Guru Boutique Publications

31/07/2026

This is a snap of Ray, me and friends at The Isle of Wight Festival in 1970. It was life-changing, as that is where I was originally inspired to start Guru Boutique and our Guru Tribe.

31/07/2026

Who remembers this iconic poster of 'The Tennis Girl'? We sold more dump bins of them than I can count back when we were in Court Arcade. Athena distributed them, and we often chat about those heydays with our friend (and Athena rep back then), Michael Rignal. Anyway, this is a more recent photo of the model who posed for the famous poster, and she must be very proud of the popularity this cheeky image got then and still does to this very day.

21/07/2026

Read below for details of Mr Blair's funeral. His family has kindly also supplied details of this great man's last journey to his beloved market.

Dedicated to the memory of Robin Blair B.E.M

03/07/2026

SAD NEWS. Robin has passed away. We Gurus can hardly believe it, as Darlington just won't ever be the same without him. Deepest condolences to his family and many, many friends.
Just a day ago, I posted the following, but didn't realise he was so ill.
'Sending love and best wishes to our dear friend, Mr Robin Blair, as we heard he had to take some time off work recently. '

04/06/2026

Here's a little more of "our' Imelda, but she also can rock the joint like no one else we know. Versatility is the name of her game.

04/06/2026

In case you haven't heard of "our" Imelda, here she is...

31/05/2026

Summer Gurus and the friend who took the photos - thanks Courtney, Glen and Maria for modelling and thanks Ian (Wright) for the fab photos.

25/05/2026

L to R: Colin, Beryl, Kelly, Tony (the Gurus).
We were so lucky to have Kelly work with us at Guru Boutique. We were fortunate enough to win a few awards over the years, and that was mostly because of our Kelly. She knew our stock inside out, was very knowledgeable about the products Guru sold, and, best of all, was lovely to us three and to every customer she served.

19/05/2026

You've probably noticed that I post frequently. That's because Guru, the Gurus, and I made so many fabulous friends during the 52 years we worked in our shop, and it's lovely to keep in touch and share things with one another. I'm so grateful to social media for enabling us to do this. Recently, I've been getting messages from whoever runs things on here asking if I want to monetise my account. The answer to that is I (and the other Gurus) blooming well don't. We're not here for financial gain. We're here for friendship, and that is never gonna change. I'm not saying we couldn't use some extra cash, but I'm sure we'll find other ways of earning it, just not from you lovely lot. ###
P.S. Thanks go to lovely Jade for sketching these little Guru people for us all those years ago.

19/05/2026

I found this image of our fairy shelf (Blackwellgate Guru) in my photo collection. It made me smile, and I think it deserves to be shared for old times' sake. ###