"We want to give Cosham a bit more life" - Junk Emporium to open in former Boots store in Cosham
A family-run business selling an eclectic range of second hand goods is opening its third store as it continues to build on its success.
The Junk Emporium has stores in Portsmouth and Waterlooville and the owner has now confirmed that it is opening a third site next week. Having put out a Facebook vote earlier in the year asking where people would like to see them open, Cosham came out on top.
Jon Corbin’s family-run business will now be opening its third store at the site of the former Boots Pharmacy in Cosham High Street on Monday, September 22. It is a unit that has been vacant since October 2023.
Jon told The News: “The new shop has been in the works for 2-3 months and we finally got the keys two weeks ago. Waterlooville (which opened in 2024) is going blindingly which is why we have chosen to open another store in a town centre. The community love it.”
The Junk Emporium specialises in rehoming and recycling goods that would otherwise go to landfill. They sell a broad range of products from teaspoons to furniture with a number of items sourced from bankrupt and liquidation stock.
Although a Facebook vote helped decide the area of their next store, the move also made a lot of sense after doing their research and finding a large footfall in the area.
He said: “We put a vote up on our Facebook asking where people would like to see us, Gosport, Cosham, Havant, and other places. We had a lot of responses for Cosham. We looked in that area and saw the Boots store was available and went for it.”
“We have done our research, you get a lot people going through Cosham High Street, either people going shopping or walking through to the hospital.“
Jon added: “I’m originally from Leigh Park but a lot of my family were from Paulsgrove. When I was a nipper, I remember the flea markets in Cosham and we want to bring that back to it and give Cosham a bit more life.”