Habitat (Shop)

I was really sad to hear the news recently that Habitat is yet another casualty of this horrible recession and that it has had to close its doors due to administration. This was my favourite stop for everything home related and I often found some very good bargains there as well as some highly priced items. In generally though I thought this was quite a good value store and I'm surprised that it did go under.

Habitat was founded in 1964 by Terence Conran and according to an article I read, he has said the main reason for the shop's initial success was that Habitat was one of the few places that sold cheap Pasta storage jars just as the market for dried pasta took off in the UK!! Very interesting and I have to say the glass section was one of my favourite part of the store too. They had such a great range of vases and candle holders. They were generally quite thin glass and you could obviously tell they were not of crystal make or quality but for just a couple of pounds each they were a perfect way to decorate your home cheaply. They offered all types of colour, shape and size so you could really tailor them to the look you want, ie tall vase with reeds in, small bowl with pot-pouri, coloured glass to match a room etc.

Most habitat stores were large, out of town shops which were set up almost like a showroom with the furniture and settings set up so you could see exactly how their products would work in your house and space. Habitat housed just about every thing you needed for every room in your house. There was a really good bathroom section where you could buy towels in all different colours, furniture, accessories etc.

Their kitchen section was great too. They offered a number of different ranges of crockery with plates, bowls, matching linen ware etc so you could kit out your kitchen in a certain look. In fact, I actually got my wedding china from the shop as at that time they had a lovely duck egg and black design that they were offering. They also did a great range in cutlery, glasses, kitchen accessories that helped you fill your whole kitchen with gadgets and toys.

Habitat also had a great frame section and I have to say I am unaware where I would go now to find such a good range of frames and clip frames for all your photos, art work etc. The frames were all different shapes and sizes and although some were cheap some were of really good quality.

Upstairs in the store I frequented most there was the furniture section where you could get beds, children's furniture, office furniture etc. Although I never bought anything from this section it all looked really good and was set up well to showcase what it would look like.

Habitat - a store I am going to miss!