Little Shops of Horror – Monster Mart
When you love horror as much as we do you want it to permeate every part of your life, at home, at work, on the walls, on your clothes, everywhere!
That is where our regular feature Little Shops of Horror comes in handy as we run through some seriously spooktastic stores and wicked websites ready to sell you truly terrifyingly awesome horror products.
Monster Mart was born in 2020 when Emily Purbrick found herself struggling to find quality horror merchandise accessible in the UK. Having graduated at the London College of Fashion (University of the Arts London) with a BSc in Fashion Management with a background in Merchandising, Emily’s vision was to stock a curated selection of quality horror merchandise through a fun and exciting website.
Teeming up with Illustrator James Whiehead to help create the website, Monster Mart may not have been around long however it is already gaining ground and a great reputation offering up a ton of amazing merch including Clothing, Collectables and Oddities.
From Gremlins Placemats to Vintage Monster Magnets there are also toys from Funko and some amazing Blind Bags featuring Ghostbusters and Universal Monsters. Fans of IT and Beetlejuice will be overjoyed with the products on offer and there is even an ET section for those into less horrifying aliens.
Below founder Emily Purbrick, the mistress of Monster Mart answers some questions on her most petrifying products and more:
How did you get into making such magnificent horror merchandise?
Monster Mart (www.themonstermart.co.uk) actually started fairly recently. I was perusing the internet and came across the 2019 collaboration between the Californian brand Unique Vintage and Universal Monsters. The collection combines Unique Vintage’s love of vintage cuts from the 50’s & 60’s with prints from the Universal Monsters. My background is in fashion, so I was shocked that I hadn’t heard of the collection at all, as I would have snapped up everything!
I decided to take it upon myself to start Monster Mart, a place where you could buy these amazing horror collaborations and market them to the UK, as I was confident that if I hadn’t heard of the amazing collaboration then there would be so many others like me, especially as Unique Vintage is an American brand with so much potential in the UK.
I‘m super excited to announce that the first Unique Vintage x Universal Monsters collection sold so well that they are doing another this year. Monster Mart will be stocking a range of dresses, men’s shirts and unisex T-shirts, all in the most amazing designs, see below for a snapshot of products including all your favorite monsters, releasing the week of 24th August 2020.
Not only do Unique Vintage have this amazing new collection with Universal Monsters but they are constantly releasing fun collaborations such as Jaws and Beetlejuice, all available now at the Monster Mart.
What is your bestselling product?
My best selling products are currently the items in my oddities section, which surprised me as I assumed it would be the clothing that would draw people in.
The oddities section consists of products that I come across in my day to day life, whether that’s at an auction, car boot or thrift store that I feel are unique and of the horror movie genre. This ranges from a selection of Vintage Hammer Horror Magnets to our best-selling Gremlins kid’s books that were released in the 90’s for the younger audience, that you can see our resident Gremlin Brain enjoying a light read of.
The oddities section is one of Monster Mart’s USP’s as not only can you find current season items, you will also find items that you may never have seen before and could never see again!
What inspires your creepy creations?
I wanted to create a website that not only stocks curated horror merch but is also fun and approachable, complete with our own set of unique characters. Our in house designer created everything for Monster Mart including our own set of characters who we hope to be synonymous with Monster Mart as we grow, all inspired by horror icons.
What is your favourite horror film and why?
My absolute favourite horror film has to be Scanners by David Cronenberg. It was the first Cronenberg film I had the pleasure of watching and I just fell in love with the style of effects used as I was so used to seeing CGI. It really opened up a love of practical effects for me and I owe a lot of my love of horror to those effects. I went into the film knowing nothing about it and came out wanting to watch all of his films.
What scares you the most?
I feel like it has to be dolls! When I was a toddler I had a Baby Annabelle and would dream she would come alive and try and get me. Fast forward about 7 years and I remember always being drawn to Child’s Play in HMV, picking up the DVD to look at the back, just to see if I would still be scared. Child’s Play was the first proper horror movie I watched and I was so scared I couldn’t sleep all night. My mum later brought me the Tiffany doll for my 13th Birthday, I loved her so much but the first night I kept waking up in a sweat, until I realised that I was safe and she wasn’t planning to kill me!
If you had to make a present for a famous horror movie character who would it be and what would you give them?
I had to think about this one, oddly something I’ve never thought of before, but I’ve settled on a new Bike for the Killer Klown from Outer Space, Shorty. I always felt so sorry for him when the guy breaks his bike in front of him, he got what was coming to him though!
Head over to www.themonstermart.co.uk to see the full range and stay up to date with all their latest products by following @themonstermartuk on Instagram!
