress in general, we're looking forward to a lovely Christmas holiday followed by an exciting new year at SHOP.

As with most years at SHOP thus far, this one has been one like no other. It started out business as unusual, but has had many twists and turns, some rather unpleasant, some brilliant. We've said goodbye to some people and we've welcomed many more. We've lurched from the brink of extinction to a new lease of life - you know, ying and yang, circle of life, all that kinda stuff.

So, this is to wish all SHOP Fans a wonderful, wonderful Christmas and 2012. We look forward to seeing you on the other side and in the meantime, we'd like to leave you with this extract from A Christmas Carol. It is Scrooge's nephew talking to his miser of an uncle and we feel his sentiments about Christmas sum up how we feel about Christmas and in some aspects, about SHOP in general too:

``There are many things from which I might have derivedgood, by which I have not profited, I dare say ... Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I havealways thought of Christmas time, when it has comeround ...as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time:the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year,when men and women seem by one consent to open theirshut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them asif they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and notanother race of creatures bound on other journeys. Andtherefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold orsilver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, andwill do me good; and I say, God bless it!''

Sending you all the old, old wish - see you in 2012!

Christmas News!

2011-12-08T13:35:00.001Z

It's begininng to look a lot like Christmas!

We ruddy love Christmas! We've already eaten ours and your body weight in mince pies and been using any excuse to mull up some wine we can think of..."Oh, I've got the sniffles, maybe a warm drink will help". "Yeah, I read this thing about this new recipe that's meant to be really good for your liver, let's try it out tonight". "I'm really thirsty and don't know about you but I've found the water is a bid flouridey this week". But the best one is "It's Christmas!"

If you haven't been down to the Christmas Steps just yet this December, then you really need to pay us a visit after 5pm (when it's dark) to see our super Christmassy Christmas lights tumbling their way down the steps.

DRAW by Sam Ulewicz

tales from shop

Three things we got in the post this month:

1) An invitation to go to Italy and hang out with the owners of a vintage shop.

2) A napkin ring

3) And this...

NEWS

CHRISTMAS ARTISAN MARKET!
The Christmas Artisan Market was a huge success with lots of great feedback from stallholders and visitors alike. It was by far our biggest and most well attended one to date. Apparently Christmas Markets need a USP to be successful...beat our USP universe!

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS SWITCH ON!
We genuinely didn't believe it could get more christmassy on the steps than it is already until the beautiful December 1st switch on. It truly was a heartwarming community event.

To see all the piccies from the market and switch on event click on the blog below:

http://www.christmasstepsartisanmarket.blogspot.com

SPECIAL CHRISTMASSY NEW STOCK IN A SPECIAL CHRISTMASSY SHOP!
SHOP's Bristol postcode means we always have Christmas in our hearts, but that doesn't stop us really ramping up the Christmas to the max!
We have of course stocked up with lots of jumpers for the wintery weather (still trying hard to get hold of some of the Christmas Jumpers we had last year) and perfect homewares for gifts. We've also got some lovely jewellery for stocking fillers and games for playing round the fire with the family.

Click on the blog link below for a sneaky peak and a bit more info:

SHOP's Feelin Christmassy!!

CHRISTMAS OPENING HOURS!

We will be open up as unusual through December from Monday to Saturday 11am - 6pm.

We will be closed from Friday December 23rd until Monday January 9th.

Draw by Sam Ulewicz

2011-12-06T14:03:00.001Z

Sam Ulewicz's exhibition, 'Draw' opened on Saturday in the arts space. Sam has had a group exhibition in the arts space before with brother Tim Ulewicz and friends Ross Lovelock Ross Godding, 'Back Then'... but this is his first ever solo show! The illustrations are ace and very funny but we won't spoil the punch lines, you'll have to come and see for yourself. In the meantime, here are some pics:

Grrrrrrrrr!

The exhibition poster

SHOP loves this one! It's a tee shirt and a print.

The red arrows, these have been painted onto the wall.

Close-up...

A cabinet of goodies.

SHOP's feelin Christmassy!!

2011-12-02T16:48:00.001Z

When you live on the Christmas Steps you can't help but feel especially Christmassy at this time of year...but we give it a really good go at being extra, extra, specially Christmassy anyway!

We've decked our halls with the usual mix of mismatched decos and created our own little grotto that will have Santa greenland with envy.

Of course we've also had a bit of a top up on party dresses, Christmas jumpers, homeware and well everything really...These pictures don't really do us any justice, if we do say so ours-'elves'.

Christmas Warm-Up Events!

2011-11-23T13:06:00.001Z

A CHRISTMAS WARM-UP

MONDAY 28th NOVEMBER

Buy Nothing Day

SHOP | 11am - 6pm
SHOP will be closed on the 28th for our 5th annual Buy Nothing Day, in support of an Adbusters campaign to discourage over-consumption. It primarily means boycotting the big boys, but we like to support it in our own unique way ... by having a day off! The actual day varies, depending on where you are in the world, but the general idea is just to ask yourself, do you really need those elephant shaped ear-muffs?

THURSDAY 1st DECEMBER

Grand Christmas Steps Lights Switch On!

The Christmas Steps | 5.30pm onwards
All of us who live on The Christmas Steps are very proud of our unique name and for the last three years we've celebrated Christmas by putting up some twinkly lights to make the Steps even more beautiful than normal. On Thursday 1st December, children from St Michael's School will sing us all some carols before the plunger is plunged at 6pm and the Steps will be lit up! Stick around for some late night shopping in the whole Christmas Steps Arts Quarter too, this and each Thursday throughout December until 8pm.

The Oxygen of Publicity (A Lust for Power)

SHOP's Arts Space | 6pm - 9pm
Artists Shelley Davis and Thomas Martin are exploring the complex and conflicting issues of gender politics and expectations via the medium of video and audio, in this pop up arts space event.

SATURDAY 3rd DECEMBER

Christmas Artisan Market

The Christmas Steps | 11am - 4pm

In keeping with the area's reputation for independent artisan traders, we're hosting a Christmas Artisan Market on the unique and festively name Christmas Steps themselves. Come along for a lovely afternoon and experience the wonderful teetering charm of the artisans’ stalls cascading down the Steps, showcasing the high standard of beautiful crafts and wares – everything from sweets to frilly knickers, original art works and handmade instruments, providing you with the perfect opportunity to pick up local, handmade and fully unique Christmas presents. There will be stacks of festive cheer too with carols and mulled cider a-plenty.

Draw by Sam Ulewicz

SHOP's Arts Space | 12pm - 6pm
Sam returns to the SHOP Arts Space with a solo show, until the 10th December. Sam's show will include large scale murals as well as his illustations.

Red Door Exhibition

2011-11-14T13:57:00.001Z

Red Door Collective have taken over the Arts Space at SHOP this week with their own brand of ambient music and urban art. The show is exhibiting the work of 11 local artists and opened on Friday 11/11/11.

It has already proved very popular and is one of the busiest shows that SHOP has experienced.

Here's some pics:

The Home of Christmas Shopping!

2011-11-02T16:17:00.003Z

On Saturday 3^rd December, from 11am – 4pm, the beautiful and intriguing Christmas Steps Arts Quarter (where SHOP lives!), in keeping with its reputation for independent artisan traders, is hosting a Christmas Artisan Market on the unique and festively name Christmas Steps themselves.

Come along for a lovely afternoon and experience the wonderful teetering charm of the artisans’ stalls cascading down the Steps, showcasing the high standard of beautiful crafts and wares – everything from sweets to filly knickers, original art works and handmade instruments, providing you with the perfect opportunity to pick up local, handmade and fully unique Christmas presents.

There will be stacks of festive cheer with the famous Steps Christmas lights, as well as carols and mulled cider a-plenty and if that weren’t enough, there are many other artisan traders and businesses in this unique and beautiful site in Bristol’s city centre, as well as great places to eat and drink.

FFI:

http//christmasstepsartisanmarket.blogspot.com

http://www.christmastepsartsquarter.co.uk

christmasstepsartsquarter@yahoo.co.uk

***********************

When was the last time you took a walk down a different street? The Christmas Steps Arts Quarter consists of eight unique streets in Bristol's old city, lined with independent shops, art galleries, bars, cafes and more than a few surprises, where artisans and creative traders work side by side to keep this diverse corner of Bristol as unusual as it's been throughout its long and intriguing history.

November Newsletter!

2011-11-02T16:16:00.000Z

NOVEMBER

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag? Drifting through the wind? Wanting to start again? Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin, like a house of cards, one blow from caving in? Do you ever feel already buried deep? Six feet under screams but no one seems to hear a thing. Do you know that there's still a chance for you, 'cause there's a spark in you? You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine just own the night like the 4th of July. 'Cause baby, you're a firework, come on, show 'em what you're worth. Make 'em go, oh-oh-oh, as you shoot across the sky. Baby, you're a firework, come on, let your colors burst. Make 'em go, oh-oh-oh.. You're gonna leave 'em falling down. You don't have to feel like a waste of space, you're original, cannot be replaced. If you only knew what the future holds after a hurricane comes a rainbow. Maybe you're reason why all the doors are closed, so you could open one that leads you to the perfect road. Like a lightning bolt, your heart will blow and when it's time, you'll know. You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine. Just own the night like the 4th of July. 'Cause baby you're a firework, come on, show 'em what you're worth. Make 'em go, oh-oh-oh as you shoot across the sky. Baby, you're a firework come on, let your colors burst. Make 'em go, oh-oh-oh. You're gonna leave 'em falling down. Boom, boom, boom, even brighter than the moon, moon, moon. It's always been inside of you, you, you and now it's time to let it through. 'Cause baby you're a firework, come on, show 'em what you're worth
Make 'em go, oh-oh-oh as you shoot across the sky. Baby, you're a firework, come on, let your colors burst. Make 'em go, oh-oh-oh. You're gonna leave 'em falling down. Boom, boom, boom, even brighter than the moon, moon, moon. Boom, boom, boom, even brighter than the moon, moon, moon.

tales from shop

thREE THINGS WE'VE LEARNT THIS MONTH:

1. PEANUT BUTTER AND JAM ON A GINGER NUT BISCUIT is NOT A TASTY SNACK.

2. CHEAP HALLOWEEN DECORATIONS BOUGHT 3 YEARS AGO FROM WILKINSON'S aRE APPARENTLY MUCH MORE 'saleable' THAN VINTAGE CLOTHING AND HOMEWARE.

