The independent spirit in Leeds shops

Thornton’s Arcade, Leeds

Despite its great selection of big name shops, Leeds has its fair share of independent traders too, and it’s often at the small places that you find something innovative and different. So I decided that it was time to have a chat with some of the people behind the varied independent shops of Leeds.

Millies Fresh and Organic

Millies is the place for fresh and organic foods, with locally sourced meat, fair trade coffees and teas, a deli, sports supplements, and even therapy rooms!

I spoke to Geoff Millington of Millies, who told me, “About eight years ago we took over Claphams, which had traded in Leeds since 1857-ish. They still dispensed herbs from antique drawers within the shop. We took it over and modernised it, but still retaining the herbs.”

“Our ethos is to care for the environment. We care about our customers and want them to be able to purchase environmentally friendly products of all kinds under one roof, where possible giving best value for money.”

Org Organics

Continuing the organic theme, tucked away on Great George Street you’ll find the delightful little shop Org Organics, with its own cosy little cafe too. I spoke to Wai-Yii, one of the founders.

Wai-Yii explains, “We had a passion about healthy food, getting a connection to artisan and local suppliers, and making this accessible to everyone. We sell natural, organic food. Usually from a small artisan producer, people who are equally passionate about their thing , from herbs and spices to hemp ice cream!

Jumbo Records

Turning now to music, this shop started life as Jumbo Mobile Disco, becoming the record shop known as Jumbo Records in 1971. I asked Adam at Jumbo if they specialise in any particular type of music? “Not really… We do music across the board but try and dig below the surface of most genres: indie, pop, electronica, rock, dance, blues, jazz, country, reggae, soul, folk, world, etc.

So I suppose we try to be pretty diverse but have a lot of specialist knowledge.”

OK Comics

Love comics? On Thornton’s Arcade you’ll find a little comic haven where there is plenty to browse. OK Comics was started by Jared who realised that his comic business needed something larger than his Mum’s dining room. I asked Jared which comics prove the most popular:

“Superhero/action adventure comics are still our most popular genre, but we also have great success with horror, soap opera, crime noir, stuff like that. Our most popular individual series are things that already come with a built in fan base, like Buffy, Umbrella Academy or Call of Duty.”

Mr Chimp

If you like clothing that is definitely not high street then take a look at independent menswear boutique Mr Chimp, which has developed a solid ethos of bringing new labels to the fashion conscious of Leeds. I had a chat with Mr Chimp director Rich Elsby, and asked him how they came up with that unique name.

“The name is based on my love of the original Planet of the Apes films.” Well of course. Rich describes the clothing he sells as, “clothing for the one percent, as we are the opposite of mainstream. I hate anything mainstream and it just seems that there are too many sheep in Leeds these days, so yeah, we cater for the wolves!”

So there we have it. From lovely to lupine, lyrical to lively, there are plenty of new entrepreneurs out there in Leeds who are eager to bring something new to the world of retail.

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