It's Goodnight From Me

... but not quite goodnight from him - yet.  Jayne here! Director, Founder and one half of SHOP along with that there Brett, and this is my last ever SHOP-blog.


In case you are wondering what I'm talking about, SHOP is currently entering its victory lap as we prepare to shut-up-shop for good.  They say that you get itchy feet every 7 years and after nearly 8 years of SHOP that's exactly how it feels.  We are lucky enough not to have been forced out by evil landlords or adverse trading conditions, we're simply ready for a new adventure - it's just the way we are.  To that end we are moving to Madrid! 

However, we're not quite done yet.  I have a one-way plane ticket booked for the next week, but Brett will remain in Bristol for some months more to find a suitable successor to SHOP, and before then we have lots of exciting stuff going on.  Including a massive sale and an entire festival!  The Festival of Football Ideas will take place in the At-Bristol Planetarium this summer (see more info here: FOFI) and will provide info on the massive sale when we have it.

Anyway, enough of the logistics, the point of this post was just to say, simply - thank you.  The last 7 and a half years (almost to the day!) have been incredible.   I know people always say the same kind of things at these times, the word rollarcoaster come to mind, but I know why now, 'cus cliches are true sometimes and rollarcoaster is about perfect.  Or perhaps, more perfect would be a rollarcoaster travelling through sunshine, storms, rainbows and hail, sometimes all at once. If I had known a fraction of what lay ahead when SHOP first opened in 2006, I would have run a fookin' mile, but I'm so glad I didn't and therefore that I went ahead blindly, yet openly.  I have learnt an immeasurable amount about myself, about running a small company, about people and I've had experiences that I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have had in any other walk of life.  I've learnt the value of relationships, relatedness and autonomy (would have been so cool if that last one began with a R).

That is just the tangible stuff, the intangible stuff I wouldn't even know where to begin. It really is kind of impossible to express and to summarise the influence SHOP has had on every area of my life, nothing has been exempt and clearly, none of it would have been possible without the people, as in our customers and supporters, as in - you!  Although at times it felt like SHOP was indeed an island, before the Christmas Steps were enjoying the beginnings of the resurgence they are now (and which I'm extremely proud to have been a part of), obviously we aren't and it is the sublime, the beautiful (and even the occacional grotesque!) that walk through our door everyday that have made SHOP what it is.

I wanted to include my favourite picture of SHOP here, but it has been packed and shipped along with all my belongings.  It is of me and Brett at the launch of SHOP on 16th October 2006 and we are standing on the red step having just cut the ribbon, I'm leaning forward to kiss Brett and he has his hands nonchalantly in his pockets (the swine!).  We look well young and when I think of that night I think of how we were on the verge of something scary and wonderful, and that is exactly - with just 5 sleeps until I emigrate - how I feel right now.  If the next 7 years are anything like the last I will feel myself to be extremely lucky and very very happy.

Well, I'll shut up now and just say again, thank you - it has been a privilege.

THEN: Our first Christmas at SHOP, celebrating with our fellow traders in the defunct Didiers, now Harry Blades and Angry Daves

NOW: Me 5 minutes ago writing this

Come Play SHOP Celebrity Bingo!

For some reason – perhaps because of SHOP's close proximity to Hotel du Vino down the way – we get a disproportionate amount of celebrities over our threshold.  We have decided to shamelessly exploit them for fun and use them in a game of SHOP CELEBRITY BINGO! (and hope that Social Enterprises can’t be sued).

 

Here’s how it works:

 

Below is a list of ‘slebs and items that they bought in SHOP.  All you have to do is to match the ‘sleb to the SHOP item and bring your completed sheet to SHOP before the end of April.  If you get 3 right, that’s a line, if you get them all right, that’s house.  For a line you get £5 to spend in SHOP, for house you get £10 to spend in SHOP and if you get none then you should probably go and buy a copy of Heat or something, if they still make it.

 

'SLEB

Julian Barratt

Dawn French  

Tony Robinson

                  

Simon Amstell                               

Russell Tovey

                                                              
Beth Rowley  

Eels        

Tim Vine 

                                  

                                   
 

Robyn   

                                        

Elena Tonra (Daughter) 

                    

Kate Bliss 

                                          

SHOP ITEM

Assorted Women's Clothing  

Dress

Nothing, but did some filming in the Lounge  

Brooch and Patch 

Nothing, looked somewhat bewildered

Assorted Homewares  

An Umbrella, which they had already sold us five minutes previously for the cameras.

Standard Lamp 

Two Elvis Books  

Nothing, but we had a lovely chat about record players

Two Poodle Pictures      

Dracula: SHOP-stylee!

The greatest horror story ever written, with a soupcon of SHOP!