3. If you don't ask, you don't get.

NEWS

CHRISTMAS ARTISAN MARKET!
Christmas Artisan Market plans are well underway since last month and the pitches are filling up fast! It will take place on the first Saturday of December, that's the 3rd of December from 11am - 4pm. Get in touch if you would like a stall for just £5!

http://www.christmasstepsartisanmarket.blogspot.com

A LORI-LOAD OF NEW STOCK!
SHOP was very fortunate this month to have taken delivery of loads and loads of new stock! SHOP friend and hunter out of amazing vintage, Lori of Tenderfoot in Brislington provided us with homeware and women's clothes. After that we stocked on snuggly men's jumpers and shortly after that took possession of some truly amazing original 60s Chelsea and Desert Boots. They are dead-stock so are totally unworn!

Check out some of our blogs on the subject:

WOMEN'S AND HOMEWARE!
JUMPERS!
SHOES!

EVENTS

Exhibition: Red Door Collective
November 11th - 18th | 12pm - 6pm

A series of urban artists' portraits and prints from the Red Door collective. Ssshhhhh, rumour has it there will be a Banksy in the midst.

Exhibition: Shelley Davies
November 21st - 26th | 12pm - 6pm

Painter and Ceramicist Shelley Davis will be exhibiting some of her latest worK towards the end of November.

F.F.I Shelley Davies Website

COMING SOON!
The return of one of the Ulewicz brothers, this time it's Sam with a solo-show, starting on the 3r December, more details next month!

MORE NEW STUFF - Jumpers!

2011-10-25T16:08:00.003+01:00

We've just received a little package of 20 or so Mens jumpers (although many of them I suppose you could regard as unisex), just in time for the start of Winter. Oh, got to go there's customers battering down the door...

Here some pics:

ORIGINAL 60s SHOESES!

2011-10-24T15:18:00.004+01:00

SHOP was very lucky to come across a rich seam of amazing dead-stock ORIGINAL 60s Chelsea Boots and Desert Boots for men and women.

Moments like these happen rarely in the vintage world, when what's hot in fashion is a vintage design and then somewhere like SHOP manages to find the originals! Not only does this mean they are The Ultimate, the quality is much better than the modern mass reproductions. Even the soles are leather!

Furthermore, we're selling them for £25 which is cheaper than their newborn cousins! We're salivating over them (it's good for the suede).

SHOP's 5th BIRTHDAY

2011-10-17T12:10:00.003+01:00

So Saturday was SHOP's 5th birthday! All our birthday parties have been along pretty much the same lines: childish and this one was no exception! We plied anyone who walked through the door with cake and sweets and Eddy played us some birthday tunes.

We had some lovely visitors and none lovelier than Danielle who bought us the crowning glory in any 5th birthday party: jelly and ice cream! Although this jelly was a bit special-er cus it was homemade cider jelly!

We're looking forward to our teenage years, so we can drink a ton of WKD, cry, then throw up, then cry again, then tell our parents they effed us up.

Happy Birthday to us, Happy Birthday to us, Haaaaappppy birthday ... oh hang on Eddy's playing Baker Street again.

What a loads of bunts.

Sugar, sugar and a bit more sugar.

Lychee cakes! They were yumtious.

What a mice party!

LOADS 'N' LOADS OF NEW STOCK!!

2011-10-12T13:07:00.008+01:00

You know what Monday's can be like, right? A bit lacklustre, not always conducive to mass inspiration or epiphanies. Well, that's how SHOP was hanging this Monday just gone. We were discussing new stock and we just couldn't find a way to have all the amazing things we wanted for our lovely customers and ended up just feeling a bit sorry for ourselves.

Well, as actual proof that life can change in an instant, that very evening, a miracle was performed for SHOP courtesy of our very own goddess, Lori MacAlpine-Smith of the super handmade-haven, Tenderfoot! Lori gifted SHOP enough stock to refill the whole place, which as you can imagine is a lot of stock. In addition to the volume, Lori has excellent taste, is a vintage-lover of the highest order and not only that, she is American! Which all combined means we were given volume, quality and rarity! She was immediately promoted to head-buyer and general Goddess of SHOP.

Anyway, we'll stop making Lori blush now and show you some pictures of said wonderful stock which is now available to purchase at SHOP!

Oh hang on here's a picture of Lori with a rat-tail to prove her commitment to all fashions now long-gone. Only the very best of people can sport a rat-tail with such beauty and grace!

STOCK!

American, Like Lori.

The sleeves zip off this beauty!

Bookywookys!

Awww, look at his little face! He needs to be filled with biccies!

You can now get a nice rinse and a set whilst browsing! Tassly lampshade also new.

This is just a small selection, there are plenty more clothes of all kinds, as well as bags, purses, accessories homeware and books too!

ART FOR LOVE: REVIEW

2011-10-03T13:53:00.003+01:00

That warm Friday just gone, SHOP was taken over by Italian art collective Art For Love.

The show - AFL's first in the UK! - called 'East Meets West' exhibited the work of two photographers, Javier de la Varga and Micheal Goggioli, representing East and West respectively.

The photos were taken during Javier's and Micheal's trips around the world and documented two very different cultural experiences.

The photographs were really spectacular and the show was a proper treat. Keep your eye on these lot!

FFI: Website
Follow: Twitter

OCTOBER NEWSLETTER!

2011-09-29T12:53:00.002+01:00

We had a little holiday last month, so we kind of missed out September, but October is making up for that with some lovely wee events for you and some to get thinking about for the coming months too.

NEWS

CHRISTMAS ARTISAN MARKET!
Christmas Artisan Market plans are now underway. It will take place on the first Saturday of December, that's the 3rd of December from 11am - 4pm. Get
in touch if you would like a stall for just £5!

ONE YEAR OF THE ARTS SPACE!
There's another anniversary for SHOP this month, one whole year of the arts space! Check out our blog below to read about all the wonderful artists we've had exhibit over the last 12 months.

WINTER OPENING HOURS
With summer away away, we are now open on Mondays again so you can shop with SHOP 6 days a week (again)!

EVENTS

East Meets West September 30th | 6pm - 10pm

Italian collective Art for Love are putting on a one night only exhibition
in the arts space. The show is the work of two photographers - Javier de la
Varga and Michael Goggioli, with photos from two very different worlds.

www.artforlove.net

SHOP's 5th Birthday Party! October 15th | ALL DAY

Unbelievably it's our birthday again and even more unbelievably than that,
it's our FIFTH birthday! We'll be celebrating all day with the usual
juvenile mix of cake, pop and silly hats.

Hash Tag Slags October 17th - 29th | 12pm - 6pm
Hash Tag Slags is a collaborative installation commenting on the use of
social networking (specifically Twitter) to create identities.

ONE YEAR OF THE ARTS SPACE!

2011-09-28T14:38:00.011+01:00

SHOP is celebrating yet another anniversary this month, with one year having passed since the arts space opened to the artists of Bristol and beyond.

Here's a round up of the wide range of brilliant exhibitions we have enjoyed over the past 12 months.

*********

Our first exhibitor was Paulo da Silveira, who covered the four walls of the arts space for his show, Peace and Unity.

PAULO DA SILVEIRA:

The second exhibition was by, well - us! 'SHOP' by SHOP charted the first year of SHOP as a social enterprise and all the community events we had staged.

SHOP:

Third came the lovely Tom Berry. His first ever show, Brawny Gods Just Flocked Up, was a massive success and has led to him exhibiting regularly this year.

TOM BERRY:

A group of UWE graduates were next with their mixed media group show, including paintings and sculpture.

UWE GRADUATE SHOW:

Our first all girl show, Treasure consisted of six female illustrators and artists, including Natasha Almeida, Chandra Almeida and Bett Norris who all returned for another show this year.

PREVIEW PARTY FOR TREASURE:

Christmas saw a group of crafters and jewellers take over the arts space for an exhibition and selling event called Jewellery Box.

JEWELLERY BOX:

February bought the first of two Tim Ulewicz exhibitions in the arts space. This was his first ever solo show called, Never More Than a Metre Away. It was a great success and Tim continues to go from strength to strength with his work.

TIM ULEWICZ:

Islanders, Matthew Douglas and Dan Le Mesurier shared a week each of two weeks in the arts space with their shows. Matthew was up first with his, Eight Drawings.

MATTHEW DOUGLAS:

Dan Le Mesurier had the second week with his photographs and drawings of his trip to Mali, called Oneman Travelplan.

DAN LE MESURIER:

Aaron Boys and Nathan Nicholson were up next with their shared show, Abstract Nightmares. The show featured some intricate, large scale work.

ABSTRACT NIGHTMARES:

The University of Bristol Photography Society chose the arts space as the venue for their annual exhibition and there were some really great pictures. Unfortunately we don't have a photograph for this one, the irony!

Laura Taylor came up from London to show Telephone Tin Cans in the arts space. It featured some very colourful work, as well as balloons which kept wandering from the arts space into the shop and scaring us!

LAURA TAYLOR:

Alex Rankin is a Bristol based photographer and his show, Tales From An Urban Wonderland featured some really great images of hidden-cities.

ALEX RANKIN:

Tim Ulewicz returned to the arts space in June with brother Sam and friends Ross Lovelock and Ross Godding for their group show, Back Then - a nostalgic look back at images and memories from their youth.

BACK THEN:

Aliah Malik is a first year fine art student at UWE and she installed in the arts space some provocative work, including a soiled mattress.

ALIAH MALIK:

Michelle Trepka created large scale drawings, scribed directly onto the arts space walls. This show was particularly close to SHOP's heart as it was based on memories and stories - collected by Michelle - of the historic Christmas Steps where SHOP is based. The show was named Greek Restaurant after one of SHOP's previous incarnations.

A CONTRIBUTOR WITH HIS STORY:

Natasha and Chandra Almeida and Bett Norris returned to the arts space in the summer with their show, Joining the Dots. It was lovely to have them and their fantastic work gracing the walls once again.

JOINING THE DOTS:

Our final artist of the year was Ted Homer, with his photographs of a forgotten corner of Gloucester, Sharpness Dock. Ted used a film camera and took two years to compile the collection.

TED HOMER:

And of course there are many more shows to come, keep an eye on the blog or the website for future shows. This Friday a pop event, by Italian collective, Art for Love:

LUSH, OR WOT?!

2011-09-03T14:56:00.006+01:00

Yesterday SHOP got well and truly ravaged by the LUSH Bristol laydeez. What a fragrant forces of nature they collectively are!

'Huh?' you might be grunting to yourself at this point, well - the story goes a bit like this: LUSH have a lush range of perfumes, some of which are only available online and so not very easily sniffable, the idea was to have a pop-up shop and general party with all the scents available to sniff. We were very chuffed that they wanted to use SHOP for this purpose and happily acquiesced.

Here's some pictures:

Consultation area. Can you imagine a world without smells? I wish I could (yes, Brett I'm looking at you). I imagined it and I chose the one smell I would have as the smell of my cat's fur when she's been outside in the cold. Yes I did.

Very scrummy cakes, flavoured around some of the perfumes.

Nostrils ready? All the smells set up for the sniffin'.

