For anyone who has ever come face to face with their dress doppelgänger at a party, or realised their friend living halfway across the globe owned the very same IKEA furniture, Unchained Guide is for you.
With not a multinational in sight, Unchained is an online guide to the best independent shops in London and New York (with more cities on the way). More importantly, the good folks who run it – Dave, Lea and Pedro – aim to help level the playing field between indie shops and the big chain stores they have to compete with.
There’s also the Unchained Heroes, an eclectic mix of high profile urbanites from political journo Polly Toynbee to ubiquitous yet fashionable Alexa Chung providing their favourite picks from the unique bunch of independent shops and services. (My personal pick is Bloomsbury shop Something, pictured.) It’s very handy, especially the function to create your own ‘shopping trip’, which lists all of your selected shops to visit on one map.
To some, slow shopping sounds like torture. They want their shopping like they want their plaster removed: quickly and painlessly. But there is a real pleasure to be had in buying something you need (or even just really, really want) by meandering to somewhere “owned by a real person with a passion for what they sell.”
And the list isn’t just kooky boutiques (although there’s plenty of those). The whole gamut is covered from world famous shops to essential services. And if you have a suggestion or happen to be an independent shop owner yourself, Unchained sweetly suggest you get in touch with them either via email or a for a cup of tea.
Now how many multinational chain owners will say that?