When the caleche stopped, the driver, BRETT, jumped down and held out his hand to assist me to alight. Again I could not but notice his prodigious strength. His hand actually seemed like a steel vice that could have crushed mine if he had chosen. Then he took my traps, and placed them on the ground beside me as I stood close to a great door, old and studded with large iron nails, and set in a projecting doorway of massive stone. I could see even in the dim light that the stone was massively carved, but that the carving had been much worn by time and weather. As I stood, BRETT jumped again into his seat and shook the reins. The horses started forward, and trap and all disappeared down one of the dark openings.

 

The Driver

I stood in silence where I was, for I did not know what to do. Of bell or knocker there was no sign. Through these frowning walls and dark window openings it was not likely that my voice could penetrate. The time I waited seemed endless, and I felt doubts and fears crowding upon me. What sort of place had I come to, and among what kind of people? What sort of grim adventure was it on which I had embarked? Was this a customary incident in the life of a solicitor's clerk sent out to explain the purchase of a London estate to a foreigner? 

"Welcome to my house! Enter freely. Go safely, and leave something of the happiness you bring!" The strength of the handshake was so much akin to that which I had noticed in BRETT, whose face I had not seen, that for a moment I doubted if it were not the same person to whom I was speaking. So to make sure, I said interrogatively, "Count CAT-ULA?"

Count Cat-ula

She bowed in a courtly way as she replied, "I am CAT-ULA, and I bid you welcome, MS. MARSHALL, to my house. Come in, the night air is chill, and you must need to eat and rest." As she was speaking, she put the lamp on a bracket on the wall, and stepping out, took my luggage. She had carried it in before I could forestall her. I protested, but she insisted. 

The Solictor's Clerk

I am all in a sea of wonders. I doubt. I fear. I think strange things, which I dare not confess to my own soul. God keep me, if only for the sake of those dear to me! 

Family Portrait

BIRTHDAY BLOG: THE JOY OF 6!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US, HAPPY BIIIIIIIRTHDAY TO UUUUSSSSS, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!

Yup, you guessed it ... it's Christmas!  Not really, sillies - it's OUR SIXTH BIRTHDAY!

We always get very excited when our birthday comes around, not only because it's an excuse to consume only sugar ALL DAY, but also because when we opened way back in 2006, we told ourselves we'd give it a year and see what happened, so (and you're probably sick of us saying the same every year) we never presume that we will reach the next birthday, and the next, and so 6 years old feels like we've really 'done it'.

:-)

Anyway, 6 also feels like a nice even number ... the kind of number that lends itself to a countdown, mate.

We've never done anything like this before, as we try to maintain an outlook akin to that of a kitten playing in a meadow on a sunny day, but here's our TOP 6 and WORST 6 moments of SHOP, over the past six years...

In no particular order....

*cues up Tops of the Pops theme tune (the 90s one (that was the best))*

BAD SIX

1.  PEOPLE

People are great, don't get us wrong, and people are at the very heart of what we do.  However, just very occasionally you can get a person that is a right stonking bumhole.

From the man who once posed (on crutches) as a neighbour's brother needing £20 to pay his taxi to the hospital (hence crutches - he was clever!), which we gave him out of our grocery money for the week, and then when enquiring with our neighbour how his brother was doing, were met with confused 'but, I'm brotherless' expressions.  To, the people who bustle in and aggressively try to sell a ragged old binbag 'of crap' (their words) and then get arsey when you (amazingly) aren't interested.  To our very own Advisory Board (which we ourselves set up - doh!) which turned out to be an awful, just AWFUL idea (buy us a pint one time and we'll tell you the real, full story).

So, very rarely, there are some days when you just wish there was a way of running a shop without any people in it.

GOOD SIX

1. PEOPLE

Yup - that's right, people are at the heart of what we do at SHOP and we wouldn't want it any other way! In addition to that, there have been so many people over the last 6 years who have added immeasurably to SHOP itself, and also to lifting our souls. Some people will never know just how much a beautiful compliment on a bad day has given us the will to go on, and others know just how much they mean to us and how grateful we have been, and continue to be, for their support. We would make a list, but we reckon you all know who you are :-)

BAD SIX

2.  BIBLICAL FLOODING

Above SHOP there lives a lady who likes to run herself baths .... and then forget about them so that they overflow and flood the shop.  We're not talking a few drips here and there, back in April 2011, this forgetful lady actually, literally FLOODED the shop FOUR TIMES!!!!  Sometimes, she had even left her flat with the bath running (we know, right?!) so there was no way of turning these spewing faucets off!!!

This led to a lot of nervousness, and loss of business, and damage to the shop, whilst her landlord fitted a sensor that switched off the taps automatically.  For a month back then, we would open the door tentatively each morning, waiting for a tsunami to hit us.

