Welcome to Shop Small Saturdays, a feature where we celebrate our community of independent boutiques, from Bath to Berlin.
Just a stone's throw away from Shoreditch in London, waiting to be discovered is a rather magical independent boutique: Hoxton Street Monster Supplies. Priding themselves on being London’s - and quite possibly the world’s - only purveyor of quality goods for monsters of every kind. From Olde Fashioned Brain Jam, to Salt Made from Tears of Boredom and Bottled London Smog, the brand creates ghoulish takes on everyday pantry items, from sweet treats to deli delights.
Since 2010, Hoxton Street Monster Supplies has donated all profits to its creative writing and mentoring charity Ministry of Stories, with the shop serving as a place of creative inspiration for children that attend creative writing activities after school and on Saturdays every week. The shop also offers retail training to its volunteers and interns and provides references for CVs, helping to build the careers of the next generation of retailers.
Running the show are two incredibly dedicated part-time staff members and a small army of volunteer shopkeepers, product-builders and fulfilment-helpers. We sat down with Panagiota, the brains behind the mission, to chat about a typical day, their invisible cat, Wells, and what the Ministry of Stories is up to at the moment.