We can help you go out in Styles this Christmas - Kevin Buckle

There has been much amusement both online and in the shop after we posted a pic of a One Direction badge pack alongside a similar pack by the iconic Edinburgh punk band The Exploited tagged with the explanation “we are a broad church at Avalanche”.

One Direction merchandise has proved suprisingly popular

To take this two steps back, until moving to Waverley Market we had never sold mugs but we were asked a lot by the international camp kids in particular who would visit the shop when looking for a present for their dads. The Beatles and AC/DC were top of their wish list so we obliged, along with a few other classic artists like David Bowie and a gesture to our roots with a Dead Kennedys mug.

Every now and again we would get a request, normally from a young girl, looking for a One Direction mug for their big sister. I suspected those youngsters wearing a My Chemical Romance or Slipknot T-shirt were asking so they could mock their older sibling.

Anyway it transpired I could get One Direction mugs and if I bought them six at a time, at a good price. What harm could it do? A dozen sales later the only surprisng thing was that they had all been to fans happy to admit to still being a Directioner and none to sulky little sisters.

What is more we were begged to get more things in and even had a couple of parents asking. There is still a lot of One Direction merchandise out there!

I settled on an eco bag, a messenger bag and a pack of badges. The messenger bag was not a hit but we have had to reorder the eco bag and badges several times at half a dozen a time.

And so with nowhere on the shop floor for them to go the One Direction badges sit on the counter next to the Exploited badges and the Billie Eilish seven inch single for the James Bond film. That is another story.

It has taken a while but I really hope we now have something for everybody and there is nothing funnier than seeing a guy drag his kids into the shop to look through our Nick Cave albums only to hear them peep up “Dad they have Gorillaz albums” often followed by “and Arctic Monkeys too”.

By the time they discover we have T-shirts as well their dad is ready to leave and they are insisting on staying.

Not always dads of course – one mum was so pleased to find the self titled Mr Bungle album on vinyl she bought both her kids a T-shirt to celebrate.

Many of the families we get in the shop are visiting Edinburgh and I think if there is one thing to be learned about the future of retail in Edinburgh it is that most people are not looking necessarily to buy something Scottish, especially those who haven’t crossed the border, but just to find something interesting they can say they brought back from their visit.

With The Refillery opening in Waverley Market next week we may not have such high aspirations to save the planet but perhaps we can at least do our bit by saving One Direction merchandise from going to landfill.