Afflecks Palace has a unique position in the Mancunian psyche.
Established in 1982, it formed the heart of the trendy Northern Quarter before NQ existed. It's world-renowned, and now draws in scores of tourists every day.
However, there's another vintage emporium in Lancashire which shoppers say is better than the Manchester original. Lancs Live reports that The Regent is becoming a must-visit retail destination.
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Standing tall on the corner of Church Street in Blackpool, the 1920's building casts a shadow over the surrounding streets. Spread out over three floors, the emporium is home to an absolutely gigantic array of antique stalls.
There are around 50 of them, filled with rare memorabilia and antique ornaments or wartime artefacts. Fans of vintage clothing can also pick up a wide range of gorgeous clothes.
The building was originally built 1921, and comes complete with a cinema, which was refurbished by hand by owner Richard Taylor, who bought the spot in 2012.
Despite the imposing structure, Carol, who works at the Regent, says half of Blackpool don't even know they're there. "We get so many people come in who say they've lived around the corner or in Blackpool all their life and had no idea we were here," she told LancsLive on a gloomy Thursday in the seaside resort.
"They can't believe we have so much stuff in here. People often tell us we're better than Afflecks Palace in Manchester, which is a huge compliment. We get called the Aladdin's cave of Blackpool"
The emporium has been open for the past nine years and sells nearly everything you can imagine. From records to vintage dresses, mountains of crockery, sparkly jewellery, furniture, you name it, it's probably here somewhere.
Carol added that sometimes, people will arrive in the morning, and she won't see them by the door again until they leave hours later.
"People will come in, shop a bit, have lunch in the tea room and the carry on. Sometimes, people will have spent a whole day here and simply not realised."
The ground floor holds the majority of the stalls, and houses a collection of furniture, vintage clothes, glassware, artwork, retro collectables and much much more. The first floor consists of a huge collection of crockery. Carol informed LancsLive that a second crockery stall is currently moving its way in. The tea room is also housed up here.
The second floor is the smallest of the three, holding a few vintage stalls. The third floor also comes with a huge record collection, with favourites such as Queen and Abba making an appearance.
Up a set of original marble stairs is the regent's cinema. It originally opened as a cinema in 1921 with a huge 1,092 seats and a retractable roof and later transformed into bingo hall in the 1960s. After the bingo hall fell out of use, the cinema became neglected, and started to crumble.
When the building was bought in 2012, Blackpool resident Richard Taylor did everything he could to restore the cinema to its former glory. The cinema now shows classic films every two weeks on a Friday night, as well as hosting a series of 'spook' nights, as the building is said to be haunted.
The cinema also runs charity events, the next one being the showing of the Eurovision final. Tickets are £3 and all proceeds go to a charity which supports Ukraine.
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