Any skincare enthusiast knows that nowhere makes products quite K-Beauty brands – and now Pureseoul is set to open its first Manchester store.
The viral favourite is set to move into the Manchester Arndale later this month, with shelves packed with Korean skincare and beauty products.
When Pureseoul opened stores elsewhere in the UK, hundreds of fans queued up to get inside from as early as 5am.
That’s partly because of their incredible opening day goodie bags, with the first 200 in the queue in Manchester set to receive more than £300 worth of the store’s most-loved products.
Korean beauty and skincare has been a favourite among beauty gurus for years, but we usually have to buy these cult products online. Now shoppers will be able to browse in person.
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Pureseoul is the UK’s leading K-Beauty retailer with shops already open in London, Birmingham, Brighton and Oxford.
Their Manchester store will be their first foray up north, promising to fill the 1,500 sq ft Arndale unit with more than 1,000 iconic Korean beauty and skincare products, plus the latest K-Beauty trends and must-haves.
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There’ll be Pureseoul-exclusive brands like Torriden, Rom&nd, Beplain, and AOU just to name a few, in addition to innovative beauty tools.
Shoppers can also enjoy in-store demonstrations and personalised product recommendations from staff.
Gracie Tullio, co-founder and creative director, said: “We are thrilled to announce the opening of our largest store so far, located in the heart of Manchester!
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“After working closely with the Arndale team for over a year to find the perfect location, we are excited to welcome more than 2,000 fans on our opening day to join in the celebrations.
“Our Manchester customers have shown incredible support on our social media, making it the most requested city for our next store. We are honoured to create this new space for a community that truly loves Korean Beauty.”
Felicity Loftus, marketing team lead, added: “We’re thrilled to finally bring the IRL K-Beauty experience to the North!
“After the major success of our recent openings, we’re excited to bring back our viral K-Beauty goodie bag for the first 200 in line alongside over 5000 additional goodies for everyone attending on opening day. We can’t wait to welcome and celebrate with our Northern community!”
Pureseoul will open on the first floor of the Manchester Arndale, near River Island and Next, on Wednesday 27 November at 11am.
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Goodie bags worth more than £300 will be given out to the first 200 people in the queue.
One of Manchester’s biggest vintage shops to close after a decade
Daisy Jackson
One of the biggest and best vintage shops in Manchester has announced its imminent closure.
Thrift Shop, which is part of the legendary Cow Vintage family, has said that the landlord of its store has ‘chosen not to renew our lease’.
The beloved vintage shop has been in its spot just off Piccadilly Gardens for a decade, with colourful rails stuffed with pre-loved denim, coats, dresses, accessories, and more.
Ahead of its closure this week, Thrift Shop has announced details of a major closing down sale, aiming to get rid of all its stock.
Initially touted as two for £10 on all thrift items, they’ve now slashed prices even further and are offering three items for £10.
That does exclude their ‘premium’ items, where you can snap up big labels like Carhartt and Levi’s.
Sharing the sad news of its closure online, Thrift Shop Manchester wrote: “We are gutted to announce the closure of beloved Manchester store.
Thrift Shop Manchester is throwing a huge closing down sale
“Last week we found out our landlord chose not to renew our lease after over ten years in this unit.
“To bid our farewell, we’re doing a MASSIVE closing down sale to get rid of all stock !!!! All Thrift items will be 2 for £10 until our last trading day on 30th May!!
“We’ve absolutely loved serving you for all these years, so long, farewell and, as always, get thrifty.”
In the comments, fellow independent retailer Thunder Egg – which just had to move out of its Oldham Street store (but is still in Afflecks) – commented: “So sorry to hear this, retail landlords in Manchester are absolutely in their sh*tbag era right now.”
Thrift Shop Manchester will close for good on Saturday 30 May.
Demolition and regeneration plans for former Manchester shopping centre to begin next month
Emily Sergeant
Plans to demolish and regenerate a former shopping centre in a Manchester suburb are set to kick off from next month.
Following planning approval at the end of 2025, major plans to transform the former Chorlton Cross Shopping Centre into a ‘thriving’ new destination to live and shop are set to commence with demolition in the next couple of weeks.
If you’re unfamiliar with the plans for the new Chorlton neighbourhood, they include 262 one, two, and three-bedroom apartments, all with access to outdoor space through balconies and gardens, 53 affordable homes – with 49 of them being available for social rent – and around 3,500 sq metres of public open space with fully walkable routes and outdoor seating areas.
A mix of flexible retail spaces, including a new ‘Makers Yard’ suitable for smaller start-up businesses will also be included, alongside new tree planting.
Phase one of the project will involve the dismantling the former shopping centre and neighbouring Graeme House buildings.
According to developers, the first step will be to close the precinct car park at the end of this month, before new hoardings are installed around the site to close the area off to pedestrians and vehicles for safety reasons.
The demolition work is expected to begin in mid-June, and be completed by August.
Where possible, materials from the existing buildings will be reused during construction of the new neighbourhood in a bid to help reduce the number of vehicles needed to remove materials from the site.
“Demolition marks another major milestone for the project, which will completely transform the former shopping centre,” commented Georgina Lynch, who is the managing director at Manchester-based developers, PJ Livesey.
“Our demolition contractor will carefully manage any issues throughout the work, and we will continue to stay in regular contact with local residents and businesses as the demolition progresses.”
Daisy Jackson -
13th November 2024 
