For those who are in desperate need of some self-care ahead of the frantic festive season, Amaranth has all the deals you need.
You can get a Dr Hauschka ‘one hour to myself’ facial for just £39 (normally £55).
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Or book in for a 30 minute consultation with a nutritional therapist, with up to £20 to spend on supplements, for only £15.
All their Black Friday deals will run until the end of November – you can book by calling 0161 518 1334.
The Royal Exchange building
L’Occitane
Perfect for Christmas shopping (or for a bit of pampering for yourself), L’Occitane is a much-loved brand for beauty and fragrance.
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Its shop on the Market Street side of the Royal Exchange is knocking 20% off all its full-priced products this weekend.
The deal runs from November 25 to 28.
The Body Shop
The deals are running for ages at The Body Shop, with prices slashed for almost a fortnight.
There’s 50% off Black Friday collections between November 18 and 30.
Up until November 23, you can get a free gift when you spend £35.
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And there’s 20% off for all Love Your Body Club members, which is free to subscribe to, right up until November 30.
French Connection
French Connection is discounting products right across its fashion and home collections.
There’s 20% off the lot – including things that are already on sale.
The offer’s running until November 29, and there’s a chance to win your Black Friday spend in store.
Yards Store
This menswear shop on Old Bank Street stocks massive brands like Carhartt, Patagonia, Paul Smith, Barbour and Fjallraven.
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Now’s a good time to start browsing if you’ve not already visited – it’s 20% off in store.
The deal has already started.
Lululemon
For activewear that will last through countless workouts, Lululemon is always a good bet.
The shop, which faces out onto St Ann’s Square, is running big discounts for Black Friday.
You can get up to 30% off in store on the day itself.
Featured image: The Royal Exchange
Shopping
IKEA announces decision to close popular Greater Manchester site
Emily Sergeant
It’s the end of the road for one of IKEA’s popular Greater Manchester sites.
The Swedish furniture giant has announced its decision to close its ‘Plan and Order Point’ over in Stockport in a couple of weeks time.
The store – which is located in Stockport town centre’s Merseyway Shopping Centre – launched to huge success back in March 2023, and at the time, was the second of this ‘test and trial’ format to open in the UK, becoming a smaller space dedicated to kitchen and home planning, as well as ordering items.
IKEA says the closure comes as a result of ‘valuable learnings’ which plan to take this conceptual format in a direction to ‘better suit the needs of UK customers’.
IKEA is closing its close popular Stockport site this month / Credit: Jon Super (via IKEA)
Since the opening of the Stockport Plan and Order Point, IKEA claims it has seen an increased demand for Click and Collect services, a desire by customers to shop a smaller selection of home furnishing accessories, as well as the ability to return goods to physical IKEA units, and this is all something which the current location is unable to offer.
Learning from this change in consumer habits, the company says its future Plan and Order Point openings – including in those in other northern cities like Hull and York – will offer these services.
IKEA says it also remains ‘committed’ to trialling new formats, such as its upcoming small stores, one of which will open in nearby Chester later this year.
Luckily for IKEA fans, the retailer has confirmed that its major Greater Manchester store in Ashton-under-Lyne, as well as the neighbouring store in Warrington, will remain open as normal, offering all the services available at Stockport and more.
The Swedish furniture says the closure comes as a result of ‘valuable learnings’ about customer needs / Credit: Jon Super (via IKEA)
In addition to the upcoming opening of a smaller store in Chester, IKEA has revealed that the North West continues to be an area of interest for future expansion.
“After careful evaluation, we’ve made the difficult decision to close the IKEA Plan and Order Point at Merseyway Shopping Centre,” explained Salma Azad, who is one of IKEA’s Area Managers.
“In the two years since opening, we’ve taken valuable learnings, including how our customers prefer to meet IKEA, and we’ll take these insights into future openings, to serve shoppers in a more impactful way.”
Thanks to last year’s Click and Collect expansion, Stockport residents can now pick up purchases from Tesco Extra Stockport and Tesco Extra Stretford, as well as the Manchester store and the upcoming small store in Chester.
Stockport Plan and Order Point’s final day of trading will be on 16 June.
Manchester United tease new collaboration with Manc streetwear brand Drama Call
Danny Jones
Manchester United have revealed their latest fashion collaboration with popular homegrown streetwear designers Drama Call, sharing a new teaser on social media.
The football club may be faltering on the pitch, but commercially it’s still one of the best-known and most successful brands on the planet.
More specifically, they’ve made some big splashes when it comes to merchandising and fashion spin-offs in particular, with reproducing retro kits and other collabs like the Adidas x Stone Roses line, which dropped in February last year.
These releases quickly go on to become collector’s items, and that will almost certainly be the case with Man United’s upcoming Drama Call crossover, which they announced in fine fashion – pardon the pun.
Plenty of Drama Call die-hards will be scrambling for this one.
For those unaware of Drama Call, the local fashion label is hugely popular across the region, regularly worn by the likes of Aitch, Headie One and several other celebrities.
It’s actually not even the first time Drama Call and United have worked either, previously colliding to create a limited edition version of the classic blue 1988 away kit back in 2023.
As for this latest United x Drama Call collab, we have very few details on when the release can be expected; all fans can do is try and glean whatever clues possible from the teaser video above.
We always enjoy footballers trying their hands at acting, no matter the result, to be fair. Who can forget Wayne Rooney meeting Deadpool?…
So, if you’re a fan of the viral streetwear brand, watch this space.
Daisy Jackson -
25th November 2021 
