The Gothelie Station, York: The Yorkshire gift shop designed to look like a 150-year-old railway station
This gift shop in York was designed to emulate the city’s historic railway station at the time it was first open to the public in 1877.
Inspired by her fascination with York’s history, and particularly the origins of the railway station, Viki Papadopouluo decided to open her own shop in the city centre in May 2025.
The Gothelie Station interior and exterior was designed by Viki, 45, originally from Greece, to look like York railway station at the time it was first opened in 1877.
The name comes from the mythical character Gothelie, a traveller in the late 19th century who decided to board the first train that departed from the new station.
Through her Victorian gothic-themed shop, Viki, who has lived in York for eight years, hopes visitors will be inspired to travel and follow their dreams.
“After working within lots of different roles in retail shops around York, I realised that I would like to have my own place and express my creativity,” Viki said.
“I didn't want it to be just a gift shop. I wanted something to be linked with York's history.
“We have so many tourists in York so I thought that with my shop I would like to give them a chance to learn something about York.
“I thought we have lots of ghosts, we have lots of vikings and personally, I love trains, I like the steampunk aesthetic.
“I love the Victorian era and all of these things led to the opening of York's railway station back in 1877. This is also how our story starts about Gothelie.”
The building itself is 25 Goodram Gate; it's a Grade II-listed building.
There are various crowd-pleasing railway features in the shop - some of which confuse customers, Viki said.
“When I started planning the layout of the shop, I tried to find all our pictures from the Victorian era so that you can feel the vibes when you come into the shop,” she said.
“We try to recreate a railway station in our shop; we have something like a ticket area on the front and a platform at the back so it's like the station at the time.
“The ticket area of our station has the Victorian tiles on the floor and we have our ticket office which is our till so sometimes people are confused, they think that they need to pay for a ticket, which is very funny.
“In the middle part of our shop, we have a big portrait of Gothelie. I have collaborated with a very nice illustrator based in Hull called Lavender.
“The last part of our shop at the very back - and our customers’ favourite - is platform number 13.”
Viki has seen a significant increase in turnover this year compared to last and said word of mouth is the main method of promotion.
“This year we have had around a 30 per cent increase of our turnover so this is very impressive that this shows customers have spread the word,” she said.
“You can tell because everyone who comes says someone else has sent them.
“The best sellers of the shop, which I’m very happy about, are some trains that are displayed on our window and people always stand there and take photos.
“They are used as diffusers so they look a little vintage. You put water inside some diffuser oils and then the steam goes out. They are very eye-catching and they are for all ages.
“Sometimes customers think that it's an antique shop and we do not sell fresh items. But they are all fresh.
“We don't sell anything secondhand or antique. But I want them to look either Victorian, Gothic, or steampunk.”
With every season, Viki changes the shop’s aesthetic to suit the theme.
“Sometimes it's decorated very Christmassy, for example. Sometimes it looks like Alice in Wonderland,” she said.
“Since the first train departed at 5.30am at that time to Scarborough, we have a big clock outside our shop like a train station clock that always shows 5.30am.
“It was the moment the first train departed and that was the moment of course Gothelie started her journey.”