Tasty cocktails, also flavoured around the perfumes. If that's your tweet sneaking in in the background, then you can sue us for copyright by writing to: Micky Mouse, 123 Whatever Street, Loserville, BOOBIES.

These bubbles weren't just any bubbles, they were flavoured with Imogen Rose, one of the perfumes (not a person). They made the Steps smell lovely. And, that's cats on that dress that is.

Hairdressers Husband. That's the name of the parfum.

I carried this down the Steps. Took me hours to walk 100 yards.

Champers alright for you, Pats?

Homer at SHOP

2011-08-31T11:37:00.003+01:00

The lovely Ted Homer opened his exhibition of photographs of Sharpness Dock yesterday. He has been fascinated by the location for years after growing up nearby and this exhibition is the result of years of work snapping the village and surroundings with his wait for it .... 'film' camera!

Ted is in the arts space until Saturday.

Here's a few pics:

NEW, NEW, NEW, NEW SIGN!

2011-08-23T12:55:00.003+01:00

Recently we made our fourth - and hopefully final - attempt at SHOP-signage.

Who knows what the inspiration was, but we found ourselves on a sunny day last week standing on a step ladder with a can of metallic gold spray paint and a stencil of our SHOP bird 'H' in our respective SHOP-hands.

What began with a subtle and sweet bird on the front of SHOP, soon became a (possibly fume induced) obsession with painting everything in sight, gold and we decided the time had come to sacrifice our 'famous' red step for a new jazzy gold one. We're hoping someone doesn't try and steal it, as it looks quite bullion like.

We are rather enamoured (3 days and counting, still in the honeymoon period, but we think this 'un might be a keeper) with our new attempt, so here's some pics - hope you like it.

We already made this joke, but here it is again for your pleasure ... Jaynksy!

And this one ... Gold, GOLD! Always believe in your ... step? Ouch.

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

Joining The Dots: Preview

2011-08-17T13:59:00.003+01:00

'Joining the Dots' is the new exhibition in SHOP's arts space. It's a group show of the sisters Almeida (Natasha and Chandra) and Bett Norris, all recent illustration graduates. This is the second time they have exhibited in the arts space and we are very happy to have them back!

Here's some pics from the preview, but it's best to come see for yourselves!

Some of Natasha's prints and cards

Scenes from Chandra's book 'The Three Sisters' on the left and Bett's alphabet on the right

Chandra's stamps from around the world

Bett, but with Natasha's work in the background

Drinkin' and talkin' art (with Bett's portraits of Virginia Woolf and Frida Kahlo in the background)

Mmmmmm mini snacks

The secret, not so secret door to the arts space

Virginia and Frida, by Bett Norris

Michelle Trepka: Greek Restaurant

2011-08-06T13:27:00.006+01:00

Michelle Trepka has re-created a former world at SHOP with her new drawing installation in the Arts Space.

Once upon a time, SHOP was a Greek Restaurant and Michelle took this and other stories from residents and people who remember the Steps in times gone by, to create a series of large scale drawings based on these stories.

Here is 'George' who had a second hand bookshop at 5 Christmas Steps. He was very well known in the city for having a room of 'dodgy' books, which you had to know the special routine in order to gain access to. Michelle has cleverly placed the drawing so that if you turn around you can see the actual doorway in which he used to stand:

This is the original George keeping watch outside of his shop:

The area around Christmas Steps has long had a history of unusual shops and their shop-keepers. Pastimes has been at the corner of Lower Park Row for as long as anyone can remember and is still there - somewhat surprisingly - with is crumbling exterior and rotting window frames. The owner there told Michelle how he used to meet antiques dealers at the Greek Restaurant to buy and sell medals and other collectibles:

Finally, there is our Eddy. Eddy visits shop regularly, he has become a part of what we're about in a way. Sometimes his brings his saxophone or clarinet and sits and plays in the lounge. Sometimes he accosts Spanish or French tourists and uses them to practise this languages. But, the original reason he ever came into SHOP was because he used to visit the Greek Restaurant with his then girlfriend. He told Michelle of a time a resident living upstairs from the restaurant had shouted at him and girlfriend for kissing 'in public' - shocking for the day!

Eddy, today with his picture:

Eddy in SHOP when it was a Greek Restaurant:

The show runs until the 10th August and really is worth a look.

AugTember Newsletter!

2011-08-02T13:52:00.001+01:00

AUG-TEMBER!

Here is born a brand new month, one what we've created - all hail
AugTember! So called because the wee SHOP-lettes are taking a fun 'holiday'
thing (I think that's what they call them?) at the beginning of September so
we won't be here to provide your start-of-the-month-e-mither. So, this one
is just gonna have to last you, okay? And don't go asking for seconds
before you've finished what's already in your inbox, tsk tsk. You'll be the
death of us.

TALES FROM SHOP

A teenage girl approached the counter...
"Do you sell cloth?" she asked.
"Do you mean for dressmaking?" .
"NO! Magazine!" Came the reply.
"Oh, sorry no we don't"
The teenage girl left.

NEWS

We're all going on a summer holiday...well we are.
As of the 4th of September we will be setting off on holiday for a bit. As
of this moment we will be open during this time, so don't cry now! But, it
does depend on whether our SHOP-angel gets himself a proper job before then.
Obviously, we hope he does get a job. No, we really do ... honestly! Oh,
okay, no we don't we want him as our SHOP-slave!

Sign of the times...
For all of those SHOP fans who've noticed our SHOP sign missing, fear not
we're just having a little re-paint. For those SHOP haters...*RASPBERRY* IN
YOUR FACE.

Next week we will also be finally sprucing up the outside (weather
permitting). We've never really been happy with our signage outside and
there's no guarentee we will be after this latest attempt, but here's
hoping!

EVENTS

LUSH GORILLA PERFUMERY
Friday September 2nd, 4pm - 9pm

SHOP is extremely excited to be hosting Lush's Gorilla Perfumery's pop up
event on the 2nd September!!

There will be the full range of Lush perfumes for you to try, as well as
their B Side and Rarities range which is only currently available online,
where it can't be sniffed, so be sure to come along and get two nostrils
full!

The Lush team are also going to be providing delicious cocktails and cakes
based around the different ingredients of the perfumes.

This really is not to be missed, we might have said that before, but this
time we mean it!

EXHIBITIONS

Greek Restaurant - Michelle Trepka
August 6th - 10th, 12pm - 6pm

A drawing installation based on themes of memory.
There will a preview on Friday 5th August, 6pm-9pm

Joining The Dots - Group Exhibition
August 16th - 28th, 12pm - 6pm
A group exhibition featuring:
Natasha Almeida
Chandra Almeida
Bett Norris

Returning for their second group show at SHOP are the very talented group of
artists and illustrators.

There will be a private view on Tuesday August 16th 6pm-9pm.

Photography Exhibition - Ted Homer
August 30th - 3rd September, 12pm - 6pm

A collection of photographs of the village and port of Sharpness,
Gloucester.

New Preachy Flyer at SHOP!

2011-07-19T14:34:00.002+01:00

SHOP's got itself a new 'what are you doing tonight' flyer, inspired by a fillum we watched.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING TONIGHT?

Why not do one (or more) of these:

1. Read a book.

2. Have a conversation.

3. Sit quietly and have a think.

4. Have a rest.

5. Go for a walk.

6. Make something.

7. Cook something.

8. Sing!

9. Play a game.

10. Learn something.

Don't sleep through July! Newsletter

2011-07-01T13:04:00.000+01:00

NEWS

STOCK STOCK AND MORE STOCK
If you were looking for a new addition to your summer wardrobe, or a wee something for your home then SHOP surely has to be your first stop, as we have soooo much new stock we've run out clothes hangers! And shelf space! Highlights include, women's summer dresses and tee shirts and men's shirts and tee shirts, as well as accessories and homeware. We be chocka mateys!

FIND LOVE AT SHOP!
Next week will see the trial of a new dating bureau at SHOP. Before you curl your lip at the thought, wait until you hear this...! The bureau will be entirely 1950s in style, including stern administrators and lavender scented stationary. Those wishing to find love will be put through strict questioning in an improv stylee, encouraging people to get into the scenario. When you have been matched up you will be sent a mysterious missive and a set of instructions... The trial is this week after which the bureau will be open for clients. More news to follow!

SUMMER: TOO GOOD TO WASTE
Okay, so we know this is a tad confusing, but after the disapperance of our Sunday volunteers, we've gone the other way and instead of 7 day opeing (which is our ideal really), we've decided that after 5 years of working a 6 day week, during this summer were gonna take two days off. So summertime opening hours are now Tuesday - Saturday 11am - 7pm.

ZINE LIBRARY FIRST BIRTHDAY OVERHAUL
The Zine Library at SHOP is now a year old! Which means that so are the dodgy cardboard shelves. The zines were looking a bit sad and dog eared due to their precarious nature perched on the sagging edges of the paper-based shelving, so we gave them a new home. The new home also allows for room for expansion.

EVENTS

Oxjam Fundraising Film Night
July 28th 7.30pm onwards

Oxjam Bristol takes place in October and throughout the months before then, erstwhile fundraisers will be raising the necessary dollar to put on a great show.

Come along to a film night and be a part of making it happen. You might also get to see a great film and eat some cake too!

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/Oxjam

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Colour Series
Friday 13th and Saturday 14th August
An exhibition by Emily Goater

Emily Goater is a new up and coming graphic designer. This will be her first showcase and introduction. Emily is producing her ‘Colour Series’ for the show, which will consist of 12 pieces from her first series ranging from A4 to A3 in size, simply framed. All are unique and graphically interesting giving a range of designs using her stunning colour palette and mix of shapes.

www.emilygoater.co.uk

Later in August exhibitions by Michelle Trepka and Natasha Almeida - full details in next month's newsletter.

The Longest Day

2011-06-22T11:55:00.010+01:00

So, yesterday was the summer solstice and - without wanting to sound too much like a moaner - as the summer has been a bit shy in showing itself up to this point, I decided to take some positive action by making sure I made the most of every moment of the longest day, so even if the rest of the summer is murky and wet and when winter creeps imperceptibly into our lives again, I can at least feel like I made the most of what we had.

This is what I got up to yesterday.

04.30 - Alarm went off in preparation for the sunrise at 04.53. It was getting light already though, hit the snooze button for eight minutes.
04.38 - Hit the snooze button again

04.46 - Dragged myself out of the nice warm comfy bed (I am not a morning person) and opened the blinds so I could watch the sunrise out the window from bedfordshire. It was quite cloudy though, so it was more just watching the light grow, but that was okay.

04.53 - Once light was all around, put the radio on and snoozed on and off for a few hours.

07.30 - Got up and got ready in a relaxed fashion, as opposed to the usual mad rush due to inherited lateness gene and aforementioned not-a-morning-person-ness.

Me at my dressing table - stop that laughing at the back!

