Kokon To Zai II

Golborne Road is one of my favourite market roads in London, having lived in the area for a while and being generally a big fan of London markets (Portobello, Broadway market, Columbia Road etc.). Kokon To Zai store is rather new and like Meike below I miss the simplicity of the antique shops that have been replaced by newer more sophisticated stores. But I really like this one, it’s quite a mad product offering with very edgy clothing (not sure WHO buys them but fun to browse) and lots of unusual objects for home, between various dead animals and skeletons under glass covers to more practical Seletti glassware (I am a big fan of those). The best part is probably the place itself which has retained the old features of what seems to have been a butcher shop many many years ago. Beautiful and original, really well presented under the KTZ ownership. lastly the people in the store are really nice, clearly many people come in and browse rather than shop but I have always found them very friendly and I like to come back. They tend to change the unique products they sell quite regularly so it’s a cool place to check out once in a while. Just push the door and check it out.

I hadn’t realised that a second branch of this shop had opened and I was initially attracted by the window display of their really gothic tea set complete with printed insects and antlers, a real antidote to all the Christmas cheer in the rest of London. Sadly I was looking for something tasteful for my mum so this really was not the right place for me to be there and then but I definitely want to pop back as it’s slightly different to the Soho branch, reminded me more of the shop in Paris. The clothes were a bit much for me, both pricewise and bonkerswise but the homeware stuff was wonderfully weird although maybe a bit too trendy, I don’t know if it would stay cool for too long.

I can’t quite make up my mind about this one Currently the greater half of me is saddened by the loss of yet another long-​standing shop on Golborne Road.
This side of the road used to have a long string of antique shops all next door to each other, making for great browsing and shopping on a lazy Saturday afternoon.
Mind you, this particular shop used to be crammed full with random and rather large pieces of furniture which concealed the beatiful tiling.
Kokon To Zai is a concept store which, admittedly, makes perfect use of this beautiful shop with its original tiling (thistles — does this mean it would have been a butcher’s in a past life?). The shop is beautifully designed, but I was left wondering if anyone will actually buy any of the designer clothes on offer.
Perhaps Stella McCartney’s staff on their lunch hour, whose offices are just a couple of doors up the road?