If you already know about HEMA, then you’ll already know that it’s one of the BEST shops in the UK at the moment – and if you’ve never heard of it before, hold on to your bank cards! A Dutch retailer that’s been likened to both Tiger and IKEA, but with a lot more categories, it’s pretty much craft and homeware heaven.
The first UK store opened earlier this year, and then the online shop followed soon afterwards; I was lucky enough to receive a £25 gift voucher to test out the e-store, and ended up going way over budget (surprise!). They manage to successfully mix food, drink and kitchenware with home accessories, crafting goods and even clothes and beauty goods; I think my favourite find was the bag in the top photo, though – being a crafter and writer the slogan really made me smile, and the neon waterproof lining was genius (because how often do tote bags end up being completely ineffective in the rain?!). I also chose a few simple wooden toys for the kiddos Christmas stockings, some geometric patterned cloud-shape iron-on patches and a good selection of printed tape. The one thing that really stood out to me was the price point – the bag was £10, and was the most expensive thing of all; think around £2-3 for a double pack of washi tape, £1.25 for a tube of acrylic paint and £4 for a small metal storage basket. The website is incredibly easy to navigate, and delivery was really quick as well – I’m not a patient shopper, so this won extra points with me!
They’ve also got a REALLY good festive decoration section, full of all my favourite colours and patterns; turquoise honeycomb balls, multi-coloured star garlands, sparkly gold diamonds and various festive tapes. The only this is that they tend to sell our fairly quickly in a lot of things – so if you see something you like, it’s best to grab it there and then!
I was sent a £25 gift voucher for the purpose of the review, but as usual all thoughts and opinions are my own – and quite frankly, I would have bought everything anyway!
Oh I wish they'd open one up North. I imagine that I would lose myself (and all my money) in there for hours. What lovely finds.
It's just so good isn't it!? I need to share my little HEMA haul from I went to the Victoria store but I never seem to get around to it. Love the little patches, I grabbed some of those too x
i thought tiger was never going to come to cardiff, and it did, so i'm hoping this place does too because it looks AWESOME!
I love Tiger so Hema sounds amazing!
I loooove Hema ever since I lived in Amsterdam – they have a huge shop there and it's amazing. Love all your findsLaura x
Wowee! I am checking them out as soon as I have a bit of cash to spare!