09.00 - Left home for a walk into town along the river. It was kind of blustery, but sunny and warm enough to have to shed a few layers during the journey.

09.30 - Arrived at Watershed for a nice big coffee and beans on toast. Don't know if it was the sleep deprivation but me and Brett became philosopical in mood and did a kind of eulogy to the year past and talked about how we imagined SHOP would be before we actually had it and how the reality is different, but in no way inferior. We also talked about the future a bit until deciding that was utterly pointless and just sat there in that moment and enjoyed our coffee instead. 'Eff you future, you don't own us!

10.30 - Went for a little wander around the floating harbour, then went to buy snacks 'cus me and Brett were both still hungry for some reason. We have of late become jointly addicted to the vegetable samosas that our local shop sell, so when we saw an Indian snack platter, even at 10.30am in the morning, we decided we had to have it. And have it we did, for FREE! Brett was holding it, and holding it, and holding it, and he was still holding it when we left the shop - he accidentally twokked it, tsk tsk. Brett does this I've noticed, he finds himself holding things and doesn't know why or how. Like when we went to Scotland in February. He walked through security at the airport, joined me at the other side, looked at me, then looked down at his hand, then looked at me again, we both looked down and found ourselves gazing at a massive masonry hook.

11.00 - Opened up SHOP, on time!

The day at SHOP was a particularly nice one, no exact reason either, which seemed to add to a general atmosphere of wellbeing. It got sunnier, on and off, which helped. It was cleaning day and rather than begrudge it as usual, I took pleasure in making SHOP clean and pretty. Eddy our resident, erm ... resident came in and was in particularly amusing form with his random musings.

Eddy in SHOP in 1977 - he's sitting by the window in the women's section.

17.30 - I went home a bit early to see the cat and collect some sewing equipment, as me and Brett were going to see some friends for a solstice bbq/sewing session/band practice. The cat was in a massive HUFF because there had been MEN working in HER house ALL day! But I managed to win her round with tuna and by the time I left she was giving me face bashes.

19.00 - Came back to SHOP to 'help' Brett vacuum, but more just watched as I decided that as it was the longest day I was going to wear the shoes I bought in April and hadn't had a chance to wear yet. They are quite high. Not really sewing-machine-pedal friendly, or transit van driving friendly, but whatevs man!

Shoes pictured are not my actual shoes

19.30 - BBQ time! Our friends have a garden full of green stuff and although they are unemployed they put on luxurious spread of homegrown tasty stuff. I even ate a nasturtium! Along with more traditional BBQ foods such as hot dawgs and burgers. We stayed resolutely in the garden drinking wine and smoking cigarettes until the light finally faded to inky blue. The longest day was over for another year. NB. Brett did band practice, but I failed to sew even a stich, whoops!

My dinner

MORE MORE MORE - How Do You Like Yet More New Stock?!

2011-06-20T13:31:00.005+01:00

Adding to the LOADS of men's tee shirts and shirts last week, SHOP now also has lots of lovely summer dresses for those Lady-type folk. And that's not all, there are new summery blouses & scarves & belts too. More homeware is also gracing the SHOP-shelves meaning that basically we are chocka-blocka FULL of new stock.

That still isn't all though! We reckon here at SHOP-towers that aside from being full to the brim, this stock is some of the best we've ever had! Our cup runneth over! There are some pics below but to see it in all it's glory requires a visit of the personal kind.

Summer of Stock!!

2011-06-10T12:43:00.006+01:00

Here's a small representative selection of just some of SHOP's new summer stock. SHOP has men's shirts - long and short sleeved - men's tees, women's jersey tops, women's handbags and homeware!

Get SHOPping.

Turn on, JUNE-in, drop out!

2011-06-02T13:07:00.005+01:00

Summer's officially here! Who wants to be indoors then? Not us, that's fo'sho. To that end, this month SHOP has concocted some SHOP events that you can get involved with not matter where you may happen to be, you don't even have to be within a light year of SHOP. How's that for considerate? Read on to find out more...

A Tale from SHOP

This week at SHOP, a keen-couple came in looking for a shop event that happened exactly one year ago. Sadly, they were an entire year late for it. The lesson you should take from this tale is that if you want to get involved in a shop event, then you shouldn't wait a year, cus you will be a
year too late.

NEWS

SUNDAY GIRLS AND BOYS NO MORE

We managed to frighten away our volunteers after a mere three Sundays of opening! That's quite an achievement. More news to follow on this next month...

NEW STOCK!

Hitting SHOP next week will be a massive load of men's shirts and tee shirts all ready to kit you out for the summer. Women are not to be forgotten either, as the women's department will also be receiving some summer tops to be proud of.

EVENTS

Arts Quarter Farmer's Market
Friday June 3rd 11am - 3pm

Meet and salute local food and drink suppliers and producers in the Sugar House at Hotel du Vin.

http://www.hotelduvin.com

Back Then
Saturday June 4rd – Friday June 11th

Group exhibition by:
Ross Golding
Tim Ulewicz
Ross Lovelock
Sam Ulewicz

Drawing from past inspirations amd nostalgia, a series of new work from four Bristol artists.

http://www.timulewicz.com

http://bumtapes.blogspot.com

Exhibiton by Aliah Malik
Monday 13th June – Thursday 23rd June

Artist Aliah Malik takes over the artspace in her first solo exhibition.

http://xliax-my.blogspot.com/

Record Club
Tuesday 28th June - 7:30pm – 10pm

The Record Club aim of the night is to play 2 or 3 long play records and to really appreciate the music. These records might be old classics, forgotten gems or brand spanking new. The records are usually nominated by the people in the club and voted on in the week before the night.

http://recordclub.posterous.com/the-first-one-24th-february

http://twitter.com/record_club

You can attend from 7:30pm and the first record is at 8.00pm. Feel free to bring some nibbles and drinks along.

VirtualSHOP

Right then, this is where you can get involved with SHOP and SHOP events but without all that old-fashioned 'actually having to be there' stuff! Separate togetherness is what SHOP and Woody Allen like to call it.

We're going to ease you in with just one this month, but look out for more as the months progress...

Thursday 9th
SECRET CITIES

You know when you wander around and you see something that you think only you have noticed? It could be because it's unusual, puzzling, or because it's beautiful, but it kind of becomes 'your thing'? Well, we want you to take some picures and share them with us.

We'll starts you off with a SHOP example from something we submitted to a friend's website a while back:

http://www.boyohboy.org/loved/secret-cities/

So get thinking and then on the 9th, get snapping with the knowledge that there are up 721 other Shop Club members wandering about across the world doing exactly the same thing.

Then, send your anonymous contribution to hello@shoptheshop.co.uk with the subject line: 'my secret' and we'll do something special with them.

Recent exhibitions round up.

2011-05-20T16:44:00.003+01:00

SHOP has seen three exhibitons in the last month all with very different themes and styles.

The start of the month saw the University of Bristol Photographic Society showing their varied and exceptional end of year competition. Lots of people commented on the work and feedback from visitors was very positive for the group show.

The second exhibition brought 'Telephone Tin Cans' by Laura Taylor to the artspace. Briefly popping up from London to install it and then popping back to take it down was all we saw of the artist herself. Her work however lived with us for a week and again was well received by those venturing in. The balloons provided endless entertainment for a few aswell.

Finally, current exhibition 'Tales from an Urban Wonderland' by Bristol based artist Alex Rankin has already made plenty of sales and after a packed out private view has the promise of more visitors to coming through the door on the last day on Saturday.

The best news is we have lots more exhibitions over the coming months!

NEW HOMEWARES!

2011-05-16T17:51:00.006+01:00

SHOP has been blessed with a gift from the vintage-Gods in the form of many new homewares! Including a very pretty and rather intriguing 50s kitchen cabinet which used to house a wringer...

Here's some picks of our new haul...

Various colourful goodies

Storage jars - in big AND small sizes!

Pretty blue cups

The instructions for the 'wringer'

Flip-top!

The innards

Brett spying on the cupboard... He wants it for hisself!

In all its glory...

70s glass lampshades and some 70s tumblers

Picnic basket! Mmmmm picnics...

Intriguing bamboo-look planter from 60s St Michael

The classic way to store eggs!

Super shiny Sona tea and coffee server

Ssssshhhh...

2011-05-06T13:58:00.002+01:00

We can finally reveal the secret we had to keep under wraps for weeks...Internet perverts may be dissapointed but you shouldn't have such dirty minds.

Yesterday SHOP hosted the fourth day of the Mayfest event 'The Fortnight Project'. A little corner of our little SHOP was turned into a virtual pod for an operatic filmic world of fantasy. The offcial record of the event is available to view here...

http://www.fortnightproject.com/the-trail/day-four/

Thank you to Gillian for choosing us for a venue. We hope the very exciting project proves to be a great success!

We Robot!

2011-05-06T13:18:00.003+01:00

Saturday just gone, SHOP teamed up with Tenderfoot to launch a new world! Oh yes, you read correctly. As part of For The Love of It's Pay it Forward Week of events, we created a WorkSHOP called 'We Robot'.

This consisted of turning an inanimate pile of cardboard into a new robot world complete with robots to populate it. It was kinda like a comment on community and social-inclusion, yah? But mostly it was just loads of fun.

Here's some pics of what we managed to create:

BEFORE

We started by creating a world for the new robots to live in. This is the robo-suspension bridge and a mercury river with mechanical fish.

Here's a city vista: robo-prison (for naughty robots!), tourist attractions like the Robo-Eye and aspirational city-living studio apartments for robo-yuppies.

The first robot we gave birth to was a pussikins, as we thought the first humanoid robot would be lonely until we managed to build another. Here is robo-kitty and her new owner Brettbot.

Following suprisingly conventional societal norms for a brand new world, we then made Brettbot a Girlbot and they immediately fell in love, probably in no small part due to the fact they were the only two people on the robo-planet (except robo-kitty, but let's not go down that route).

Brettbot then had to be furnished with employment and so we gave him a job at SHOP. Being a Community Interest Company includes members of the community who are robots as well as human. We're like that.

Brettbot then expressed a need to complain about his girlfirend and sit on the stoop with another bot, so we created Botandy for him to drink beer and scratch his nuts with (gedddit?! Nuts...)

After that, all was left was to create a belief system, as robo-kitt, girlbots 1 & 2 and Botandy all began to express existential angst. So we made a totem pole.

And here we are! The creators of the new world! All bow to our mightiness! From L- R robo-kitty, Botandy, girlbot and girlbot (in robo world women are interchangeable because to the male robots they are disposible commodities - strange how that happened again) and Brettbot.

May the SHOP force be with you this month!

