I visited Red Brick Market for the very first time and was so blown away, I left with a wish list as long as my arm.
The haven of individuality has relocated to a new venue twice its size, with every nook and cranny dedicated to independent shopping stalls. There's a medley of retailers stocking everything from vintage furniture and jewellery, to books, movie posters, clothing and more.
Red Brick Market first opened five years ago and quickly established itself as a popular shopping destination, particularly for those who fancy something a little different. There really is something for everyone, whether you're a fashion lover, a music aficionado, a homeware fanatic or just in the mood for a browse.
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In January of this year, Red Brick Market relocated to a new address, a stone's throw away from its original home at Cains Brewery. After transforming a derelict, unused warehouse into a melting pot for the weird and the wonderful, it hopes to do the same on a much bigger scale.
I visited, for the first time, to get a feel for the space and to see how the venue is coming together. On a cold, blustery Tuesday afternoon, I tracked down the new site, which is open to the public even though when I visited, its doors were still being installed.
The incomplete entryway only added to its charm, making Red Brick Market seem all the more inviting as, despite not quite being finished, people were still welcome. The first thing that struck me upon entering was the sheer scale of the venue, it's absolutely enormous.
There was an abundance of stalls, stocking anything and everything. Thanks to its eclectic mix of traders, artists and businesses, I'd created a wish list as long as my arm mere moments after stepping over the threshold.
There's wooden carved creations comprising necklaces, magnets, coasters, earrings and more; a range of clothing stalls offering everything from stylish, vintage dresses, sportswear and trainers - some even with tags still on - to childrenswear and fur coats; there's photography by Caroline Benzies selling gorgeous, atmospheric and moody images and snapshots of Liverpool and beyond.
There's bespoke steel artwork courtesy of Retro Metal Works, and for those who fancy a quirky and retro piece, there's For Shore, which stocks everything from modernised spins on classic prints, to diagrams and illustrations of the human body, as well as bartenders' guides with drinks recipes and illustrations.
Each stall is like a little world in its own right. The next time I visit, I'll be taking a suitcase to fill it with all manner of reasonably priced and wonderful goodies.
Founder and director Chris Day was on hand to chat to me about all things Red Brick Market. 'Liverpool born and bred' Chris, 37, is impressed with the reception to the new venue so far.
He said: "It's totally exceeded our expectations - we set the opening date for early January to get the retailers over during what we thought would be a quiet time but footfall has been amazing. We thought it wouldn't be busy because January never is, but we were wrong.
"As much as I expected it to be quiet, we got absolutely battered on opening weekend but I'm not complaining. I'm really pleased, we've had loads of new people sign up [to potentially be stallholders] and all the feedback has been really positive.
"This one is our flagship now - we've always been in Liverpool and we recently opened in Birmingham and as soon as this settles, we're off to Sheffield to open our third but Liverpool will always be our home. We want this to be our flagship and model all the others off this.
"We're going to have a training academy upstairs too, generally aimed at people that didn't take the traditional route of college and uni, to show them there's other options out there."
Of his hopes for Red Brick Market, Chris continued: "Ideally, we want to see it full and see it thrive as an independent community. It is a weird little family, in a way. It's always been a safe space - the mix of people we have here are every race, sexuality, gender there is.
"The only restrictions we have are no d***heads, no homophobes and no racists. It would have been nice to have this as a kid - a safe space for the queer kids to come in and have a leisurely shop and wander around for a couple of hours.
"It's a welcoming space for everyone. You can browse; we've got a coffee shop opening in a few weeks. We'll be doing a launch party at the end of February, too. We're here for 10 years with a really good landlord, so we know we can settle and breathe a bit."
Stall owner Chris Pennington runs Pennington's Vinyl Emporium. The St Helens native has lived in Liverpool for 30 years and is passionate about selling "geek memorabilia" to the masses. His stall sells vinyl records, movie posters and more.
The 44-year-old told the ECHO: "We've been at the old place since nearly the start and originally my wife had a stall in there and I just had a box of records in hers. She moved to a shop in town, but it was too dear so we moved back to Red Brick.
"After our son was born, we wanted to work from home and we had been just off Bold Street originally but it was very hard to keep a small business going around there, so that's why we moved back to Red Brick - we get a nice work-life balance here.
"The new place is amazing - the old place was good but it was definitely old and this has kind of made everyone re-do their business. It's given it a new lease of life. It's quite interesting when you put stuff online and people are asking about it - with the cost of everything these days, it's a lot easier to have a place like this where everyone can muck in."
Reflecting on his stall and the market as a whole, he said: "We're pretty good because we have records maybe other places don't have - we like that. I've been [in Liverpool] 30 years and it's unbelievable now what this is like, it used to be so derelict." He added: "If any of the readers have a talent and want to start their own business, then this is the place to do it."
Red Brick Market can be found at 70 Stanhope Street. I wholeheartedly recommend visiting.
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