Drama Call opens its first flagship on Manchester's Tib Street

Some shop fronts carry more history than others, and 70 Tib Street in the Northern Quarter has more than most. The unit has now become the first permanent flagship store for Manchester streetwear brand Drama Call.

Essential Journal reported that the store opened on Sunday 26 July, marking a new chapter for a label that has built its following with a strongly northern identity. Moving from pop-ups and online sales into a permanent home is a big milestone for any independent label.

The address has deep roots in Manchester fashion. Manchester's Finest explains that the unit was previously home to The Sheep Store, a skate and streetwear shop, and later to the original Oi Polloi, one of the city's most influential menswear retailers. That lineage has led to the store being described as coming with 30 years of Manchester streetwear history.

Drama Call already knew the space well. The brand used the unit for a pop-up during the launch of its third collaboration with adidas on the Superstar II, before making Tib Street its permanent home.

The shop has been designed to tell the brand's own story. Skateboards on the walls nod to founder Charlie Bows's skating background, while signed records from The Smiths and Aitch, an illuminated Up North sign and a large mascot add to the sense of local pride.

A looping television plays footage of the brand's history, so visitors can see how Drama Call grew from its early days into a label with its own flagship in the heart of the Northern Quarter. It turns the shop into something of a living scrapbook for fans of the label.

For the neighbourhood, the opening is a welcome sign of independent retail continuing on Tib Street. It keeps a much-loved unit in the hands of a Manchester brand, and it adds another reason for shoppers to explore the streets around Oldham Street and Stevenson Square.

The store's opening times are listed online, and it sits within a few minutes' walk of Piccadilly Gardens, making it an easy stop on a Northern Quarter shopping trip.