2011-05-03T17:10:00.006+01:00

SHOP is great - AFFIRMATIVE! The last event of April was an event with Tenderfoot called 'We Robot' - in a nutshell, making robots and robot accessories out of a shed-load of cardboard, pictured above. It was so much fun we larfed our shoppy-socks off check the blog shortly to see what we did with all that cardboard and have a little looky at this vid to whet your appetite in the meantime!

NEWS

SUNDAY GIRLS AND BOYS
SHOP is continuing unabashed with its 7 days a week opening! Our lovely volunteers Leila and Asa will soon be joined by three more equally lovely helpers. If you would like to sign up to be a SHOP volunteer then get in touch :)

SHOP will be open every Sunday from 12-4pm through May. Now that's a perfect tonic to the post Bank Holiday blues if ever we've heard one.

SSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH...
This is so top secret that this newsletter has been fitted with a self destruct device as assurance, even though we aren't allowed to mention the secret anyway. Just to let you know we have a big secret event happening at SHOP in May. Some of you might be involved but you don't even know it yet.

EVENTS

Christmas Steps Artisan Market
Saturday 7th May – 11am – 4pm
This monthly market runs every first Saturday of the month throughout the year. You can expect the wonderful teetering charm of the artisan stalls and the same high standard of beautiful crafts and wares as always, as well as the lovely shops and cafes surrounding the market.

To book a stall email:
christmasstepsartsquarter@yahoo.co.uk

FFI:
www.christmasstepsartisanmarket.blogspot.com

UBU Photography Society Exhibition
Tuesday May 3rd – Saturday May 7th
Members of the society group exhibition. Photographs displayed will include those voted best in the society annual competition and from the year of workshops and trips.

Telephone Tin Cans
Exhibiton by Laura Taylor
Monday 9th May – Saturday 14th May
Artist Laura Taylor takes over the artspace in the second week of May.

http://www.laura-taylor.co.uk

37th chamber film night
Saturday 14th May – 7.30pm onwards – £2
The regular 37th Chamber Film Night at SHOP - expect the usual grindhouse and kung-fu classics from these Arts Space regulars. Look out for their new Zine coming soon too!

FFI: Search ‘37th Chamber’ on Facebook

Tales From An Urban Wonderland
An exhibition of photographs by Bristol photographer Alex Rankin.
Monday 16th May – Saturday 21st May

The exhibition features work from an ongoing project that seeks to portray the urban landscape from an abstract perspective. The images aim to capture colours, textures and shapes that are encountered within urban environments while also exploring the mood and atmosphere that can be found within neglected or overlooked spaces.

For more info see:

http://urbanplaygrounds.viewbook.com

Record Club
Tuesday 24th May - 7:30pm – 10pm
The aim of the night is to play 2 or 3 long play records and to really appreciate the music. These records might be old classics, forgotten gems or brand spanking new. The records are usually nominated by the people in the club (via a comment on the blog or twitter account) and voted on
in the week before the night.

SHOP will be open at 7:30 and we’ll aim to start playing the first record at eight. Feel free to bring some nibbles and drinks along.

http://recordclub.posterous.com/

The return of Soft Cabaret!

2011-04-09T12:35:00.004+01:00

Are you having fun? Well, are you?!

Ever considered what it would be like to be a love-sick goal post?

Happy smiley audience.

Crowds amass before the second half begins.

Escapology (No not the Robbie Williams album)

Action shot

"Are you sure they are tight enough? Don't mash his spuds!"

Never be Bard from the Steps

For those of you who have yet to experience the wonders of Soft Cabaret, you genuinely are missing out.

Returning to SHOP, the Bard of Windmill Hill and Fakir Darren again had us rolling in the aisles (ROFLing to younger readers) with their intelligent poetry and comedic performances, respectively.

The Bard opened the nights entertainment regaling uswith poetic tales on the theme of 'time', from love sick goalposts to naughty knobs. Darren followed up with feats of human escapology including passing himself through a metal coat hanger (!!) and releasing himself from an over sized straight jacket.

The second half of the performance saw the Bard take the stage once more. We were treated to more 'romantic' offerings, a running theme with the Bard, where the question of how we would make love if we were crocodiles, or say penguins, were offered. Darren's second half performance took a less energetic, yet no less enjoyable turn as he imparted his impressive historical knowledge and stories that induced modern tears (of laughter).

We really hope they they return again soon!

You can catch them very soon as Soft Cabaret take part in the Folk Festival at the Colston Hall over the May Bank Holiday!

April at SHOP - No Foolin!

2011-04-01T23:10:00.001+01:00

APRIL

We have had to think really really hard about fluffy kittens on shelving to get over the trauma of our flood...YES, YOU HEARD RIGHT FLOOD! April showers poured in from the flat above and drowned our little SHOP in at least quite a bit of water. Luckily we had a lifebouy out the back and a dinghy to make our escape on and everything is now back to business as unusual.

NEWS

Sunday Girls
SHOP is going a hardcore 7 days a week, with Sunday opening starting in April and hopefully onwards! Pop by for a Sunday meander and say hello to our lovely volunteers Leila and Asa.

The Easter Bunny
SHOP's favourite fictional charater the Easter Bunny is hopping into town again this month. We take Easter very seriously down at SHOP and need at least a few days of to fully concentrate on the gluttonynous.

Easter opening hours are:
Good Friday - 12pm - 4pm
Easter Saturday - 11am - 7pm
Easter Sunday - CLOSED
Easter Monday - CLOSED

EVENTS

Christmas Steps Artisan Market
Saturday 2nd April – 11am – 4pm

To book a stall email: christmasstepsartsquarter@yahoo.co.uk

FFI: www.christmasstepsartisanmarket.blogspot.com

Soft Cabaret
Friday 8th April – 8pm – £5 /£2
(or whatever you can afford)

Soft Cabaret is rolling into SHOP again in April, headed up by the Bard of Windmill Hill and Fakir Darren. We are once again looking forward to a quite ridiculously funny and touching mixture of sonnets, storytelling, stand-up and some dubious magic! Not to be missed!

37th Chamber
Saturday 10th April – 7.30pm onwards – £2

The regular 37^th Chamber Film Night at SHOP - expect the usual grindhouse and kung-fu classics from these Arts Space regulars. Look out for their new Zine coming soon too!

FFI: Search ‘37^th Chamber’ on Facebook

Record Club
Tuesday 19th April - 7:30pm – 10pm

The aim of the night is to play 2 or 3 long play records and to really appreciate the music. These records might be old classics, forgotten gems or brand spanking new. The records are usually nominated by the people in the club (via a comment on the blog or our twitter account) and voted on in the week before the night.

However! The third Record Club is slightly different. ‘How?’ We hear you cry! Well, to celebrate and support Independent Record Shop Day, we are asking people to buy a brand spanking new piece of vinyl and bring it along on the night (with proof of purchase!). All those who have bought a record will then make a short speech in support of the record before a vote on which two to listen to.

SHOP will be open at 7:30 and we’ll aim to start playing the first record at eight. Feel free to bring some nibbles and drinks along.

http://recordclub.posterous.com/

www.twitter.com/record_club

We Robot
Saturday 23rd April – 11am – 7pm

As part of The Love Of It’s programme of events for Pay It Forward Week, SHOP is getting together with good friends and community-colleagues Tenderfoot to create a Robot World in the arts space!

Come along and fashion your robot alter-ego out of all our bits and bobs and help make a robot utopia!

Easter Egg Hunt
Saturday 23rd April – 11am – 7pm

SHOP’s annual Easter Egg Hunt takes place in SHOP all day on Easter Saturday.

Come and hunt for the choccie eggs hidden around SHOP and scoff them immediately on discovery! Try to get a good amount smeared around your face for added comedy value.

Record Club: REVIEW!

2011-03-23T12:23:00.004Z

The second Record Club revolved into SHOP last night and what mighty good fun it was too! The two records that got the most votes were, David Bowie 'Hunky Dory' and DJ Shadow 'Endtroducing'.

Unfortunately, Endtroducing got bumped due to the nominator coming down with the vomitus maximus, so a quick vote between the tied third places, Genesis 'Lambs Lie Down on Broadway' and Big Black 'Songs about Fucking' took place. Each nominator made an impassioned speech to sway the votes. Songs about Fucking won, we think this may be to do with the interest in the use of a drum machine on a rock record and absolutely nothing to di with the title.

FFI: Record Club Blog / Record Club Twitter

Here's some pics innit!

Could that be a bit of dancing?!

Discussing sleeve notes. Maybe.

Beer and nuts.

Simon demonstrates his waitering skills.

Red hot graphic turntable shot. XXX.

More record chat. Possibly.

Snacking.

NEW STOCK!

2011-03-11T17:48:00.006Z

Just a small selection of the new homeware, women's and men's clothing we've just been inundated with at SHOP!

HOMEWARE!

MENS!

WOMENS!

'Ten' Screening: REVIEW!

2011-03-11T11:42:00.004Z

Brighton-based Graphic designer and now filmaker, Simon Parkin bought his fascinating and inspiring film, 'Ten' to show at SHOP last night (appropriately enough on the 10th March).

It chronicled ten seconds of Simon's life for every day of 2010 and the result is a really interesting social document. During discussion after the screening, all those present decided that it had made them want to do the same thing, as it is not often we get to look at our lives quite so objectively. It also by turns made people hungry, want to go to the pub, yearn for summer - and fall in love with Simon's dog!

The first month can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sh0UX6T5RRI and Simon will be showing the film in other small venues throughout 2011, so have a look at the facebook link.

Lights Off, Radio On

2011-03-04T11:38:00.003Z

Last night saw the lights turned down low and the radio turned up high with the airing of a BBC adaptation of Metropolis.

We all got comfy and then SHOP was plunged into darkness, as we concentrated our minds on the play. SHOP became a distopian world (hard to believe, we know!) as the play unfolded and we were enveloped in the story. We won't spoil it for you, in case you want to search it out for yourself on iplayer.

We are hoping to welcome to more plays into the darkness again soon, so watch this space...

The distopian world that is SHOP

Yet another picture of Nick on our blog, he organised it dontcha know?!

Taking care of the crunchy snacks before silence descends for the airing.

Erm ... tea drinking. In the dark. Extreme tea-drinking!

MARCH EVENTS AT SHOP!

2011-02-28T15:39:00.003Z

28^thFeb – 5^th March / 12pm – 6pm / FREE

8 Drawings

by Matthew Douglas

Matthew Douglas has been making temporary work since 2002, his output has taken the form of sculptures, actions and installations. His most recent work, including work on steel (Bristol/London) and sculptures (Berlin) have only existed for the duration of their exhibition.

The works exhibited in EIGHT DRAWINGS were produced during the latter months of 2010 and form some of his most industrious and intricate work to date.

Thursday 3^rd March / 7.15pm – 8.15pm / FREE

Lights Off, Radio On

Airing: a BBC radio play adaptation set in Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (59 minutes)

Join us sitting in SHOP, in the dark, to listen to a radio play as selected by the ‘Lights Off, Radio On’ team. As the visual is rendered invisible, instead let your imaginations explore the dystopian corporate world of Metropolis.

