Octopus

I’m going to smash the trend and be nice to Octopus. Shocker! My love for anything kitsch and daft, especially when it comes to gadgets, trinkets and gifts, means I shall take each and every point made (well, most of them) about this eight-​legged misunderstood creature and argue in its favour. Kind of like a lawyer. The defence lawyer of Octopus! It’s my new calling.
So it’s ridiculously brightly coloured and shiny, to the point of eye pain. But in the oft grey, misty, drizzled streets of Manchester, don’t we need some squint-​inducing colour? Of course we do! And the expense? Darlings, you haven’t been here when they’re having a clearance sale. It’s just stupid. The prices don’t seem logical, considering it’s so pricey the rest of the time. I call this the Urban Outfitters complex. Anyway, I popped in here with a friend recently who suddenly had the urge to buy all her Christmas presents early. I myself was tempted. And I’ll be back for a cat bowl for Phoebe if I don’t get a good one at Pets At Home. They have everything at Octopus.
Oh, and I do mean everything. Kitchenware, stationery, bags, toys, you name it. It’s all completely over the top, but that’s what I love about it. So you might not deck your pad out entirely with this stuff, lest you look like either a two year old playing house or just… a bit mad, but you should certainly have one or two crazy little items around. They scream personality, fun and silliness. We all need a bit of that in our lives.
So, to summarise my defence. Cheap as chips during sale time, something for everybody, characterful, playful… and the staff were very friendly too. Plus it’s a semi-​independent in a sea of chains, and just off Market Street enough not to be absolute torture to walk into. I think we should give this so-​called sea monster a second chance. I’ll be your friend, Octopus!

Ouuuuch! My eyes!!! Way too shiny. Have you seen the things in that shop? Bright, full of colors, sparkly. Oh dear. The place is really tiny as well. I mean, I usually like tiny shops, they are the ones that sell really nice things, unique as well if you know what I mean. Well, Octopus is definitely unique. Too extreme for my taste. I mean, yesterday, someone came to me to show me a new hair brush. It was scary. So… bright and shiny. No, no, no. Thirteen quid as well for a plastic thing. I said to myself, never go in there again.
To a certain extend you might actually like the place. You will find accessorizes that will be different. And I presume that’s the whole point. To be out of the crowd. But believe me or not, I’ll much rather a normal hair brush that costs just a fiver or less, than something that I need sun glasses to look at.

This is a place to go for wasting your day playing with things, enthusing over bright colours and thinking, «woah someone actually thought about this and it’s actually been made.»
Octopus is a really cool concept with equally cool concepts to sell. Kitsch echoes around this gift shop. I’m easily pleased by the weird and wonderful, even Paperchase to be honest. You get brightly colours kitchen accessories, like cheese graters, musical instruments, jewellery, umbrellas. Lots of stuff that you might buy for gifts but I wouldn’t buy anything really for myself. It’s like a big toy shop, a pricy toy shop too. I’ve bought my little niece her first hairbrush which was made in Paris and a equally colourful tambourine.
If you like brightly coloured, uselessly decorative things then you’ll like Octopus.

If I’m honest, I struggle to grasp the point of Octopus. With everything from watering can bags and crazy hairclips to brightly coloured dog leads, it sells rather unnecessary, design-​led stuff. It’s all nice enough, but it is pretty expensive and I’m sure you could find equally quirky products by an emerging designer at a much better price around the Northern Quarter.
But despite the negatives, Octopus is a great place for presents. If you’re stuck for something to buy, it’s well worth popping in to get a few ideas at least! Plus, the window displays are pretty wonderful. Always brightly coloured, they nearly always draw me in when I’m walking past. I just wish I could afford to buy something out of them!

Everything in Octopus is just so kitsch! This whole shop is jam packed with brightly coloured and elaborately patterned and designed little accessories that make awesome gifts for people.
They have a large range of differently designed mice for PCs, as well as random items like rattles, tambourines, spinning ash trays and wallets. And absolutely everything follows the same design idea of being brightly coloured. Looking at it all at once, it’s all a bit garish, but buy someone a gift from Octopus and they’ll probably be pretty happy. Everything in here is hella cute.
What’s with the handbags that are made out of recycled juice cartons? Do people really still like them?!

Oh, come on, it’s not *that* bad.
I certainly wouldn’t by myself anything from this shop, but it is a kind of cool place to buy fashionable yet functional household objects as gifts if you’ve got some money burning a hole in your pocket.
I certainly hope Rebecca’s description of people who shop here is incorrect. My boyfriend bought me an Octopus-​shaped head massager from here a few years ago, and it’s actually quite good. Yes, it is indeed bright green and has feathers attached to it and the only such object that I own, but it is highly functional and has not yet fallen apart. In fact, one of my ex-​housemates fell so much in love with the octopus from Octopus that she would come into my room with the sole purpose of using it.
The shop itself is small and not particularly conducive to browsing, and the staff do stare at you suspiciously. For nice household gifts you’d probably be better to pick something less garish from Lakeland or Habitat.