 

EPILOGUE: no-one would take any responsibility for it, so we were left with soggy walls, floors and rugs and no way to replace them.  Boo!

GOOD SIX

2. LLP to CIC

You down with LLP? Yeah you know ... we're not anymore! After three years as one of those out-moded 'profit-making' companies ;-) we swapped our shoes for sandals and threw out our deodorant to become a non-profit company! The long version goes like this, SHOP is: a Social Enterprise, Community Interest Company Limited by Guarantee (so we just say non-profit). Often, profit means putting money before people and we just couldn't get behind that, so found our true identity in a CIC and haven't looked back since!

This change in structure also changed our outlook, and eventually our horizons too, as we moved from the small shop (now the Arts Space), to the shop space we have now, but we didn't stop there - we eventually moved back into the small shop (it became the Arts Space) and even took over The Christmas Steps themselves with community events like the Artisan Market, Christmas Lights Festival and the bi-annual Night of the Year (outdoor cinema funtimes!).

BAD SIX

3.  DRUG OF THE NATION, NO MORE

Oh, television! How we used to love you!  How many happy, stupefied hours we spent in raptures with you.  How ecstatic we were when the very first 'telly-person' contacted us about filming part of a well known antiques programme in SHOP!

*Poof!*

That was the sound of the magic of telly disappearing, as soon as we realised ... none of it's real! (we know, right?! (again)).  Yup, sorry boys and girls, it's true - you now those bits when your favourite telly presenter is walking down a road and the voice over says, "Kate is looking for some jewellery," and Kate, wonderfully, magically! Finds a shop where they sell jewellery, just at that very moment. You know that bit? Well it's, fake!  All fake!

Okay, we probably all knew that one, but what about those buying and selling programmes?  All our telly  experiences have gone a bit like this: call from researcher asking if we want to be on telly (Us: YAY!), assuring us it will only take a little while and not be too disruptive (Us: YAY!).  Day of filming: enter rambunctious film CREW (that means lots of people), who ignore you entirely, bash your shop around and bully you into saying or buying something you don't want to, or can't afford, or won't be able to sell on (Us: erm, Yay?).

Okay, okay, we're being televisionist, they aren't all the same and there is one particular exception, a film company called Quattro Production, who were lovely in the extreme.

Ps.  This applies to other media, the written ones are the same, for example, they often only write about you if you advertise with them (so those opinions your reading aren't opinions at all, they're editorially compromised by being funded through commercial advertising, yeah that's right, you heard!) or rewrite what you've written about yourself to give you 'more personality' (thanks a lot!) and so make you sound, kinda, sorta, like an IDIOT!

GOOD SIX

3. SARTORIAL SPLENDOURS

At it's most fundamental level, what we do for a living at SHOP is basically, shopping. Which suits us, cus we love seeking out those vintage design classics. It also has another up-side - not only are we helping make the peeps of Bristol EVEN MORE attractively dressed, sometimes we find things for ourselves too!

We think you'll agree, this photo of Brett doing his best Howard Moon impression, demonstrates the above rather wonderfully:

Moreover, when we're out and about, seeing people wearing clothes or accessories they have bought from SHOP really, really makes us proud AND makes us feel like we're doing a teeny bit to redress the balance between the big bullies at places like Cabot Circus back towards the little people, like us.

BAD SIX

4.  THE ICE-AGE CAMETH

SHOP's home on The Christmas Steps is beautiful and picturesque and generally wonderful, it is also really old.  So old that central heating hadn't been invented when they were built in 1669.  The buildings are also really damp (they must have liked that kind of thing in the olden days), which all added up doesn't equal nice winters.  It doesn't even really equal bearable winters.  As soon as it hits about, well, about the first of September, a little oil filled radiator goes on behind SHOP's counter, and then we either stick to it like glue until June, or if we're both around at the same time, fight long and bloodily over it (like Peter Griffin and that chicken).

GOOD SIX

4. CREATIVE CHANNELING

It is our hope that part of what SHOP has been about has been enabling people to find, or encourage, their creativity - in many and varied ways. We have been told over the years, by people who have had a show, or attended a WorkSHOP, or had a stall at an Artisan Market, how taking part in these became an integral part of their flourishing. This - in a nutshell - is what it's all about for us.

(Similarly, Brett started out life as an 'Artist', and Jayne started life out as a 'Writer' - okay, well, we both started out life as tiny, screaming, hairless infants, but about 18 years after that, we both went to University and studied the above, respective subjects (Fine Art and English Literature). As is fairly usual with art/humanities degrees, as soon as we graduated, Brett became a gardener and Jayne an office temp, until that is SHOP came along and we have SHOP to thank for also flushing out and reinvigorating our own creative channels. This year, we both used the Arts Space for shows of our own and since then have not been able to stop, well - creating stuff!)

