A popular gift shop that closed in the summer has popped back up on to the high street in time for Christmas.
Map Gift Shop, in Junction Road, has opened a pop up store three doors down from its old shop on the corner of St John's Grove in Archway.
Owners Kathryn Phalp and Ian Morris say they have curated a smaller version of what they used to offer while maintaining the "brightness, joy and colour" that customers came to know their shop for.
"We have all of the same things we had before, just a smaller collection," said Kathryn.
Items on sale include candles and candlesticks, novelty socks and oven gloves - "quirky things", she added.
Serving Archway locals for 30 years, the couple ran their pink corner shop for 23 years until it closed on June 17.
The lease ran out and while they could renew, they had to decide whether a rent increase would render their business unviable.
Kathryn added: "We decided we weren't prepared to work harder for less money. We got through the pandemic and had to keep reinventing ourselves and felt we were at the top of where we could go with it."
Until December 31 they have "done a swap" with the Toy Project, a not-for-profit community organisation in Junction Road.
The Toy Project has moved into the old Map shop and Map has moved in to the project's community space, the Play Room nearby.
She said: "During the pandemic when we were told on the December 18 that we couldn't open, I fell to my knees. We do more turnover at that time of year that you do in a whole quarter.
"Since then it's all been about bouncing back and paying back our bounce back loan. All these things have factored into our decision not to keep going and it's very sad."
Kathryn said making the pop up shop look "magical" was critical.
She added: "One of the things that kept coming back from the customers who know us well, one of the things we didn't want, was for it to feel like a pop-up shop because having been so established for 23 years on that corner, 30 in Archway, the shop always looked so special at Christmas and people loved it for that.
"I really wanted the shop to feel like it wasn't just a pop up shop and it was a little piece of that magic, and it is, we've put a lot of effort into how it looks and we have made the place our own and brought that magic."
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