…and what a 2 weeks! It’s hard to put into words everything we have achieved in the time and all thanks to our glorious network of friends and family. Without them we would be nowhere and none of which we expected.
- Day 1/2 – all wallpaper stripped and walls prepped
- Day 3/4/5/6/7 – all 3 ground floor walls painted
- Day 8/9/10 – 38 shelves built, 5 armchairs made
- Day 11/12 Downstairs painted, drama/workshop studio floor laid
- Day 14 Opening stock list nearly completed
To put this into some perspective the shop now looks like this (taken before the shelves):
In this time I have also had the honour of attending the opening of an amazing new Bookshop, Portobello Bookshop in Edinburgh and training them. Whilst this was an absolute joy to do it also reminded me of how much we still have to do but if we can achieve even a fraction of the excitement created in their community for a new indie bookshop I will be insanely happy! The shop was a piece of bookshop art and will be a huge success
Portobello Bookshop
The great thing about having a partner that believes in our ability to do this as much as I do is that I felt very little guilt in swanning off to another country for 3 days while she got on with what needed to be done. I came home with lots of fresh ideas, books and vigour for the shop. It may be harder next week when I’m only 3 miles away in the office. I’m pretty sure I’m already the office bore with only 1 subject on my mind.
My favourite thing about being in our shop has to be the excitement heard outside the shop while we work away inside. Today I worked with the door open, perhaps to cool down but really to invite conversation. I had a fabulous 15 minute chat with a little dude today who told me the entire plot to a Beast Quest book that was being read to him. Like a giddy child myself I thanked him wholeheartedly for the recommendation and added 5 Beast Quest books to my order. They may never sell but armed with the story of why I bought them I’m sure they will! It’s this stuff that can be found at the soul of every childrens bookseller. Infectious enthusiasm for a story.
We’re in a little bit of a limbo situation now. We’ve done most of what we can without proper skilled labour. We have a family member tiling our toilet next week, a family friend fitting our counter and coffee bar, a close friend designing signage and another close friend plumbing and hopefully the finest coffee roasters Norwich has to offer fitting the machine. Then the books can be delivered and then we might finally look like a bookshop. All the rest is admin, training and polishing off.
Of course there is also the small matter of recruitment for a couple of booksellers in the shop. We’ve been inundated with suitable candidates but if you want to add your hat to the ring please use the contact section on the website or follow the instructions here.
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