I don't know when I'll be going into Liverpool ONE after the closure of ARKET.
I was stunned to hear – entirely out of the blue – the brand would be closing its Liverpool ONE store "within a matter of weeks". For those who don't know what ARKET is it's a shop that sells sustainable clothing, which also has a small homeware section and a nice cafe looking onto the shopping centre.
The shop itself is quiet but not forgotten, and for me at least has always stood alone in the often suffocating throng of the shopping centre. It strikes a perfect balance between being affordable, good-quality, and fashionable.
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As someone who's really careful about what they buy to wear, and someone who doesn't want to wear logo brands, it's massively important to me that the clothes are made sustainably (or at least as sustainable as is possible), that they're not grasping at trends that'll be over in months and that I can wear them for years – and perhaps most importantly of all that I can actually afford them.
I don't buy clothes a lot, but if I do it's either from ARKET or a long shopping trip trawling through the racks at the vintage and charity shops on Bold Street.
The first thing I bought with my first paycheck from the ECHO was a £55 shirt from ARKET as a little reward for myself for getting the job. That's what the clothes are for me – something good that's like a little investment for the wardrobe because it'll last so long.
They're not flashy clothes, at least the men's clothing that I've seen, but they may not be something your dad or teacher would wear either, they fit perfectly in the middle.
Since I've been here it's been perhaps the only reason I've had to go into Liverpool ONE, apart from McDonalds and taking a shortcut through it. Shops like Primark, JD Sports, North Face just aren't for me – I'm not saying other people should feel the same at all, but it's just my personal truth.
And I know that once ARKET has gone that's Liverpool ONE done for me, maybe not all of it but at least the exciting part of it, or the part that actually makes me want to go down there.
There's nowhere else that creates that sense of calm while I'm shopping in Liverpool, especially for clothes, at least that I can afford.
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