A new pop-up has appeared in Manchester ready to solve all your Christmas shopping woes.
The Forever Manchester Gift shop has opened its doors at the Corn Exchange and it’s stuffed full of proper Manc gifts made by some proper Manc artists.
For the second year running, the shop has taken shape in a beautiful glass extension off the historic building, hoping to raise £25,000 for local community activities across the region.
Located right next to the Manchester Christmas Markets, the gift shop sells everything from music-inspired tea towels to Manchester-inspired Christmas cards to socks, coffee, mugs and more.
The main wall is covered with huge framed artwork, including colourful prints, photography and maps.
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Throughout, there are gifts featuring This is the Place, the Tony Walsh poem that’s become synonymous with Manchester, on coasters, postcards and limited-edition prints by Trevor Johnson.
The Christmas gift shop. Credit: The Manc Group
The Forever Manchester Christmas gift shop opened its doors for the first time last weekend and will remain open until 18 December.
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All profits go to Forever Manchester, the only charity that supports and funds community activity across the whole of Greater Manchester.
There are also festive Captain Manchester tombola tickets on sale at just £5 online or in store, which gives entrance the chance to win £2000 in time for Christmas.
Inside the Forever Manchester Christmas gift shop. Credit: The Manc Group
It’s the second year that Forever Manchester has located its Christmas Gift shop at the Corn Exchange, who have kindly donated the space to the charity for the five weeks’ duration.
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Dan Davis, general manager at the Corn Exchange said: “We are really pleased we could offer the space again to Forever Manchester this year. It is a charity that we have supported for a number of years.
“There are some fantastic gift ideas for Christmas and the store really adds to the Corn Exchange’s festive atmosphere.”
Liz Page from Forever Manchester said: “We are excited to open our doors again at the Corn Exchange this year in the lead up to Christmas. We would like to thank the team for their ongoing support. It truly is a fantastic historic location in the heart of the city.
“Last year was great and this year we envisage even more customers as restrictions are no more and we can meet up with family and friends. We are looking to raise £25k to go towards community activities across our city.
“There is literally something for everyone who loves Manchester in our store. If you can’t decide on what to go for, why not buy your friends or family members a Captain Manchester’s festive Magical Tombola ticket at just £5 – if they win £2000 – you will be popular this Christmas!”
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Forever Manchester’s Christmas pop-up shop at the Corn Exchange is open Monday to Saturday, 10 to 6pm, and 11am to 4pm on Sundays.
Featured image: The Manc Group
Shopping
The shop where people queue OVERNIGHT for viral toys is coming to Trafford Centre
Thomas Melia
There’s a viral shop in Manchester where people queue for hours to get their hands on viral toys, and it’s now making its way to the Trafford Centre.
After already taking Manchester by storm when it initially opened back in March this year, viral toy shop Pop Mart now has its sights set on another new spot in one of the North West’s most iconic and popular shopping malls.
Known for stocking all the latest viral collectable crazes, Pop Mart is set to open its second Manchester site at none other than the Trafford Centre (TC) and will definitely bring in the same queues as its Market Street predecessor.
The Chinese toy and collectable shop has become in high demand for stocking just one certain toy character: Labubu
This cheeky toy character is quite a marmite topic for some, with many finding the plush toys to be cute and cuddly, while others deem Labubu ‘monsters’ to be a bit creepy and off-putting.
Are we pulling from an internal office debate? Maybe…
Regardless, Labubu are widely recognisable around the world, famed for their bunny-like ears and big, wide eyes; soft, shiny fur and, most notably, a large smile with their teeth on display.
It seems everyone is after one of these Labubu character toys, with Mancs making their commute to work through the city centre, startled by the sheer length of the queues at Pop Mart.
There’s a huge amount of Labubu characters to collect.Labubu has blown up online and will now be stocked across two Pop Mart locations across Greater Manchester.Credit: Pop Mart
One social media user even commented, “I went past on the tram at 7.30 this morning and there were half a dozen people in the queue already!”
Trends may come and go, but it seems this latest viral craze is here to stay as it’s now having a second resurgence thanks to lots of celebrity endorsements, including Love Island star Olivia Attwood.
We’re sure the Trafford Centre venue will be just as healthily stocked.
At present, there’s no official opening date for Pop Mart’s Trafford Centre store besides the ‘Coming Soon’ signage outside the shop front, but we’re sure it won’t be too long before you can get your next Labubu fix – we wouldn’t be surprised to see even more Greater Manchester locations follow.
Manchester United to wear special one-off shirt for important awareness campaign
Danny Jones
Just to pre-empt any Manchester United fans fearing they’re still in total delirium the next time they see that iconic red shirt, we can confirm it isn’t just your rose-tinted glasses deceiving you – the club will be wearing a special one-off shirt with a notable difference very soon.
All eyes may now be on Wednesday, 21 May but this limited edition kit has already caught the eye of many supporters for one very obvious reason.
In case you haven’t seen it for yourselves already, Man United have confirmed that both the men’s and women’s squads will be will be wearing a slight variation on their home shirt for their next two matches as part of a special campaign for an important charitable cause.
Joining forces with their usual primary shirt sponsors Snapdragon and global health campaigners Product RED, this one-off alternative strip will be unveiled on the pitch this week.
Product Red, or simply (RED) as it will read on the jersey itself, is a worldwide charity that’s been working to fight global health crises since 2006.
(RED)’s key aim is to end the AIDS epidemic and related injustices by raising money for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.
The organisation officially partnered with the club and Snapdragon back in January in an effort to help drive awareness and generate further backing for their work – it just so happens that teaming up with one the planet’s biggest brands and one synomyous with that colour made for the perfect collaboration.
With that in mind, putting together a one-off Man United kit with (RED) slap bang in the middle as is close to a commercial/charitable tap-in as you’re probably ever going to get.
Set to be debuted by Manchester United Women in their WSL fixutre against Arsenal this Saturday, 10 May and then again by Ruben Amorim’s side in the Premier League the following day (Sun, 11 May); plus, a select few limited edition replicas shirts will be made available for fans to purchase.
Be first in the know, Reds 👀
Get notified when our limited-edition @RED collection drops ⤵️#MUFC || @Snapdragon
It goes without saying that given the nature of the front-of-shirt sponsor swap, these will no doubt become somewhat of a special item among kit collectors from the off.
More importantly, however, the funds raised through selling these one-off Man United shirts will provide much-needed income for the non-profit and their crucial efforts.
The unveiling of the comes not long after the bedlam that ensued inside Old Trafford during the second leg against Athletic Club, in which United booked their return trip back to Bilbao for the Europa League final, leaving plenty of fans of seeing nothing but the colour red ever since.
MUWFC also sealed their spot in the Women’s Champions League next season to with an important point in the Manchester Derby this past weekend, confirming a finish above Man City this year.
Safe to say it’s been a good few days to be a (RED).
Daisy Jackson -
18th November 2022 
