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Manchester’s largest Sostrene Grene opens its doors in Manchester Arndale

The EASTER RANGE are you joking!?

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 26th March 2026

Sostrene Grene, the much-loved affordable homeware brand, has opened a brand-new store in Manchester city centre.

The Danish business has opened inside the Manchester Arndale today, in a whopping 4,952 sq ft store (opposite the Body Shop, if you’re looking for it).

As always, the new retail space showcases Sostrene Grene’s contemporary – yet surprisingly affordable – home decor, furniture, and stylish lifestyle products.

And shopping here is arguably unlike any other experience on the high street, thanks to its unique layout and winding aisles making it feel like you’re discovering something new around every corner.

The new space shows off a brand-new, full Easter range, with items like pretty pastel bud vases, bunny-shaped candles, tulip mugs, and even Easter-patterned gift wrap. 

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As with all Sostrene Grene stores, you’ll find a small kitchen section selling cooking and baking essentials for incredible prices, alongside ingredients like cake mixes, jams, and olives. 

Then there’s a full tea selection, including a self-serve loose lead tea station. 

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The new Sostrene Grene at Manchester Arndale offers a vast range of wrapping paper, gift bags and cards, as well as a full wall of candles in every colour of the rainbow (and priced from 40p). 

Head around again and you’ll find yourself in the brand’s crafting section, where you can pick up everything from stickers and stamps to beads and thread, plus loads of painting and art supplies. 

On top of that, there’s stationery (and where else are you picking up a notepad for £1.76?), plant pots and garden decor, storage baskets, picture frames, rugs, bathroom bits, more candles, hair accessories, 

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You can even shop for the little ones, picking up soft toys, wooden toys, and kids craft supplies. 

And before you leave, you’ll pass through loads of nostalgic sweets like liquorice, sticks of rock, and jelly sweets – and even miniature Easter eggs in their own egg carton. 

Sostrene Grene is open now inside Manchester Arndale.

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Featured image: The Manc Group

Shopping

The ‘secret’ cash-and-carry near Piccadilly that’s selling amazing Italian food for less than the supermarkets

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson You can pick up top-quality Italian produce like tinned tomatoes

We all know the pain of finally settling on what you want to eat for dinner, only to Google a recipe and discover a list of ingredients that your local Tesco definitely won’t have in stock. 

‘Where the f*** am I going to get guanciale from at this hour?’, you think. 

Well, just a stone’s throw from Manchester Piccadilly, you’ll find a cash-and-carry that’s an Aladdin’s cave of Italian food – and a damn sight cheaper than a supermarket, too. 

Amato is a name you might recognise, with their grey vans regularly trundling around Greater Manchester delivering top Italian produce to all your favourite restaurants. 

But you don’t need a wholesale membership to take advantage of their massive range of pastas, sauces, drinks, meat, cheese, and just about everything else you can think of – or to make the most of the prices either. 

Amato has given up a small section of its 20,000 sq ft warehouse to be a retail space, where you can pick up everything from fresh filled pasta to truffle oil. 

There’s also a selection of produce from beyond Italy, like Kewpie mayonnaise and gochujang. 

Part of the huge warehouse operates as a retail space
Part of the huge warehouse operates as a retail space
Bob Amato started the business more than 30 years ago
Bob Amato started the business more than 30 years ago

And they’ve honoured the prices given to wholesale clients too, with smaller retail sizing, meaning you can pick up affordable produce without needing to bulk-buy (or lug home a 25kg bag of flour).

The business was launched by Bob and Deloras Amato more than 30 years ago, getting top Italian ingredients to chefs across the North West. 

But the retail side has really taken off since the Covid pandemic, Bob explains.

“It’s a bit of a secret place,” he says, “As we don’t tend to advertise it too much.”

It all began (as so many local businesses did) back in 2020.

He says: “During the pandemic, as we’re a wholesaler, we realised there was a big demand for flour, which we had plenty of. People were crying out for flour and we had absolutely tonnes of it in 25kg sacks.

A whole range of little pasta - or pastina
A whole range of little pasta – or pastina
One of two aisles dedicated to Italian pasta
One of two aisles dedicated to Italian pasta
Pasta shapes you won't find in a supermarket
Pasta shapes you won’t find in a supermarket

“So we got some of our staff to come in and to repackage it in smaller packages that we could sell to retail customers.

“From that, people weren’t allowed to go out and they wanted to make pizzas and pasta, so they wanted tomatoes and mozzarella and pepperoni and other products.”

As a customer now, you can pick up things like tinned San Marzano tomatoes, harvested in the foothills of Mount Vesuvius; fresh burrata from Puglia (or frozen, if you want it to have a slightly longer shelf life); and traditionally-cured meats like guanciale, speck, and prosciutto. 

Essentially, there’s everything you need to make a hearty Italian feast from scratch, or you can grab a bag of homemade pesto and pasta, made fresh on site, from the fridges for an easier dinner. 

Bob and his team are encyclopaedias of information about the food produced all the way across Italy, knowing the back story of every one of their 1,500+ products. 

Cured meat including guanciale
Cured meat including guanciale
Trays of cannoli
Trays of cannoli
You can also pick up fresh filled pasta at Amato
You can also pick up fresh filled pasta at Amato

He tells us about why pasta shapes get their name, like Schiaffoni, which loosely translates as ‘slaps’ because of the sound they make when they plop onto the plate.  

Bob also explains the reason that Scamorza comes in a snowman-like shape, with the cheese being strung up by its ‘neck’ to dry and age. 

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He chats us through all the different flours, and why you would use which in your pizzas; why good tinned tomatoes are worth seeking out (cheap ones are like ‘bullets’); and that you should always bring your burrata up to room temperature.

Even as we’re checking out with our armfuls of pasta, the staff member serving us is passing on tips for a perfect amatriciana sauce.

Amato is open from 7am daily (except Sundays), and if you’re stuck on what to make for dinner, pay Bob and his team a visit.

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Featured image: The Manc Group

Shopping

A brand-new Oxfam Vintage store is opening in Manchester – with a treasure hunt to celebrate

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson A brand-new Oxfam Vintage store is opening in Manchester - with a treasure hunt to celebrate

A brand-new charity shop showcasing curated vintage clothing is opening in the Northern Quarter this month.

The new concept store comes from Oxfam, promising a more ‘design-led’ approach to pre-loved fashion.

Shoppers will be able to browse hand-picked, quality vintage pieces when the new Oxfam Vintage opens at the end of March.

The new Northern Quarter charity shop will transform the existing Oxfam Originals unit on Oldham Street.

It will feature UK-made fixtures, recycled materials, and large-scale installations using archival Oxfam magazine covers and festival artwork.

To celebrate the launch of Oxfam Vintage, they’ll be hosting a city-wide treasure hunt this weekend.

Giant ‘50% off Oxfam Vintage’ shopping tags will be hidden all over town, inside other Oxfam shops.

Anyone who finds one will be able to redeem the discount in-store once it launches on Friday 27 March.

Matt Burgess-Evans, Head of Store Development at Oxfam, said: “Oxfam Vintage represents a step change in how we present vintage fashion within our retail portfolio.

CGI of how Oxfam Vintage will look
CGI of how Oxfam Vintage will look

“It was important that the design of the space reflected the approach to the product — creating an environment that supports a more curated offer and highlights the quality and longevity of vintage clothing.

“By presenting pieces in a considered way, the concept encourages customers to see vintage not just as thrift, but as fashion with lasting value.”

Oxfam Vintage opens on Friday 27 March, with the city-wide treasure hunt happening on Saturday 20 March.

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Featured image: Oxfam

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