Mr Arkwright's Tool Emporium Blasts To The Past

With their new shop in Leeds, Mr Awkright’s Tool Emporium take some customers-old-enough-to-remember and nostalgia lovers alike, down memory lane with its vintage design. Its shop in Leeds is a celebration of a bygone age when tools, DIY materials and plumbing supplies were sold in shops where you could pick up a sack of flour and a frock for the Mrs on the same trip. Mr Awkright’s Tool Emporium bring shoppers from edge-of-town DIY retailers back to central Leeds, just a skip and a hop from the main railway station, customers feel as if they have stepped out of a time machine.

The store’s shop window brings to mind the classic TV comedy Open All Hours with Ronnie Barker who played a grumpy, brown-coated hardware store proprietor. You will even find a signed photo of the late Ronnie Barker on display over the counter. The fun doesn’t end there. Walking past the store’s window, you will find images of Jack Russell with a hammer in its mouth and an England supporter’s ‘car kit’. Inside you will find a little bit more than what you came in for as it is the kind of shop that encourages lingering.

With another shop in Harrogate, both outlets have proven popular among locals something that shows how customers are ready to look back to the future and shop in town centres again.