Lomography, the maker of analogue cameras, is opening a new shop in Manchester, the first in the UK outside London.
The manufacturer already has two gallery stores in London, along with a pop-up shop in Selfridges Oxford Street, but this is the first time a dedicated shop can be found outside the capital.
Heidi Mace, online manager for Lomography UK told TechRadar, "It was very clear to us through out site traffic, comments and online feedback that our audience outside of London is just as big as within the capital, if not bigger,".
The store, which will be similar in style to other Lomo shops around the world, will include a Lomowall, made up of thousands of individually printed photos generated by the community, as well as stocking a full range of cameras, films and accessories.
There will also be a programme of workshops and events, along with offering LomoLab processing services. Mace said, "Each our of our stores develops its own character as it establishes itself - Soho is the home of Lomography workshops, East London is full of personality and a great place for a party, time will tell what Manchester will become."
UK audience
In the UK, Lomography is proving to be extremely popular. According to Mace, the UK audience is around half the size of the US audience, but of course the UK population is a lot smaller.
Last year, over 2 million visits from the UK were made to the Lomography website, while the company has over 20,000 fans across the UK Facebook and Twitter pages.
Although Lomographers from outside London can access Lomo cameras in several stockists, Manchester was chosen for the new store because "It's jam packed with culture, music and art, and of course completely amazing people," says Mace.
After taking the LomoRoadshow, a series of workshops, around the country last year, it was Manchester that had the most impact. "It is home to the second largest community of Lomographers in the country, with great potential for many more.
"We want it to become a destination for anyone interested in analogue photography - they can pop in, hang out, try out new cameras and meet other people who share their passion."
Mace says that they are constantly asked for new Lomo shops to open nationwide, so although Manchester is the first outside London, watch this space for more that may appear elsewhere.
The Lomography shop in Manchester opens on Thursday 15th December at Oldham Street, with an opening party from 6pm onwards.
