What are the opening hours?

Monday 9am - 5pm Tuesday 9am - 5pm Wednesday 9am - 5pm Thursday 9am - 5pm Friday 9am - 5pm Saturday 9am - 5pm Sunday 10am - 3pm

The Arc

An amazing emporium of loveliness. Gifts, homeware, cards, gift wrap, kids toys, prints…the list goes on! Come and see us 💖

21/09/2026

It’s my absolute FAV time of year and for those of you new here we LOVE Christmas and we go mad and it’s so fun and we throw a party to launch it with you! It’s called Christmas in October cos it’s well, Christmas, and it’s in October..

This years party is on Friday 16th October and we have such treats for you..

🥂Free glass of fizz - obvs - and the bar is open

🍔 Crown and Heel Burger smashing burgers

🪎 Our very own Josie and her new venture All The Small Things | Pop Up Bead Bar will be there so you can make your own bracelets, phone/bag charm, key ring - the world is your oyster.

🎄🎶 Two years ago we brought you Castle Events Bedford - two incredible opera singers who sang us through a tonne of Christmas pop tunes - it was so mega we’ve brought them back!!!

👚 We’ve then got a special launch of a little festive collab between resortweartown and Neon Marl

🧑‍🎄And if you thought you loved the vintage clothing we’ve had in well you ain’t seen nothing yet cos we have a whole host of vintage Christmas items 🎉

All of that and a chance to see (and buy) not only The Arcs new Christmas bits but also all our chums at Bedford & Co. have got so much incredible stuff for you - from tinsel to t**s and everything inbetween 🤣

No tickets needed just show up from 5pm for one of the most fun and festive nights 🎄🎄🎄 HO HO HO!!

12/09/2026

Yaaaay it’s the Flea - Art - Local Produce tomorrow which means the shop is OPEN!! Come park above us in Lurke Street which is FREE all day and then have a mooch in the Flea and a mooch with us.

I will also be at the Flea with resortweartown and all our new leopard print so come and say hi 💕

10/09/2026

I’m not saying that I went to work last night and arranged the dog and cat toys from Pet Hates Pet Toys | Fun Dog & Cat Toys in the way I think the people would love cos I clearly don’t have time for that but if I did I would deffo put;

Nige sitting nicely on Trumps lap
Then Boris would join cos he hates to be left out
And then Trump skips off and sits in Daddy Putins lap

Never knew dog toys could be this much fun

09/09/2026

Autumn is here!! We’ve got gorgeous hats, warm gloves, the softest scarves, the most brilliant socks and for the first time we’ve got the BEST umbrellas - cos if we’re gonna do umbrellas they are gonna be leopard/rainbow/heart shaped…

And also you know what Autumn means…

ITS NEARLY CHRISTMAS!!! 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

31/08/2026

Yay it’s a Bank Holiday Monday and we are OPEN! Come see us 10-3pm

💕

25/08/2026

Oh Dolly, an absolute icon - imagine being loved by EVERYONE in the USA, from MAGA to drag queens and everyone in between - only Dolly could do that - there is a whole podcast that looks at this called Dolly’s America and it’s fantastic - worth a listen - shines a light on how can all just try a little harder to unite, to learn from others and to really know who we are.

Rest in power 💪

18/08/2026

THIS SUNDAY!! Our Big Summer Blow Out is insane this year! We started our Blow Out days with this one last year and thought we’ll see how it goes and oh my gawd it’s got bigger and bigger..anyone remember how mad the snow globes went at the Big Christmas Blow Out?!

So this year our Big Summer Blow Out has a gabillion things going on. We are SO lucky that members of the Bedford & Co. have jumped in too! We’ve got Neon Marl doing tshirt customisation, just bring in a tee, choose what you want on it and Amber will sort it (brb just stealing all my husbands tees) There is Rosehip Bespoke Floristry delivering the most stunning flowers for the weekend, Sarah/ Handmade vintage & alternative style headwear. will be there with head scarf tying demos and top tips to get yours looking extra. And a HUGE shoutout to the brilliant Sam Strawberry Moon who we asked to do some stickers for us and she of course went above and beyond delivering colour on stickers (in the mystery bags) and colouring sheets for the free colouring table and then loads of insanely cute sticker you can buy to celebrate the day. Thank you Bedford & Co team - honestly what a community we have.

On top of that we have food from High Fryers who are only using this to launch their new Taco Loco Mexican adventure and The Sundae Service will probs not have any ice cream left cos I’ll eat it all

We’ve then got Jordan Northfield doing the cutest art competition, glittter tattoos and of course the main event and Head of Beads Miss Josie Lui with her bead bar - if you’ve seen this bead bar you know…!

And for the littles we have Toby and his tall tales doing three story times. The kids adore Toby as do we.

Entry is totally free and you only have to buy tokens for what you want to do.

Open 10-3pm but check the pics to see what time your fav event is on.

See you Sunday! 🎉

15/08/2026

My mood this morning, anyone else??

14/08/2026

YASSSSS Sophia Stardust is BACK. Join us on Friday September 11 - kids are back at school, you need a break!

Tickets available for Drag Queen Bingo on the website.

Also did you know that September is the month of the first EVER Bedford Pride - September 5th - be sure to follow Rainbow Bedfordshire to get all the details to join in 🌈🌈

Address

7 Howard Street
Bedford
MK403HS

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm
Saturday	9am - 5pm
Sunday	10am - 3pm

Telephone

+441234344784

Website

https://thearcbedford.co.uk/

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