Maiden

Maiden is a real treat to go to. From ceiling to floor the shop is jam packed full witty and well considered trinkets suiting any gift buyers needs. Beyond the large array or nick nacks and and toys, maiden has a nice assortment of designer products, cute things for the home, as well as vintage memorabilia. i have only stopped in 3 times, but each time the man working there helpfully pointed out the abundance of new and interesting items ( all of which i was finding reasons why i needed them in my head). Over all its a great shop and puts a smile on my miserable looking face!

I just love this totally cute shop! It’s full of such amazing fun things. Cards, gifts, books, wall stickers !! Prices are much cheaper than other similar stores! I would definitely recommend this shop to everyone! Their website is amazing as well!!!

It was my wife’s 30th birthday at the weekend. I was running behind schedule and was desperately trying to find somewhere that sold things to decorate the bar we were having her birthday in. I looked up Maiden on the internet and it said that it opened until 18:30 on Saturdays. I got there at 18:00 and rang the bell as instructed on the door. The guy in the shop completely ignored me. So I knocked again and again and made a sign to indicate I only wanted 2 minutes, again pretty much completely ignored. People like that don’t deserve people to buy things from them, hardly good customer service.

UPDATE: Credit where it's due, I popped in again last week and this time they were as friendly as a puppy in San Francisco in 1967 even though it was apparent that we were only browsing and no dough would be changing hands.

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As shops that sell stuff that you don't really need go, this rests at the higher echelons of the genre. All sorts of bits and pieces, from cute to genuinely quite amusing, mugs, snappy stationary and all manner of excellent gift ideas, particularly for when you're lacking inspiration or budget.

However, they lose a star and are thus denied a resounding five for Alex's observation of our lack of any greeting. Not even a nod. Nor a grunt. It was your typical "Shoreditch hello" - you know, when the attitude is although I may be sitting behind the till and wearing a name badge, I am NOT actually a shop assistant. No, I am in a cutting edge combo with an ironic name and while we think we're knocking out challenging electro-laced Krautrock, in reality we look and sound like the next Eurovision entry from Denmark.

Luckily, I don't hold grudges....

This shop is fantastic - full of witty and different gift ideas, it's the kind of shop you walk into to buy a birthday card and end up coming out of with a present for YOURSELF! All items are reasonably priced, so it's really easy to find something to fit your budget.

The Keith Harring wall art stickers are amazing, and the giant Miffy lamp is on my 'wanted' list.

Go with a full wallet!

I simply love this new gorge shop! Great style in gifts.

A unique gift shop a la Magma meets Design Museum.
The stock consists of the wittiest cards, toys, home accessories, books, games, jewellery... and most importantly
of those crazy arty 'things.' (i.e. plastic egg hatching a basil plant)