No talking, loud eating, or jogging/aerobics, please. Hot beverages will be on offer to sit with you through the proceedings.

Saturday 5^th March / 11am – 4pm / FREE

Christmas Steps Community Artisan Market

To book a stall email: christmasstepsartsquarter@yahoo.co.uk

7^th – 12^th March / 12pm – 6pm / FREE

Oneman Travelplan

By Daniel le Mesurier

In March 2008 Daniel le Mesurier left Britain to spend several months traveling across west africa, this experience yielded a wealth of material : hundreds of photographs and drawings, an enriched travel diary and weeks of video footage.

In ONEMAN TRAVELPLAN, Le Mesurier and Matthew Douglas present a selection of this archive including an edited film, original drawings and limited edition photographs.

Thursday 10^th March / 7.30pm / £2

‘Ten’

by Simon Parkin

In 2010 Simon Parkin filmed ten seconds of every single day. The film Ten is the result. An hour long documentation of a year in the life.

There’s a preview here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sh0UX6T5RRI And Simon himself will be along on the 10th March, to introduce it himself.

For further info, lookey here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ten/164232810288933

Saturday 12^th March / 7.30pm – 10pm / £2

37^th Chamber

The regular 37^th Chamber Film Night at SHOP - expect the usual grind-house and kung-fu classics from these Arts Space regulars.

18^th – 24^th March / 12pm – 6pm / FREE

Abstract Nightmares

by Aaron Boys and Nathan Nicholson

‘Abstract Nightmares' explores the human condition through painting and illustration.

Tuesday 22^nd March / 8pm / FREE

Record Club

The second Bristol Record Club is here!

Record Club is a chance to sit down and dedicate the time needed to enjoy important music with other fans. On the night, 2 LP’s will be played - these records might be old classics, forgotten gems or brand spanking new. The records will be nominated by the people in the club (via a comment on the blog or our twitter account) and voted on in the week before the night.

If you love a record nominate it, the records that win the vote will be the ones we play, so send them over to the log now!

SHOP will be open at 7.30pm and we’ll aim to start playing the first record at 8pm. Feel free to bring some nibbles and drinks along.

February Events Round Up

2011-02-26T17:38:00.005Z

We've been extremely slack with blogging here at SHOP towers this month. We're willing to blame the ancient SHOP camera which has decided to only take a picture every 4th attempt, but we're certainly not blaming the quality and general aceness of those events we have failed to blog! No sirree! So here's a little round of February and we'll be reporting for blog-duty during March, no fear!

SOFT CABARET
The Bard of Windmill Hill and Fakir Darren arrived at SHOP on Thursday the 18th February ready for their performance with nothing but a mysterious suitcase, giving away no clue as to what the evening had in store.

However, with the benefit of a linear time system, we can tell you. The Bard of Windmill Hill performed poems on the theme of love, which were touching and highly amusing in equal measure. Particular favourites here at SHOP were the comparison of companionship with tennis balls and a love ode to mother nature complete with slurping noises.

The multi-talented Fakir Darren performed a mixture of story telling, stand up, magic and feats of daring all in our little 'ol arts space! Such feats included lying on a bed of nails whilst having a bowling ball dropped on his wedding tackle! Oooh, that makes for a memorable Valentine's Day performance, we can tell thee! And unbelievable tricks like passing himself through himself, we kid you not.

We certainly hope to welcome both the Bard and the Fakir back to SHOP in the very near future and shall pass this knowledge onto you, reader.

'NEVER MORE THAN A METRE AWAY'
Tim Ulewicz kicked off his solo show in good stylee with a barrel of cider and porky pig sweeties for everyone! The real highlight though was Tim's work of course, which really impressed everyone who attended. It marked the start of a really busy week for Tim and he had so many people stopping by to look at his work, talk to him and buy a piece of their own that he fair ran out of porky pigs and had to switch to eclairs and mini eggs.

A much better review (with pictures!) can be found on Tim's own website here

RECORD CLUB
Bristol's first Record Club took place at SHOP on Thursday 24th. After three weeks of preparation; nominating records, then collecting votes, we were all left breathless with anticipation at which records would come out on top. We needn't have wasted our breath however and could have had 20 B&H instead, as it was a five way tie and we had to have a re-vote on the night! It was a really popular event and we have already scheduled Record Club No. 2 for the 22nd March!

Find out more here

THE END
So, that's the end of February, March's newsletter will be hitting the blog on Monday!

Bye y'all!

Ode of Love to SHOP

2011-02-14T11:54:00.002Z

SHOP surveyed 100% of two people and asked for their favourite love songs. The result was this mish mash of love-lyrics made into a touching/douchy love poem to, or about SHOP, we can't really tell:

****************************************************************************

My hair is turning grey, my dreams are fading fast away.

The teardrops fall as I write to you, as my words come falling onto the page

Through streets and avenues, won’t you come back to your lover?

The hours are slipping up behind you, as the sweetest days of life go by.

Could this be the end, are you the one I've been waiting for?

I will celebrate my love for you with a pint of beer and a new tattoo

and the people that once passed you by, will turn their heads round.

You're my reason to get out of bed before noon, you incite me to, chorus.

‘Cus I love you for the things you couldn't change, though you've tried.

We’ll get by on the shelter of each other. Maybe, we’ll fall in love again.

Let that feeling overtake me, a groovy kind of love,

as it seems tonight, time after each time - SHOP, you are my funny Valentine.

FEBRUARY AT SHOP!

2011-02-01T12:10:00.003Z

EVENTS

Saturday 12^th February / 11am – 4pm / Free

Valentine’s Artisan Market

This monthly market runs every first Saturday of the month throughout the year. You can expect the wonderful teetering charm of the artisan stalls and the same high standard of beautiful crafts and wares as always, as well as the lovely shops and cafes surrounding the market. February’s market will be the perfect opportunity for people to get their hands on special one off gifts for Valentines!

To book a stall email: christmasstepsartsquarter@yahoo.co.uk

Saturday 12^th February / 7.30pm – 10pm / £2

37^th Chamber: Vampire Girl v Frankenstein Girl

The regular 37^th Chamber Film Night at SHOP are going all gooey and romantic! You can still expect the usual grind-house and kung-fu classics from these Arts Space regulars, however.

FFI: Search ‘37^th Chamber’ on Facebook

Thursday 17^th February / 7.30pm – 9pm / £5/£2

Soft Cabaret

Venture through the secret door for an evening of “stories, stand-up, circus, sonnets and smagic” on the theme of Love. Fakir Darren, Master of the Mysterious Ways of the East will be coming west to beguile and intrigue, while “the Bard of Windmill Hill ” will be going downhill, to join him in verse; sweet-natured foolishness in the friendliest, cosiest of settings with ‘Soft Cabaret’.

Saturday 19^th – Friday 25^th February / 12pm – 6pm / Free

Never More Than a Metre Away by Tim Ulewicz

An exhibition of all new works and imaginings by Tim Ulewicz, including Britain’s most successful mammal and probably the most familiar, who – by fact or by fiction, wherever you are in Britain – is never more than a metre away.

Thursday 24^th February / 8pm – 10pm / Free

Record Club

The first of what will hopefully become a regular club at SHOP. Record Club is a chance to sit down and dedicate the time needed to enjoy important music with other fans. On the night, 2 or 3 LP’s will be played - these records might be old classics, forgotten gems or brand spanking new. The records will be nominated by the people in the club (via a comment on the blog or our twitter account) and voted on in the week before the night.

If you love a record nominate it, the records that win the vote will be the ones we play. Nominations for the first night are open now, so start sending in your choices. We’ll open the vote on the 17th February to give people a week to express their opinions. The votes will be counted on the 23rd and the proponents of the winning records will be notified by email/twitter to make sure they can attend the night and have the record to hand.

SHOP will be open at 7.30pm and we’ll aim to start playing the first record at 8pm. Feel free to bring some nibbles and drinks along.

NEWS

SHOP will be closed for a family occasion, couldn’t get out of it, dog ate our homework etc, from Thursday 2^nd February until Monday 7^th February. Business as unusual from Tuesday 8^th.

COMING SOON…

In March SHOP will be hosting a (nearly) world premiere of Zinester, graphic designer, now turned film-maker Simon Parkin’s film called ‘Ten’. In 2010 Simon filmed ten seconds of every single day and the film is the result.

Whet your whistle here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sh0UX6T5RRI

CARELESS WISPA

There’s a wispa on the Steps, - careful it’s a bit melted and slippy – that SHOP will soon be going back to it’s very original hardcore 7-days-a-week opening, yessir, that means Sunday’s will soon be taken from organised religion and given to SHOP. You will be able to drift about in SHOP 7-days-a-week from spring time.

SHOPIRMATION: ‘Beauty is 99.9% attitude’

RECORD CLUB!

2011-01-25T14:47:00.005Z

Coming soon to SHOP - the 24th February to be exact - RECORD CLUB!

Inspired by an article on the BBC some SHOP & friends decided to set up a record club, giving ourselves an excuse to play friends and friends we haven't met yet forgotten gems from our record collections.

So how will these nights work? There are a few simple rules already, but the aim of the night is to play 2 or 3 long play records and to really appreciate the music. These records might be old classics, forgotten gems or so brand spanking new the ink hasn't set on the sleeve.

The records will be nominated by the people in the club (via a comment on the blog or our twitter account) and voted on in the week before the night. We have no "music policy", if you love a record nominate it, regardless of genre, the records that win the vote will be the ones we play.

If the record you nominate is selected you'll need to bring it along to the club (so don't nominate records you don't own on vinyl or have lost!) and we'd like it if you'd introduce the record, don't worry it doesn't have to be anything long (just why you want to play the record, maybe some interesting facts stolen from wikipedia, you get the idea). You'll get to put the needle to the vinyl, too, try not to do a John Peel.

The first event will be on the 24th of February. Nominations for the first night are open now, so start sending in your choices. We'll open the vote on the 17th Februrary to give people a week to express their opinions. The votes will be counted on the 23rd and the proponents of the winning records will be notified by email/twitter to make sure they can attend the night and have the record to hand.

We'll be open at 7:30 and we'll aim to start playing the first record at eight. Feel free to bring some nibbles and drinks along.

Look forward to seeing you then!

*disclaimer - if you aren't from the 1950s and you don't drink milk/wear flatcaps/smoke, you may be refused entrance.
**disclaimer - the above disclaimer is a silly joke, everyone's welcome! SHOP does not accept any responsibility for any feelings momentarily hurt after reading the former disclaimer.

2011-01-10T18:28:00.002Z

Happy New Year all you SHOP-Clubbers! We trust you all had enjoyable festive seasons, whatever enjoyable may mean for you.

