Norwich Gift Emporium - coming soon!

Yesterday I spent the afternoon at what will soon be the sparkly new Norwich Gift Emporium. Currently undergoing a complete makeover, the former Capricorn Cameras shop will be another exciting addition to the famous Norwich Lanes. 

Really, really good things are coming soon...

The Gift Emporium sells handmade, local arts and crafts and is the brainchild of Steve Pugh, who is a crafter himself at DT Steampunk. It began last year with the opening of the Swaffham Gift Emporium in the summer, bringing together work from over 50 artisans. The shop is well and truly holding its own in the market town, bringing plenty of original and lovingly produced arts and crafts to suit every budget, and proving a popular addition to the town centre shopping experience. It has also attracted great interest from O2 and Microsoft, who have featured the shop in their advertising (join the other 340,000 people who have watched the ad here!).

This will all be built on at the Norwich Gift Emporium, where Charis Brown has been taking the reigns to prepare for the grand opening. Charis is another well known crafter in the area, producing a variety of handmade items at Luffly Stuff. She has spent weeks helping Steve to find the perfect location for the shop, designing the shop layout and decorating - which I can say is looking great so far. There is still lots to do before the grand opening on Good Friday, but with Charis in charge everything will go to plan.

Norwich Lanes

Several crafters from the Swaffham Gift Emporium are also taking shelves at The Norwich Emporium, and have been popping in to help Charis scrub, clean, decorate and build stuff. Yesterday Andrea and Peter were also on hand to put up shelves, and did a fine job (Andrea is a potter and runs Wattlefield Pottery, Peter does oil paintings and frames them himself).

Andrea and Peter hard at work with the shelves

I was mainly helping build Billy shelving units yesterday and admiring the building, with it's lovely natural light and unique angles and textures. The ground floor is mostly there with the major renovation works, as is the landing and much painting has also been done. All the display units are nearly there, and the place has a very homely and welcoming feel to it already.

So, please do get along to the opening of the Norwich Gift Emporium, which is taking place this coming Friday 18th April, at 10am. You can find the shop at 22 Lower Goat Lane, Norwich and there will be celebrations galore on the opening day.
 
If you are a crafter and would like to have your fine work in the shop, please do contact the shop by calling 01603 624333 or via the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/norwichgiftemporium

You can find my photos in both the Swaffham Gift Emporium and Norwich Gift Emporium.