Catching up with Karen Bickley, owner of the Warren, Stopford’s most unique gift shop

The Warren’s one of them proper Stockport stores that helped to turn the town into indie hotspot it is now. You can spot it straight away from the bright orange shop front and inside it’s full of all sorts, gifts, cards, jewellery, homeware and loads of art from local creatives round Stockport and Manchester.  

They stock stuff like Dave Draws’ sketches of Stopford villages, Ellastrated’s bold prints, Gail Mysercough’s retro-inspired artwork and handmade wallets from Hide Ranger. It’s got loads more character than your standard gift shop and feels like the kind of place that could only exist in Stockport.  

As we first entered the shop, Karen was smiling and cheering at her phone.  

“Sorry, I’m just really excited because I’ve just found out that I’ve been nominated for an award… it’s a really big deal. It’s the Reta’s awards for wholesalers; I’ve been nominated for the best independent retailer in the North-West. I honestly can’t believe it.”  

That’s amazing news, congratulations. How long have you had the shop for now?  

“Nearly eight years, I started in the shop in September. Before that I’d sell my own artwork… so, I was doing markets and stuff just on my own for maybe five or six years before that.  

“The question that everybody asked on the markets was, well, where else do you sell stuff? And I got really bored of there being nowhere to sell stuff. 
So, I was like, I’m going to make a shop then.”  

“We still get people coming in and going ‘how long have you been here? I’ve never seen you before,’ 
or people bringing in their friends and family who have never heard of us. 
And it is crazy to think that eight years on, every day, there are still new people finding us.” 

So, how did you get into the creative field, is art always what you have done?  

“It’s what I did at college… I took a really long break from it. I did loads of boring retail jobs, which I now realise was teaching me how to run a shop, but yeah, then I just suddenly got back into it, back into making stuff. I still don’t know how I ended up here, really!”  

I know you have your own artwork in here, but then you also have lots of work from other local artists, don’t you? Can you tell us about that? 

“So, the stuff that’s tattoo art style is what I make myself. When we first started, we had maybe 20 Stockport and Manchester-based artists that we stocked; basically, all people that I knew from the markets and most of these people who were in originally, eight years ago, are still in now. 
And then, yeah, it’s just sort of grown, people started to apply off their own back, and now we’ve got other small independents from further afield, it’s kind of crazy. There are over 100 different artists and brands in here.  

“We go to a lot of trade shows and focus on the smaller independent stuff at the shows rather than the massive brands. 
So, we find a lot of our products that way, but there are also application forms on our Instagram, and people email us their work all the time; it’s rare that we have any space, ’cause it’s like a tiny shop, and we’ve got so much. But if something catches my eye, or I just really like it, I’ll try and make space for it.” 

What do you think the Warren is best known for?  

“The thing that customers say the most, that sticks with me, is that we always have the best range of cards that are different from anywhere else. And a lot of people say, if they’re stuck for a gift or if they don’t know what to get, they can come here and find something for anybody. 
And I like that. I think we get known a lot as being the Stockport shop, because we have a lot of Stockport artwork, but really, only like, 30% of the stuff that’s in here is Stockport related, and the rest is… just, yeah, the most random things.” 

So, what are your best selling, favourite items? 
 

“Ooh, um… There’s the really obvious stuff, like, the ‘Stockport isn’t shit’ bags, they are a massive seller, and the statement artworks and prints, they always sell. 
But then, it’d be hard to pick, there’s no way to pick favourites. We’ve got such a wide range of stuff that it’s sort of impossible to say what sells the most, or what’s the most popular thing.” 

And why did you choose Stockport?  

“Oh, I love Stockport. I’ve always lived in and around Stockport, and I love it, and I love this bit of Stockport, around the market, and the Underbanks. 
The buildings are so pretty. It’s just a great place to me. 
 

“It’s crazy to see how much it’s changed in the last like eight years. Like, when we first opened, there were only a handful of shops and bars, and it has grown so much. There’s such a lovely independent scene around this bit, where you can find different things, and it’s a lovely little community between all the shops and the bars. It’s just a nice feel.”  

 And… what makes your shop unique, do you think? 
 

“Um… I think it’s constantly changing what we have in. We don’t just stock the same things. 
The artists that we work with are always producing new work. There’s stuff here that you definitely can’t get in every shop. Like the prints, the artwork, the cards, they’re not stocked in the massive shops. 
There are loads of one-off pieces of jewellery and handmade things. The uniqueness makes it unique. It’s always changing… I am always trying to find new stuff so that people who have been customers for eight years can always come in and find something new.”