Larks

What a gorgeous little place! I popped in here to buy a birthday card and could have stayed for HOURS and bought EVERYTHING!!!
The downstairs of this fabulous establishment is full of the most adorable trinkets, gifts, jewellery, stationery, homewares and toiletries — almost too much to take in and very dangerous if one is feeling in a spending mood. I actually ended up buying *myself* a gift instead of the person I was buying the card for!
Upstairs there is an interesting collection of vintage furniture and bric-​à-​brac but it is the cornucopia of delectable gifts and bibelots downstairs that has captured my heart. The gorgeous broaches, scarves and handbags, knitted baby clothing, mugs, keyrings, dinner mats and coasters (I bought myself a rather fabulous ‘Liverpool’s Most Iconic Sights’ coaster set — photo below!), fridge magnets and ornaments. I was extremely tempted by the ‘retro bunny with a baby’s face’ lamp but managed to restrain myself.
The best thing about Larks is that you don’t actually NEED stuff from there… you just WANT it. Because having a cubic zirconia broach shaped like the Eiffel Tower makes you feel happy doesn’t it? And that’s near enough to needing for me.

This certainly is a pretty pretty shop and understandably a bit uncomfortable for a lot of men, but some great original gift ideas, and some beautiful jewellery. The furniture is a bit on the kitsch side for my personal taste, but extremely fashionable at the moment, and very well presented.

Hmmm, I don’t know why people don’t like this shop. I think it’s fabulous. And just as good as, if not better than, 13 – so why would some people give 13 a great review and then give this one a crap one? I don’t get it.
This is NOT kitsch, nor is it twee. You obviously don’t know the definitions of those words. The gifts sold in this shop are actually of a highly prized and fashionable type in this day and age. But I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that guys don’t really know what’s in …
Here you will find lovely gifts, décor, jewellery, and more in the handmade and shabby chic styles that are so popular right now. Everything is beautiful, and I could not recommend this shop any more highly unless I clicked 5-​stars, which is kinda reserved for stuff like The Egg Café and stores that sell miniatures. ;)

Lark’s is an eye-​catching pink boutique situated on lark lane. I’m addicted to pink so I just HAD to go in. It’s a very attractive shop, really well set out and crammed with lots of lovely stuff.
On this occasion I was looking for a present for friends newborn baby so I was drawn to the gorgeous selection of baby grows, t-​shirts, knitted hats, jumpers and cardi’s, booties, bibs, toys and keepsakes. All the items were so lovely and many of them were either made from organic cotton or were fair trade items. They weren’t at all cheap but were of a very good quality and were very unique. I ended up with a «Very Hungry Caterpillar» book and toy, which I remember from my childhood.
I had a mooch round and saw lots of lovely bits and pieces for sale but I had to ignore them and get straight to the till otherwise I would have maxed out my credit card.
The lady who served me at the till was very friendly, but she being constantly spoken to by a friend whilst she was serving me. I could tell she was trying to be polite but her friend was rather persistent. She put my purchases in a lovely pink paper bag which made a very good gift bag.
A lovely little shop.

While Larks, unsurprisingly situated on trendy Lark Lane, is overwhelmingly pink, my fiancée thinks it’s a veritable vintage wonderland. Its two floors sell everything from jewellery to home wares (including Cath Kidston) and my wallet always feels lighter when I leave.
If you’re carrying a big bag watch out, there are items teetering on every surface. That’s because it’s an Aladdin’s cave of vintage/​retro stuff, my fiancée will tell you. She’d definitely give it a five.
I’m less sure. It’s a tad garish for my taste and stocks little of use, although we do have some of its funky hooks in our hall/​kitchen. If there was an award for pinkest shop in the world, Larks would definitely be in with a chance. Many will think it kitsch. Predominantly they’d be women, or effeminate chaps, I’m guessing.
Upstairs is properly vintage — the word vintage, for me, conjures up images of expensive charity shops. It sells a range of stuff from old tables to chairs to oil paintings.
Before you ask, no, none are of me.

Cuteness alert!
A homeware boutique aimed primarily at girls and gay men, Larks is a candy pink boutique that oozes kitschness. The walls are pink and white stripes, the shelves are crammed with gifts and nick-​nacks and there’s strings of twinkling fairy lights. There’s odd pieces of vintage furniture like wooden cabinets and 1940s cocktail bars but the majority of stock is homeware and present orientated.
There’s kitsch and colourful jewellery, notebooks and journals, Ladybird mugs and tea-​towles, Marmite cake tins and literally hundreds of cute, comical and downright dirty cards!

Definitely not a shop which was set up to appeal to boys, with a cute selection of all things girlie, this is a little dolls house style affair with lots of little knick-​knacks on sale, from kitsch household items, to some really dainty, bright jewellery and a lot of Alice in Wonderland-​esque tea party set porcelain cups and saucers.
It’s very pink in here and slightly overwhelming but you can’t help but have a bit of a root around the little dressing-​tables which are crammed with goodies. The kind of stuff you wouldn’t buy for yourself but might appreciate as a gift, even if it is slightly tacky. They also have vintage stuff available upstairs and fun cards, it’s slightly overpriced for what it is really but worth a look if you have a bit of time on your hands.

It was hard to define what category to plce this store. Walking along Lark Lane, I was about to avoid Larks, thinking it was some sort of nursery shop supplying the middle class families of the Lark Lane area with organic toys and fairtrade games.
However I was mistaken, it’s some sort of gift shop but I couldn’t really take in what kind of gifts they were as the only thing I could think of on entering was ‘this is what it would look like if Barbie threw up’. It’s like an explosion of marshmallows in a paint factory — mainly a pink paint factory. Apart from the usual selection of cards and wrapping paper there are lots of tiny nic nac things and novelty items — the type of stuff you need when the main present you have bought someone is rubbish and need some fillers.