Where to Shop for Work From Home Essentials in Newcastle
A guide to some of the best places to buy everything you need to set up a home office
There’s no doubt lockdown radically changed the way we work – if your job was one that could be done remotely, that’s what you did, and all of a sudden, spare rooms, dining room tables and cramped corners of your bedroom were being turned into offices or tiny call centres.
For a lot of us, once lockdown was over we found that we didn’t need – and weren’t expected – to return to the office (at least not full time) and working from home became much more normal.
If you are working from home, there are things you’re going to need to make your day more comfortable, more efficient and better equipped. And we’re here to help with a guide to some of the best places in Newcastle city centre to stock up on office furniture, laptops, stationary and the rest.
Home Office Furniture
If working from home is to be a long-term situation, there’ll come a point where balancing on the end of your bed with your laptop on a dressing table isn’t going to cut it. It won’t help your work and it won’t help your poor aching back. It’s time to buy some proper office equipment.
If fitting out a full home office is the way to go, it’s worth visiting the Eldon Square branch of Sharps - their design experts can guide you if you’re converting a whole room into a home office, or just adapting a spare corner, with six ranges of bespoke furniture, storage space and the rest.
Meanwhile, both John Lewis and Fenwick have everything you need in terms of desks, storage and accessories to fit most spaces and most budgets. Whether you need a particularly supportive office chair, stylish storage solutions or a practical but pleasing desk lamp, each of these Eldon Square stores has you covered.
Computers & Tech Accessories
If you’re lucky, your employer will kit you out with all the tech you need to work from home but you might have to provide it yourself, which can be expensive and intimidating if you’re not technically minded. But the best electronics stores will have expert staff on hand to get you on the right track.
If you’re an Apple acolyte, the Eldon Square store is waiting for you with its sleek showroom of Macs, iPads and accessories. There’s plenty of excellent advice on offer and finance options too.
Argos has a big range of tech items as well, often suited to a tighter budget, and there are always some deals, clearance sales and finance packages available.
Stationery
It’s amazing how much and how many types of stationery you can go through on a regular working day, even if we’re apparently working in the age of the ‘paperless office’. Plus many of us do still get a strange thrill from stationery – the little pads and staplers and gadgets and wotsits that make you feel prepared for anything your day will throw at you. There’s even a name for us -papyrophiliacs!
WHSmith is a high street institution that has long been a destination for stationery (among other things) and their big Northumberland Street branch has a large area stacked with paper, pens, printer ink, envelopes, folders and all the rest, including computer supplies.
Ryman is even more stationery-focused and its Eldon Square branch has everything you could possibly need for your home office in terms of stationery (and everything else – they stock plenty of technology and furniture too!).
Finally, Typo might seem unlikely tucked away as it is in the Eldon Square branch of Cotton On, but it has plenty of stationery, mostly at the funkier end of things: stylish journals and planners, art supplies and colourful pens.
Finishing Touches
One of the advantages of working from home is that it’s your office, your rules, your décor. No more of Marjorie’s motivational cat posters or Dave’s Premier League fixture tables. You can decorate your workspace as elaborately or sparsely as you prefer and nobody can moan. It might be a piece of art, or a pleasingly daft desktop gadget, or just a a nicely framed photo of your mum.
Ink & Drop on Leazes Park offers a dazzling range of prints to suit all tastes, whether you want something bold and abstract, some vivid street art or some muted, calming landscapes. They offer a wide variety of appropriate frames too, and various discounts if you’re a student, teacher etc.
The North East Art Collective in Eldon Square represents dozens of local artists, many new and upcoming, and you could end up owning something that’s only exactly what your office needs but also becomes a collectable piece in the future.
MenKind is the go-to store for all manner of gadgets, gifts and gimmicks and probably has just what you need to finally make your home office exactly where you want to be. From a desk lamp with built in phone charger to a desk-top slot machine, MenKind has plenty of things to distract you when that Excel spreadsheet is just too much.
If you’ve been working in the box room on a wobbly card table with a dodgy laptop and using the back of a takeaway menu to write notes, it's time to say "no more!" Our guide to some of the best places to stock up on home office equipment and supplies in Newcastle should see you fully equipped so you can be a lean, mean productivity machine. Now just remember to turn off the daytime TV…