We've had a slow start to the year, not reopening til the 7th January - but! We were far from idle, having tarted up SHOP to a-list movie starlet standards for you all.

This January at SHOP the newsletter is in-keeping with most people during the post-holiday period, that is, it's on a diet. There are a few scraps for you to pick at though and you might even find the odd bit of leftover selection box to cheer your gloomy soul. Go and not gorge yourselves...

News

Spruce For-Signs!
As a continution of our vast beautification of SHOP (soon she will be entirely irresistable), we are looking to spruce up our signage (see awful pun above). We want to create two new a-boards for the top and the bottom of the Steps as well, as a new sign for above the door and for the old 'pub sign' on the exterior wall.

We don't need reminding how creatively talented our SHOP Club are, as well as uneccesarily generous, so any ideas, designs, materials you want to pass this way would be very, very much appreciated!

Offers

Offers? Offers?! Come on, what more do you want from SHOP?! Remember, all SHOP Club Members get at least 10% off everything, at all times (SHOP-pers get 20% and Hot SHOP Members get 30% too, so there).

Plus, you don't need to worry about the VAT increase - there is no VAT charged on vintage! Not that we would make you pay an extra 2.5% anyway in all liklihood, as our maths isn't up to it.

Events

INTERNET
Saturday 29th January

Inviting people and self-professed artists of the Bristol area to play with the internet in the SHOP! Various images and topics which exist due to the internet will be brought to the attention of attendee's who will be invited to draw and create from the topics raised.
Subsequent to the workshop, a few invited artists and illustrators will discuss with one another opinions on Internet Art. Wrapping up the day with a tidy print auction!

Have a peek at this blog by the event organisers, Bear Gami for more info as and when it arrives:

http://beargamitwelve.blogspot.com/

DON'T FORGET
Keep up to date with all current and forthcoming events
on SHOP's website:

http://www.shoptheshop.co.uk/

Coming Soon!

VALENTINES ARTISAN MARKET

SHOP's regular Artisan Market on the Christmas Steps is moving from it's first Saturday of the month slot to put on a special Valentines market for all you romantics.

The Valentines Artisan Market will take place on the 12th February from11am - 4pm. More details in the next newsletter.

NEVER MORE THAN A METRE AWAY

Bristol illustrator and mouse-fan, Tim Ulewicz's exhibition will take place in the SHOP arts space from 19th February for one week. More info from us soon, in the meantime, why not get it from the mouse's mouth, here:

http://www.timulewicz.com/

Christmas news...

2010-12-09T12:17:00.004Z

CHRISTMAS SO FAR AT SHOP!

As anyone who follows us on Twitter will know, it's been a leeeeeeeettle bit on the cold-side in SHOP during the big-freeze. Luckily for SHOP, however, we have some very kind family, friends and customers to keep the cockles of our hearts warm, even if our toes aren't. Not least, Gary Marshall who donated to SHOP two brand new oil filled radiators which undoubtedly have stopped us from getting hypothermia. Not only that, but Gary, as a local electrician, put up the Christmas lights on the Steps for nada! That means free in Spanish. He really is a hero, so we thought we give him a plug to say thank you. Here are his impressive crendentials:

Also keeping us warm with their delicious mulled cider and lighting up the area with good cheer, is the new Bristol Cider Shop at number 7 Christmas Steps! Not only are they are a great and very welcome addition to the Steps, one half of the shop is no less than a Mr Snowman, Mr Snowman of Christmas Steps. Ace.

And what of SHOP? Well, we are truly a Christmas SHOP, our decorations are spangly and we are doing our best to spread Christmas cheer, as we have plenty to go round, becoming very excited as we do at Christmas-time! SHOP is open on Sundays until Christmas, 12pm - 4pm and til 8pm on Thursdays. SHOP also has free tea, coffee and mince pies on tap throughout the month.

SHOP's monthly Artisan Market on the Steps, also makes a welcome return - due to demand from stallholders and customers - for a second Christmas Artisan Market on Saturday the 18th December from 11am - 4pm. There are over 30 stalls selling allsorts of beautiful handmade gifts and decorations. Perfick for unique and lovely pressies! PLUS, Father Christmas himself will be shacking up in his grotto in SHOP's arts space, for the kids and big kids alike to visit him for free!

Finally, SHOP's last exhibition of 2010 in the arts space from the 10th until the 14th December, is 'Jewellery Box', a selling exhibition of contemporary jewellery and crafts from several designers working with different mediums. They say, it is a great opportunity to pick up unique, special and affordable Christmas gifts and we are inclined to agree :-)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!

Christmas Lights Switch On!

2010-12-02T19:37:00.005Z

The Christmas Steps Christmas lights switch on was the perfect community event with the children and teachers from St Michaels on the Mount Without School providing a feast of festive carols for passers by and traders and residents to sing along with.

Mulled wine and Mince Pies (what else?) were handed out and the evening culminated in a countdown and the children plunging the official light switch!

The lights abandoned and left in a cellar in theArts Quarter have been repaired and put up by us at SHOP!

Christmas SHOP!

2010-12-01T16:30:00.002Z

Couldn't resist showing off how puriddy SHOP looks this Christmas! Well, we can't let down our eponymous home now can we? And we don't want to risk being put on the naughty list either...

DECEMBER AT SHOP!

2010-12-01T13:27:00.002Z

A Very Merry Month to you all SHOPpers!

Below is a festive diary of festivities to get you in the fiesta-ing mood for the most wonderful time of the year.

BUT! Before you start vigourously printing and memorising it, there are just a few announcements.

Christmas Hours

SHOP will have additional hours in December, as well as 11am - 7pm Monday - Saturday, SHOP will be open on Sundays in December from 12pm - 4pm. SHOP will also be open Christmas Eve from 12pm-4pm.

Christmas Closing

SHOP will be closed from the 25th December until the 6th January, reopening on Friday the 7th January at 11am.

Last Chance Saloon for Shop Club Gifts

If you are a SHOPper or a Hot SHOP Member and have not collected your birthday gift this year then December is your last chance. Come January we are making a bonfire of them all to keep warm.

FESTIVITY MONTH AT SHOP

Here at SHOP we absolutely ruddy love Christmas (so shoot us) and why not, we do live on the Christmas Steps after all, so December is an unashamed celebration of the joy of the festive season. There will be extended hours at SHOP, as well as plenty of events to get you in a celebratory mood. See the full weekly listings, below.

EVENTS IN SHOP

THROUGHOUT DECEMBER
‘Christmas SHOP’
A SHOP Installation

All month SHOP will be decked up to the max. We’ve got two Christmas trees as part of the Christmas Steps Arts Quarter Christmas Tree Trail, as well as probably a few too many decorations. If that doesn’t melt your hearts of black stone, then we’ll also be stuffing you full of free mince pies and hot drinks all month long. And while you’re here grunting an admiring approval through a mouthful of mince pie, you can take a load off those weary shopped-out feet in SHOP’s comfy and welcoming Lounge.

THURSDAY 2ND DECEMBER

CSAQ Christmas Lights Switch On
5.30pm – 6.30pm
The children of St Michael’s on the Mount will be serenading all with joyful carols, whilst the adults drink lots of mulled wine (to stay warm, kay?) and hand out mince pies before a local celebrity doesn’t switch on the official Christmas Steps Christmas Lights.

CSAQ Late Night Opening Until 8pm
Some of the very loveliest traders in the area (ahem, that means us) are opening late until 8pm on Thursdays running up to Christmas. Once you’ve shopped yourselves out, you can enjoy a discounted pint in the Urban Wood, even Scrooge would enjoy that.

SATURDAY 4TH DECEMBER

Artisan Market 11am – 4pm
SHOP’s regular Artisan Market on the Christmas Steps. This month there are two and they are super-extra Christmassy! Both markets are sell-outs so be sure to come down and admire the wares of the local makers spread over 30 stalls!

SUNDAY 5TH DECEMBER

SHOP Sunday Opening 12pm – 4pm
Throughout December SHOP will be open on Sundays to offer you an alternative to that capitalist sinkhole, Cabot Circus and all their equally unethical cousins.

THURSDAY 9TH DECEMBER

CSAQ Late Night Opening Until 8pm
Some of the very loveliest traders in the area (ahem, that means us) are opening late until 8pm on Thursdays running up to Christmas. Once you’ve shopped yourselves out, you can enjoy a discounted pint in the Urban Wood, even Scrooge would enjoy that.

SUNDAY 12TH DECEMBER

SHOP Sunday Opening 12pm – 4pm
Throughout December SHOP will be open on Sundays to offer you an alternative to that capitalist sinkhole, Cabot Circus and all their equally unethical cousins.

TUESDAY 14TH DECEMBER

CineSHOP 7.30pm – 9.30pm
Trading Places
December wouldn’t be the same without a Christmas film! This year the choice was inspired by a Zine we read in our Zine Library. For a ‘wager’ on whether breeding or environmental factors are more important in determining character, two business tycoons engineer the 'trading places' of one of their young financial wizards (Aykroyd, in fine smug form) with a black low-life hustler (Murphy, at his most brilliant) and sit back to watch Murphy rise and Aykroyd fall in one of the very best Christmas comedies of modern times.

THURSDAY 16TH DECEMBER

CSAQ Late Night Opening Until 8pm
Some of the very loveliest traders in the area (ahem, that means us) are opening late until 8pm on Thursdays running up to Christmas. Once you’ve shopped yourselves out, you can enjoy a discounted pint in the Urban Wood, even Scrooge would enjoy that.

SATURDAY 18TH DECEMBER

Artisan Market 11am – 4pm
SHOP’s regular Artisan Market on the Christmas Steps. This month there are two and they are super-extra Christmassy! Both markets are sell-outs so be sure to come down and admire the wares of the local makers spread over 30 stalls!

SUNDAY 19TH DECEMBER

SHOP Sunday Opening 12pm – 4pm
Throughout December SHOP will be open on Sundays to offer you an alternative to that capitalist sinkhole, Cabot Circus and all their equally unethical cousins.

EVENTS IN THE ARTS SPACE AT 18

37TH CHAMBER
FFI: Search ‘37th Chamber’ on Facebook

Film Night 7.30pm onwards
Saturday 11th November £2

A Christmas kung-fu classic from the arts space regulars.

FAN
FFI: www.thefancharity.org

Friends and Neighbours Meeting
8th December 6pm – 7pm FREE

FAN meets monthly at SHOP, the second Wednesday of the month at 6pm. FAN means, Friends and Neighbours and it’s a chance to meet to talk others in the community.

EXHIBITIONS

Natasha Almeida
Treasure: A Group Illustration Exhibition
24th November – 8th December 11am – 6pm

One person's junk is another's treasure. A magpie is one who compulsively collects or hoards small objects.
The work displayed for this exhibition will be diverse in style and materials used (painting, mixed media collage, screen prints and 3d work), but held together by a common theme.