I bought my sister a handbag from here once. It was a holographic Astroboy design, and possibly the only item in the shop that had any real use. The sister in question actually liked the bag, but that’s because she’s fairly unique, so I don’t intend to use that as some sort of proof that any of the other tripe they have on offer is any good.
I don’t really need to add much more to what’s already been said. The shop reeks of a bad idea that got wildly out of control before anyone could stop it. Possibly some rich kid with way too much time on their hands had a dream-​idea and set up the whole thing before having the inevitable comedown whereupon you realise none of what you thought last night makes any real sense now.
The general theme seems to be to take practical grooming products and then adorn them with wire, colour, spikes and paint until all functionality is lost amidst a sea of garishness. There may be a market for this somewhere, but I’m not entirely sure it’s on this planet.

Hey you! Do you have an aquaintance or friend who you can no longer stand? Do you wish there was such a thing as friend-​divorce? Do you just want them to leave you alone? Have you considered murder? Well, worry no longer! Instead, come to Octopus! It’s full of gift items that say «I don’t know/​like/​love you very much, if at all, and I am buying this piece of junk for you in the hope that you will finally realise that our union is in no way beneficial for either of us, and resultantly, piss off out of my life,» so you don’t have to!!!
Seriously, though, if Octopus is not in fact a well-​veiled friend-​divorce company, what IS it? The stuff they sell, well, it offends my eyes and my crud-​avoidance reflex. Everything in Octopus, everything, is somehow embellished to turn it from Mundane Object to Ugly Crap. Witness, the hairbrushes that are painted all over with hideous, sub-​playgroup designs in pearlised paint; the umberellas that have been modified to resemble (I kid you not) ‘sexy’ ladies; the possibly-​racist rice steamers that resemble the stereotypical Chinese-​person-​in-​pointy-​hat-​with-​comedy-​teeth, which I was brought up to consider hugely offensive…
I first discovered Octopus on Portobello Rd in London, and was so incensed by their ‘novelty’ stylings that I pronounced it Shop Hell and made Friend Since Birth take a photo of me pretending to be sick in front of it. Mature, I know. Anyway, when I discovered that they’d coiled their tentacles all the way to Manchester, I had to check out the horror. It was the same, and worse. The staff in here watch you like a hawk with binoculars. Er, yes, because I am a kleptomaniac with a sideline in hideousity. I really cannot stand being watched like a criminal, and given that I have never seen or known anyone to buy anything from this place, they’d probably be glad of the odd shoplifter; at least it’d clear some of their Satanic stock. Also, the only people I ever see in here (apart from, obviously, myself) are slightly mad, middle aged women who look lost. So, y’know, that says it all; this is the shop for mad aunties the world over (not that my Mad Auntie would be seen dead in here; they don’t sell gin OR fags…)
Anyway, I could sit here and tell you alll about the horrendous, overpriced crap that this place sells, but it’s much easier to simply assume that you have read enough, that you are a mature and strong person who has no need for racist kitchen implements, and that you, like me, will steer clear of Octopus for good. A truly pointless shop, full of truly pointless items.

Cool shop with a great range of colourful things which make great gifts.
Only downside is that its tiny so I often give up & walk out before really being able to look around anything

It is nice to find something in Manchester that is so fun to shop in. The designs are just that bit different and it save’s having to truge down to Afflex Palace, but I do agree things can be a bit pricey. Mind you it doesn’t stop me going in for a look each time I am in Manchester ! I would love to see a web site for the shop so I can show my friends that don’t go to Manchester.

I find the staff really irritating and while the bright themed shop should inspire happy thoughts and smiles, their continuous pestering is really annoying and frankly leaves me wanting to walk straight out. There is only so many times I can stand being asked if I want any help (and it’s not exactly complicated or big). Bright, fun looking kitch stuff in a small boxie shop.
I’ve bought a few gifts from here. The childrens cutlery with Fimo animal themed handles and brightly decorated bicycle bells mostly — each of which has broken after an average of 5 uses. Not good.
The treasure chests are nice for kids and the one purchase that’s lasted. I drew the line at a pink bag shaped like a watering can.
OK stuff, nothing that makes you go WOW! and annoying staff. Not really worth a visit.

This is a groovy shop but like the other reviewer said, it is a little expensive. One of the cool things they sell are little handbags shaped like watering cans! I really like the watches they sell, theyre really funky, i bought one for a friend and she loved it as theyre a little different!

Excellent little shop that sells everything from hip flasks to hand bags to nail clippers. The items are all deigned by them and usually are enamled in a floral design. They also sell toasters and kettles but because it is their own design they are quite expensive but make a good present.