Exactly, Stew!
The Works is the sort of shop you pop into for a single birthday card and somehow leave with three colouring books, a glitter glue set and a hardback copy of a bestseller that was fashionable in 2014. It boldly answers the question nobody asked: “What if a bookshop and a bargain bin had a very enthusiastic child?” Every surface bursts with motivational stationery and craft kits that seem to whisper, “You could start a scrapbook. You won’t, but you could.”
The layout is a thrilling treasure hunt in which the treasure is usually a 3-for-£5 deal you didn’t know you needed. One minute you’re browsing classic literature; the next you’re contemplating a 1,000-piece jigsaw of a wolf howling at a neon moon. The seasonal aisle appears to operate on its own calendar, seamlessly blending leftover Easter chicks with early Christmas tinsel in a display that says, “Time is but a suggestion.”
And yet, somehow, it works. There’s a strange comfort in its chaotic optimism, in the promise that this discounted planner will finally turn your life around. The Works is not just a shop; it is a monument to good intentions, creative hobbies we will absolutely begin next Monday, and the enduring British belief that if it’s on offer, it would be rude not to.