Corinne Evans
Jewellery Box
10th – 14th December 11am – 6pm

Jewellery Box is a selling exhibition of contemporary jewellery and crafts from several designers working with different mediums.

It is a great opportunity to pick up unique, special and affordable Christmas gifts.

CHRISTMAS STOCK!

2010-11-29T17:40:00.007Z

SHOP has been busy amassing plenty of Christmas presents for you! There is a whole party dress section for the ladies and Christmas jumpers and even a pair of cuban heels for the gents. If you don't wear clothes then SHOP also has new homeware, books, games and other gifts for you!

Below are a few sample pics:

Christmas Jumper!

Christmas Cuban Heels!

Tate and Lyle golf jumper.

Royal Paddock Wax Jacket

Sheepskin coat, just the thing for this weather! And selling secondhand cars.

Pretty film star lady (haven't managed to actually figure out who it is yet)

Awwwwww, 'Peg' the cat!

A caribbean sunset, just the thing for this weather ... oh, used that line already.

Piccie frames.

Cocktail anyone?

Rabbit piggy bank.

P-p-p-p-p-p-penguins!

Handmade beaded dress

Black spangly 80s cocktail dress

70s coloured spangles dancing dress!

Yellow lace ballgown, just what you always wanted!

Treasure: Private View

2010-11-27T16:47:00.004Z

Thursday night saw the opening night of 'Treasure', the new exhibition in SHOP's arts space. The show is about one person’s junk being another’s treasure. The work displayed is diverse in style and materials used (painting, mixed media collage, screen prints and 3d work), but held together by the common theme of treasure.

There was plenty of very good cake and the work is pretty dash good too. The show is on until the 8th November and we strongly recommend a look.

Zine Club: Review

2010-11-27T16:36:00.003Z

The first Zine Club took place in SHOP's lounge on Thursday. Everyone came with an open mind and a different take on how the evening might transpire: some wanted to read the Zines, SHOP wanted people to read the Zines and then submit a review to the Zine Library blog and yet others had even higher aspirations.

As the 2 hour meeting unrolled, the idea for a collaborative Zine arose, as did the idea for setting up a Zine and Comic Market. There were lots of exciting ideas discussed and we will keep you posted for sure of all developments. Or, if you would like to get involved in either the Zine or the market, then get in touch with SHOP.

Buy Nothing Day - 26th November at SHOP

2010-11-25T21:11:00.002Z

SHOP will be closed on the Friday 26th November for Buy Nothing Day. Apologies for any inconvenience, business resumes as unusual from Saturday at 11am

FFI: www.adbusters.org/bnd

Wholemeal Breadmaking WorkSHOP!

2010-11-22T13:53:00.004Z

Saturday saw SHOP turn into a Micro-Bakery for the afternoon to the delight of passers-by and visitors who took part in the WorkSHOP!

Lynda wowed everyone with her quick and simple techniques on bread making and even had time to demonstrate making peanut butter, oat cakes, lemon curd and soup, while the bread was in the oven!

She's a wizard in SHOP's makeshift Lounge/Kitchen!

Meanwhile outside SHOP free sample chestnuts were handed out, in preparation for the Christmas Artisan Markets on the 4th and 18th of December!

All in all it was a very tasty day!

Exhibition: UWE Graduates Group Show

2010-11-15T15:25:00.002Z

The new show at the SHOP arts space is a group exhibition by 2010 graduates from UWE Bristol Drawing and Applied Art Degree.

Helena Janeckova
A selection of drawings inspired by the evolutionary process and current ecological issues.

Rosie Freeman
Intuitive abstract prints using bold colours and pattern inspired by an interest in sacred geometry.

Ellie Spafford
Drawings inspired by nature with a focus on species preservation and the fragility of the natural world.

Gregory Champion
Abstract sculpture using haptic and kinetic manipulation of material.

Daughter Music Vid Filming in SHOP

2010-11-12T14:03:00.004Z

A rainy Friday morning was very much brightened for SHOP by an illuminating email which we found to be waiting for us on opening up. It said this:

Hello Shop,

Apologies for the unsolicited email - my name is Matt and i run a small digital music PR company up in Redland. We work with a range of artists including Mumford & Sons, Johnny Flynn, Bombay Bicycle Club and a handful more. You can find out a few details on us here - www.stayloose.co.uk.

This is a strange request but I love your shop so much that i wanted to check and see if it's something you'd be interested in. Basically, tomorrow we are in Bristol with one of our artists - Daughter (Elena Tonra). She's one of the artists from the Communion folk movement in London (Mumford & Sons label) and we are filming a number of unique impromptu sessions with her in some of Bristol's loveliest places.

You can check her out her. She's pretty ace: www.myspace.com/daughterdaughter

I wanted to drop you an email to see if you'd potentially consider the idea of us filming a live track in your wonderful Shop at some time around lunch time? It is basically just Elena, myself (holding a mic) and Tom (our video guy) so it's not a huge set-up. We'd need about 10 - 15 minutes (max) and would be looking to film one of the songs from her new 'Demos EP'.

Like i say, it's a bit of a random request but i thought Shop would be utterly perfect for Elena and represents everything that i think is so ace about our city. I'm not too sure if you'd consider it - i appreciate it might be a wee bit of a distraction from your primary task of being a shop, but i just wanted to have an ask!

Here's an example of Tom's work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_EDDput0b8&feature=fvst

Thanks for reading this far down!

Best

Matt

Well, we never said that flattery wasn't everything and so we quickly dropped Matt a mail back to say come on down and they did and here's some pictures

There aren't too many pics, as we had to be very quiet during filming to make sure Elena's beautiful voice was recorded correctly and SHOP's camera is about a zillion years old and makes a lot of noise, but rest assured we'll be updating the blog when the vid is released and the 'SHOP sessions' are born!

SHOP!

Easter Artisan Market - Book Now!

Happy Valentine's Day, SHOPlettes!

NEW STOCK!

Alisdair Gray

The Big Refurb!

SHOP Relaunch & February Events!

REFURB RELAUNCH

MONDAY 6TH FEBRUARY 11am - 6pm Come and see how we've to make SHOP more beautiful and join us in a glass of pretend Champagne. Congratulatory slaps on the back optional. *

POP-UP CAFE

SATURDAY 18TH FEBRUARY 11am - 6pm

EXHIBITION

20TH - 25TH FEBRUARY 12pm - 6pm UWE MA Fine Art students, Caroline Bacon and Seila Fernandez Arconada take over the Arts Apace for a week. The booking has just been taken, so check the blog and twitter for more details as we get them!

*

MAKING THINGS CLUB

29TH FEBRUARY 7pm - 9pm

New Floor Totaliser: FINAL WEEK!

New Floor Totaliser: WEEK TWO

New Floor Totaliser: WEEK ONE

JANUARY RUMMAGE ROOM!

MERRY CHRISTMAS ONE AND ALL!

Christmas News!

tales from shop

NEWS

EVENTS

Draw by Sam Ulewicz

SHOP's feelin Christmassy!!

Christmas Warm-Up Events!

MONDAY 28th NOVEMBER

Buy Nothing Day

THURSDAY 1st DECEMBER

Grand Christmas Steps Lights Switch On!

The Oxygen of Publicity (A Lust for Power)

SATURDAY 3rd DECEMBER

Christmas Artisan Market

Draw by Sam Ulewicz

Red Door Exhibition

The Home of Christmas Shopping!

November Newsletter!

tales from shop thREE THINGS WE'VE LEARNT THIS MONTH: 1. PEANUT BUTTER AND JAM ON A GINGER NUT BISCUIT is NOT A TASTY SNACK. 2. CHEAP HALLOWEEN DECORATIONS BOUGHT 3 YEARS AGO FROM WILKINSON'S aRE APPARENTLY MUCH MORE 'saleable' THAN VINTAGE CLOTHING AND HOMEWARE.

3. If you don't ask, you don't get.

NEWS

EVENTS

MORE NEW STUFF - Jumpers!

ORIGINAL 60s SHOESES!

SHOP's 5th BIRTHDAY

LOADS 'N' LOADS OF NEW STOCK!!

ART FOR LOVE: REVIEW

OCTOBER NEWSLETTER!

ONE YEAR OF THE ARTS SPACE!

LUSH, OR WOT?!

Homer at SHOP

NEW, NEW, NEW, NEW SIGN!

Joining The Dots: Preview

Michelle Trepka: Greek Restaurant

AugTember Newsletter!

New Preachy Flyer at SHOP!

Don't sleep through July! Newsletter

EVENTS

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Colour SeriesFriday 13th and Saturday 14th AugustAn exhibition by Emily Goater

The Longest Day

MORE MORE MORE - How Do You Like Yet More New Stock?!

Summer of Stock!!

Turn on, JUNE-in, drop out!

Recent exhibitions round up.

NEW HOMEWARES!

Ssssshhhh...

We Robot!

May the SHOP force be with you this month!

The return of Soft Cabaret!

April at SHOP - No Foolin!

37th Chamber Saturday 10th April – 7.30pm onwards – £2

Record Club Tuesday 19th April - 7:30pm – 10pm

We Robot Saturday 23rd April – 11am – 7pm

Easter Egg Hunt Saturday 23rd April – 11am – 7pm

Record Club: REVIEW!

NEW STOCK!

'Ten' Screening: REVIEW!

Lights Off, Radio On

MONDAY 6TH FEBRUARY
11am - 6pm

Come and see how we've to make SHOP more beautiful and join us in a glass of pretend Champagne.
Congratulatory slaps on the back optional.
*

SATURDAY 18TH FEBRUARY
11am - 6pm

20TH - 25TH FEBRUARY
12pm - 6pm
UWE MA Fine Art students, Caroline Bacon and Seila Fernandez Arconada take over the Arts Apace for a week. The booking has just been taken, so check the blog and twitter for more details as we get them!

29TH FEBRUARY
7pm - 9pm

tales from shop

thREE THINGS WE'VE LEARNT THIS MONTH:

1. PEANUT BUTTER AND JAM ON A GINGER NUT BISCUIT is NOT A TASTY SNACK.

2. CHEAP HALLOWEEN DECORATIONS BOUGHT 3 YEARS AGO FROM WILKINSON'S aRE APPARENTLY MUCH MORE 'saleable' THAN VINTAGE CLOTHING AND HOMEWARE.

Colour Series
Friday 13th and Saturday 14th August
An exhibition by Emily Goater

37th Chamber
Saturday 10th April – 7.30pm onwards – £2

Record Club
Tuesday 19th April - 7:30pm – 10pm

We Robot
Saturday 23rd April – 11am – 7pm

Easter Egg Hunt
Saturday 23rd April – 11am – 7pm