BAD SIX 

 

5.  BOYFRIENDS OF GIRLFRIENDS

Yes-yes-yes, boyfriends are possibly, *technically* people, and so should maybe come under item number one of this countdown, but it is ONLY boyfriends and not all PEOPLE that tell their girlfriends not to buy lovely vintage clothings that they look beautiful in.  Hello?!  It's the 21st century, girlfriend can spend her money on whatever girlfriends wants!  And, what happened to compliments?  To our mind, "Urrrrrrm, I don't know, it looks a bit funny." IS NOT A COMPLIMENT!

Postscript exclusively by Brett: Hey boyfriends, what's with greeting the beaming face of your loved one - wearing something she's found that she loves - with an awkward, insolent shrug? She can have another you in a minute - matter of fact he'll be here in a minute! So don't you ever get to thinking you're irreplaceable!

GOOD SIX


5. WHEN OUR PRIVATES BECAME PUBLIC

After five years of being our landlords (and only five years into a twenty five year term), our landlords decided they didn't want to be our landlords anymore (what did we do?! Maybe it was the couch surfing ... or could it have been all the (*slightly* illegal) gigs, or perhaps the constant spray painting of our step (red/gold/red/gold))!

Well, whatever it was, it worked out fabulously for us, as we went from paying private landlord rates (ie. high ones!) to becoming tenants of Bristol City Council - a social landlord! And, as your old Dad always says, you can only speak as you find, and we have found BCC to be helpful, sympathetic landlords, supportive of our vision and mission.

There is a downside though, we signed up for that remaining twenty years, so Bristol may well be stuck with us until Brett's beard turns grey.

BAD SIX

6.  DRAINING DRAINS

If you have ever walked into SHOP and been assaulted by a disgusting eggy poo smell, we swear to God and kittens, it's SO WASN'T US!  Another aspect to being on a lovely old street, is lovely, old, smelly, permanently blocked drains that have weird 'poocoustics' that means that instead of smelling by the drain, they smell everywhere, mostly inside SHOP.  So, once again, we didn't drop a silent and violent, okay?

GOOD SIX

6.  THE FUTURE!

That's right, the very best thing about the last six years is ... The Future!  We're looking forward to sticking around a bit longer, we're looking forward to some very exciting changes in 2013, we're looking forward to new plans and schemes, but most of all we're looking forward to not looking forward too much, and taking each new, strange and wonderful day at SHOP as it comes.

THANK YOU!

Butlin's: The Ultimate Vintage Experience

A SHOP contingent visited Butlin's in Minehead this weekend and whilst there discussed (like you do) the awkward romance of the British seaside experience.  There's nothing quite like it really; the soggy chips, the slightly decrepit buildings, the businesses that defy logic, the murky brown sea - the Costa Del it'll never be, which is of course part of it's strange charm

Both us have spent many a childhood family holiday at Butlin's, Minehead included, but it no longer resembles the particular glamour of it's heyday.  You can see some ghostly remnants, like the old army barracks converted into accommodation, but it's mostly been completely modernised.

In the gift shop, we picked up these old postcards, taken when Butlin's was in it's ascendancy, which are AMAZING and show Butlin's as it used to be:

Happy Valentine's Day, SHOPlettes!

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.

Ode of Love to SHOP

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.

All Hallows' Eve at SHOP was a terrifyingly unconventional evening, courtesy of grindhouse kung-fu enthusiast film night, 37th Chamber.

The film was billed as a 'Japanese rock n roll zombies with hot rod motorcylces extravaganza' and it certainly fulfilled the criteria. Wild Zero was the film and rock and roll zombies abounded. Aliens were invading the planet and turning humans into zombies. After saving his heros, Guitar Wolf, from their manager, and having the honour of becoming their blood brother, wannabe rocker and the film's hero, Ace finds himself caught up in the carnage. It is definitely worth a watch!

Everyone was invited to dress as 50s zombies with SHOP given the heavy responsibility of picking the best costume.

Here's some pics!

The queue at Rice Box was unusually violent on the night.

Attack of the giggling zombies? That title needs some work.

Someone murdered Santa and made him into a zombie! Barstewards!

Rob and Matt, the Zombies behind 37th Chamber.

The undead gathered politely for the film.

SHOP looked hideous.

DIY - 60s Style!

Just get this shelf finished, then I'll move onto that corspe I stashed in the wall.

One Shop Club Member took the Frame Amnesty a bit too seriously.

Okay babe, I'll just get this bed built, you sew the sheets and then it's time for a shag.


Remember chaps: always wear a tie, even when you DIY.

If you ask me that one more time, I'll drop this sink on your head.

Casualty moment! Casualty moment! Casualty moment!


I'll just finish this wall, then I'll pebble dash the toilet.