91 Magazine | Places To Shop UK
Places To Shop, by Caroline Rowland, editor of 91 Magazine, is a guide to independent lifestyle stores across the UK.
Categorised by regions, from South West England to Scotland to across the water in Northern Ireland, Caroline has selected the best places to shop that are not only independently owned, but beautiful spaces to spend time in, browsing the goods, from homeware and stationery to clothing and kids items.
Independent retail is all about the personal touch, so Caroline shares a snippet of the story behind each shop as well as beautiful images of the shop interiors. Bellwoods is delighted to be featured in the book, alongside some of our North East friends.
Next time you plan a UK city break, make sure to refer to track down the best shops to explore.
- Size : A5
- 208 pages, printed in the UK on uncoated FSC paper with vegetable inks
Bellwoods Lifestyle Store brings together a collection of planet friendly, design-led and cool things for you, your home and your life.
There's nothing better than being able to see and touch beautiful objects and our bricks and mortar shop on the North East Coast of England has been designed as a calm space filled with positivity and joy in mind.
We try to emulate this feeling into our website too. Each maker and item in the shop has a modern, well-made design with strong ethical credentials and is selected to feel like it belongs next to the other.
We work with well-known brands such as Bloomingville, Broste Copenhagen, The Poster Club, OYOY Living Design and Aykasa, as well as independent designers from the UK and around the world.
We are working to become plastic free and waste free and re-use everything we can to reduce our impact on the environment - we plant a tree with every online order through ecologi. We're pro-active in supporting our local community too, having raised money for a different charity each month (sometimes we donate to two a month!) We're a drop off point for the East End Women Food Bank and host monthly pop up shops with local, independent makers, giving them a physical retail space and shop window to showcase their work and connect with a new audience.
Bellwoods is independently owned and operated by Nathalie, a former retail manager and visual merchandiser.
"I (Nathalie) spent most of my 20s living in Toronto. While I was there, I worked in merchandising and operation management for big retail brands like Urban Outfitters, and small independent shops too. I got so inspired by the vibrant indie shop scene in the city, and dreamt of having my own shop - it’s actually probably the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do.
I finally made it happen in a furlough “now or never” moment in 2020, and I started a shop on my spare room shelves. I wanted the shop to be about Lifestyle - offering design-led and planet friendly things for you, your home, and you life. Things from brands you know and love, and from designers you’re yet to know and love.
Bellwoods Lifestyle Store is affectionately named after Trinity Bellwoods Park in the centre of Toronto, where I spent so many summer days. I wanted to bring a bit of my inspiration and experience to our peachy haven by the sea in Whitley Bay.
We love our home, being surrounded by so many other small businesses and a wonderful community. Whitley Bay is really a special place"
Visit us at 94 Park View, Whitley Bay, NE26 3QL 7 days a week (please check our social media pages for any unforeseen closures) or select something you love at Bellwoods Online.
