Sunday 25 January 2009

New Orbital

To Orbital's new shop in Great Newport Street.

Unfortunately I overslept and missed the 10.30am opening bell, but Orbital stalwart Damian informs me that there was a queue of people waiting outside long before the doors opened - Amazing what the promise of a 50% off sale and a free goodie bag can do.

By the time I did eventually roll up (around oneish) most of the back issue bargains I had been hoping to pick up had gone, but the opening day party was still in full swing with costumed extras aplenty doing their bit to get people into the shop...



Err, yeah that's me doing a passable impression of fat Dan Dreiberg
Hurrm.



Anyway, as the shot above shows, the finishing touches are still being put to the new premises, but I can report that it's a MASSIVE improvement on the the subterranean shop that Orbital used to occupy. Obviously the fact that it's above ground helps, but there's also a heck of a lot more space in the new gaffe meaning that the staff can get a bigger chunk of their extensive back issue stock out onto the shop floor and, in time, ramp up their selection of trades.

Sensibly, the new comics have been positioned at the front of house in the brightest spot in the shop...


The back issues are further back, and interestingly Orbital have chosen to use the back room of the premises as a gallery which is currently decked out in some STUNNING Chris Weston splash pages from The Twelve. I took lots of photos, but like the twat I am managed to delete most of them by accident on the way home. Gahhh, you'll just have to trust me when I tell you it's worth a visit just to check out the Weston stuff. The man is a legend. 

The staff are the same friendly, knowledgeable bunch that inhabited the old place. They've clearly worked hard on the new shop and early impressions suggest that they've done a very good job. Definitely a welcome addition to London's comic scene.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fantastic!
Just round the corner from me!!
You guys open Sunday?

Anonymous said...

I don't work there, but I believe they are!

Dom

Neil said...

Not to take a comics fetish to too absurd a degree(...) but one of the things I always liked about the underground store was the smell of old comics that hit you as you started down the stairs. Made me want to buy stuff.

Is this weird? I think this might be weird.

Anonymous said...

I dont think that smell was old comics...
That used to be an old clip/strip club...

Goli Mar,
D

Pere said...

I got locked into Gosh Comics once while they were doing inventory. Haha! Best two hours of my life.

Unknown said...

Is Damian still there? I used to go wayyyy back before it moved to the underground store im trying to see if hes still around