It's a shop ... but not as we know it!

A DIFFERENT kind of store is opening in Derby city centre next week in which all kinds of unusual purchases can be made.

For five days only – from Wednesday to Sunday – Pendulums Bargain Emporium, near Primark, will be offering Derby folk a retail experience like they have never had before.

Everything in the store has a price but is it one that shoppers are willing to pay?

"All are welcome at Pendulums – the purveyors of everything you've ever wanted and more – but some people could go away with a little more than they bargained for," warns Bethany Sheldon, of Derby theatre company Maison Foo.

£100 OFF + 2YEARS INTEREST FREE CREDIT

Martin & Parker (Derby) Ltd

View details

Print voucher

Orders taken over £2000 , will receive £100 off and the option to take 2 years interest free credit

Terms: £100 off only on orders over £2000 with the option to take 2 years interest free credit , this offer ends bank holiday Monday 27th may 4 pm , this voucher must be printed and presented on ordering .

Contact: 01332 419898

Valid until: Monday, May 27 2013

Bethany will be manning the tills during the shop's opening hours, every day between 12.30pm and 2pm, along with Kathryn Lowe, (also of Maison Foo) and musicians Mick Barnfather and Matt Marks.

She says: "Basically, we are prepared to offer our customers anything from a song to a story, a mime or even just a smile. We do however, require payment in the form of ideas and opinions."

In fact, the store will form the first phase of Maison Foo's latest theatre project.

This short-burst opening will invite customers and members of the public to enter into Maison Foo's creative process, encouraging them to interact with the rather intriguing shopkeepers, in a fun and informal way, and to give their opinions on the world of retail, greed and necessity.

"We always begin our projects with a loose idea and then give it the space to evolve," explains Kathryn.

"Our inspiration began with the popular children's fairy story – The Elves and the Shoemaker.

"Its themes are very relevant in today's economic climate – hardship, the exchange of goods and services and the temptation to exploit others."

Shoppers' thoughts will eventually help to shape a production which will tour arts venues across the UK.

The production – also to be entitled Pendulums Bargain Emporium – will see Maison Foo enticing audiences on to what they describe as a dark and shameless journey that treads the line between greed and necessity, raising the question 'what lengths do we go to, to make ourselves happy?'

Maison Foo says it will be a desperate tale of slavery and greed told with humour, intimacy and charm using storytelling, live music, clowning and puppetry.