Empire Exchange

My time machine to bygone days, youth and childhood. A palace of forgotten yore and imagination at old fashioned pocket money prices. A large yet cramped and crowded space with my kind of magic in every corner.

This place has the best selection of weird promotional postcards I have ever encountered (and in all my trawls around junk shops I have encountered a worrying amount of them). There are examples with screenshots from The X-​Files and Sweet Valley High and ones featuring concert photographs of Smashing Pumpkins and Dr. Dre — fantastic. You can pick them up for about 50p each, making them the perfect so-bad-they’re-good greetings card for your friends or particularly odd relatives.
It also has a selection of great exploitation paperbacks about secret ninja funk guitarists and alien sex murderers, crate upon crate of old NMEs and Melody Makers and stacks of awesome out-​of-​print sheet music. They’re all so dusty that I end up in a sneezing fit every time I look through them but it is absolutely worth it.
And be sure to check out the selection of pins, brooches and medallions kept in the glass case underneath the counter — even if you don’t decide to invest they’re well worth a look for curiosity’s sake.
This really is one of my favourite places in the whole of Manchester.

I cannot believe I’ve never even been in here before. Empire Exchange is so, so cool and full of loads of little treasures. Apart from the small porn section at the back. That bit isn’t really for me.
Empire Exchange is an awesome vintage collectables shop. But this isn’t Forbidden Planet, oh no. Everything here is slightly worn and has a history to it. But that makes it all so much better.
There are old back issues of random magazines like Loaded, Beano annuals and odd books. There are toys from your childhood and the childhoods of your parents, as well as trinkets and old vinyl records.
What I enjoy the most about Empire Exchange is that they are always blasting the most random, ridiculous music out of the front door of the shop on to the street. Amazing every time I walk by.

Ah, the Empire Exchange. Even if you haven’t been in, you probably know where it is. Located in a basement on Newton Street, it always has music blaring out onto the street, boxes of books and 7 records on the pavement outside, and a crowded window display that’s jam-​packed with everything from mannequins and movie cut-​outs to books on alien abductions and collectable magazines.
The shop is pretty hard to define. But, basically, if there’s something that can be collected, you’ll probably find it here or at least find someone who can help you out. It’s a huge store, but it’s packed to the rafters with magazines, including vintage NME’s and Melody Makers, cult books, DVDs, videos, CDs, vinyl and memorabilia. However, there’s a rather sleazy side too. One corner of the shop is devoted to adult films, books and magazines and you’ll usually see a few middle aged men with stained anoraks lurking behind the curtain there.
Someone once told me that Debbie Harry loves this shop and always visits it when Blondie hit Manchester. It sounds pretty far fetched, I know. But she often visits Afflecks Palace when she’s in town, so it might just be true. And anyway, who could blame her? You can find some real gems in here, and they’re all reasonably priced. The people who run it are great characters, too. They nearly always have a few tales to tell you and sometimes you can even barter their prices down!

You can’t get much more fun and interesting than shops that aim solely to be fun and interesting. I’d love to set up a shop like this, harvesting people’s childhood memories and toys like a commercial dream snatcher, but I unfortunately have more useful things to do. I am glad that other people will do it for me though.
Wandering around inside is disorientating but most definitely entertaining, as you will always have that feeling at the back of your mind that there’s a real treasure just around the corner. And maybe there will be!

Empire Exchange is one of those secondhand shops people either love or hate. A rambling big room, its packed with old magazines, annuals, comics, scratched records, CDs, furniture and bric-​à-​brac.
Personally, I love rummaging through here as it’s the place I picked up an old, 1950s, red kids jukebox several years ago. The age and less than mint condition meant I could never play my best 45s on it but I couldn’t resist buying it. In true comic form, the shop was empty when I started negotiating with the owner but ten minutes later, a man with a voicebox came in and started arguing that he’d had his eye on it for awhile and that made it his! The whole scene was very David Lynch — much like Empire Exchange itself!

Well, you know what they say — one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and this old adage especially rings true in this grotto of objects and curiosities.
I love just having a little wander around this store, whose owner is very happy to help with anything you might have your eye on or give you a little history on where if came from. I bought the most gorgeous vintage art deco brooch in here for £15, but there was so much more I had to leave behind.

What a veritable Aladdin’s Cave this place is. Empire Exchange on Newton Street is the place to go if you are starting or continuing a collection of some sorts or you want to find something different.
They’ve got everything in here from old CDs and vinyl to all sorts of memorabilia. Comics, old magazines, coins, general bric-​à-​brac that some people love to love and others love to give away.
Have a rummage or make a bit of cash if you have anything that might be of a bit of value.

Empire Exchange is a shop full of collectors material. They sell comics, old magazines, coins, paintings, literally anything someone somewhere would collect. It is a big shop with staff who are experts on what they sell. The great attraction is that they exchange and buy items as well, so if you have unwanted items in the attic it is a perfect way to sell them. They also sell rare vinyl and music memorabilia.