Empire Remains Shop

In the 1920s, Empire shops were developed in London to introduce British consumers to food products from the colonies and overseas territories. The Empire Remains Shop is a book that explores the idea of selling back the remains of the British Empire in London today, using food to trace new geographies and address political counterstructures for a better-distributed, hyper-globalized world.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 304 pages
Publication date: 24 April 2018
Publisher: Columbia Books on Architecture and the City

In the 1920s, a novel concept emerged in London: the Empire Shops. These stores were designed with a unique purpose—to educate the British people about consuming foodstuffs originating from the colonies and overseas territories. While none of these stores ever materialized, their primary objective was to introduce previously unfamiliar produce and products to the British Isles, such as sultanas from Australia, oranges from Palestine, cloves from Zanzibar, and rum from Jamaica.

The Empire Remains Shop delves into the intriguing idea of selling back the remnants of the British Empire in present-day London. This concept was explored through a public installation that took place in the fall of 2016 at 91–93 Baker Street. The book serves as a catalog of the installation's critical program, which included a series of discussions, performances, dinners, installations, and screenings. These pieces used food as a means to trace new geographies across the present and future of our postcolonial planet.

The Empire Remains Shop is structured as a franchise agreement, outlining the landscapes, imaginaries, economies, and aesthetics that future iterations of the shop would need to address in order to develop political counterstructures for a more equitable and hyper-globalized world. The book offers a thought-provoking exploration of the possibilities and complexities of such an endeavor, challenging readers to consider the ethical and political implications of reclaiming and repurposing the legacy of the British Empire.

Weight: 1032g
Dimension: 213 x 257 x 23 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781941332375