1. What was the vision behind setting up Red Lion Books?

Sarah and Peter Donaldson have been hands-on owners and booksellers since 1978, imparting their knowledge and experience to customers and staff members.  Sarah’s passion is for children’s books and she is still very much involved with curating this section of the shop and advising at local schools.  Peter has been active in the Bookseller’s Association at a regional and national level. He has also been a trustee of the Essex Book Festival since 2011. It has always been their firm belief that brick-and-mortar shops have an important part to play in keeping local communities strong and healthy, and that words have power.

2. How do you select the books that line your shelves? Have you noticed any bookselling trends lately?

We pride ourselves on our carefully curated stock. Our non-fiction shelves blend beautifully, starting with Nature, moving onto Britain & Beyond, which takes itself into History.  History naturally moves to Politics and Ideas. Ideas are obviously about Science and Maths and this eventually leads to Fiction.

We do traditionally well with Nature and History but the current trend, for us, is the increased interest in YA titles. This is a combination of things. We moved our YA titles away from the children’s books and the new area has been given a new lease of life. The TIK TOK phenomenon has also generated sales, and there seems to be a general love of bookshops from younger customers.

3. If you could recommend one book published in the past year, what would it be and why?

That’s like asking us to choose our favourite child! Please don’t make us do that. We do offer a ‘bibliotherapy’ questionnaire to customers so that we can recommend something we feel would suit them.

4. Do you find that being family-owned sets you apart from other bookshops? If so, how?

Being family-owned means that we are not a faceless entity. Customers know Peter and Sarah. They appreciate their work ethic because they see them in the shop, physically working. Customers’ children and now grandchildren know the family and this familiarity gives our customers a sense of ownership and belonging.

5. And finally, do you have any exciting plans for the shop in the coming months that you’d like to share with us?

Events! We have always got events but this year we introduced the idea of a ‘Bookshop Party’ – A Soiree where authors host the party: pouring drinks, running the tombola and socialising with customers.

‘Anyone who claims digital books herald the end of more conventional paper ones should visit Jaffe and Neale in Chipping Norton, a winner of the Best UK Independent Bookshop Award, and the hub of the Cotswold town’s social life .’ The Telegraph

Having worked in bookselling gave Polly and Patrick a passion for books and a strong sense of customer service, and together they opened their first shop in 2001. Moving to their current premises in 2006, they fulfilled another dream of opening a café alongside their beloved books. Keen on community, Jaffé & Neale have established a place where people can meet and chat (and peruse).

They stock a wide range of new titles and can source more than a million books to get their customers reading as soon as possible. As well as wonderful books, gorgeous gifts and splendid stationery, they offer amazing coffee and cake in the café, so next time you’re in town, take a pew and watch the world go by …

1. According to your website, Winstone’s Books first opened shop in Sherborne in 2012. Are you planning on celebrating this landmark anniversary? If so, how?

We started the celebrations in April, we had a great party with face painting, storytelling, author visits cake and prosecco! We also have ongoing promotions such as Our Top Ten Favourites over the last ten years.

2. What makes your bookshop unique and how has this changed over the years of trading?

We here at Winstone’s Books Sherborne are completely focused on our local market and customers. We use data and space planning tools to reflect the wide range of titles we stock, and we change the layout to fit seasonal trends and our customer’s tastes.

3. Winstone’s Books has a bustling events schedule. What has been your favourite event thus far?

Sophie Irwin. Sophie worked for us when she was 17 and it is wonderful to see her succeed as a HarperCollins novelist – and we sold 120 copies of her debut hardback at a brilliant event!

4. What made you want to go into bookselling? What is your favourite and least favourite part about it?

Predictably a love of books. My favourite part of the job is seeing the new products. It’s still as compelling as when I started. The least is, of course, monthly paperwork…

5. And finally, do you have any exciting plans for the shop in the coming months that you’d like to share with us?

We have launched a Literary Festival in Frome which lands in September and we are busy planning a Travel Writing Festival for next year. We also have a very busy autumn events schedule planned ahead.

1. What’s it like running a bookshop in Hoxton? How have you seen the area change over the years?

We’re a very new bookshop having only opened in April 2021 when ‘non-essential retail’ was allowed to re-open. In a rather Hoxton / East London way, we share our space with a contemporary art gallery, TABULA RASA, and to find us, one needs to enter via the gallery in a contra-Banksy way to his ‘Exit via the Gift Shop’ mantra, we’re very much ‘Enter through the Gallery’. For some customers finding us has been some sort of urban quest. We’re a bit elusive, we don’t have a conventional bookshop window display. We still encounter new customers who live in the blocks of flats that surround us and that have sprouted recently.

2. If you could recommend one book published in the past year, what would it be?

Just because it went completely below our radar when it came out last August—we were just starting out!—we’re choosing Louis Menand’s The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War. Through word of mouth, we heard so many good things about it and, of course, The Metaphysical Club published way back in 2001 is a major work. It very conveniently bridges the two big strata of people who enter our: the art-minded people who prioritise the gallery but also the serious non-fiction readers who are used to seeing this sort of book gracing our shop.

3. How do you select the books that line your shop’s shelves?

On the whole, we stock mostly literary fiction and serious non-fiction. We have to be selective as we don’t even have four walls! There are many strands to this. One of the shelves consists largely of books that are remarkable by their design namely by publishers such as Fitzcarraldo or Persephone as well as by series like Verso’s Radical Thinkers for example. We also have spaces dedicated to reading recommendations from such figures as Elena Ferrante and Barack Obama, there are shelves lined up with prize winners of the Booker and the Nobel for instance. There is a shelf of largely twentieth-century classics selected by the ‘Better than Food Book Reviews’ youtube channel which contains some Wakefield Press titles. Finally, we also choose topics we like, for instance, we have a section with books on cycling but we don’t stock anything on any other sport.

4. Tell us about your local area. How has the pandemic impacted your business?

We started during the pandemic so we don’t have a reference to the before times. If anything getting events up and running has been somewhat tricky as we’re still finding our base but also we’ve had to deal with any covid restrictions. There were a few cancellations as a result which has taught us to be deft and moderate our expectations somewhat. On the upside, we still encounter people who say that the pandemic relaunched their reading habit.

5. And finally, do you have any exciting plans for the shop in the coming months that you’d like to share with us?

We’ll have to wait and see on that front as for the moment we’re looking forward to the quieter month of August so we can relax a bit before hitting the ground running again in September.

1. According to your website, the Lady Lever Art Gallery was as formally opened by Princess Beatrice, youngest daughter of Queen Victoria, on 16 December 1922. This means that December 2022 would mark your formal centenary. Are you planning on celebrating this landmark anniversary? If so, how?

Yes, it’s a big year, our centenary year!  We are having a display called “Inspired by Lady Lever”, which will feature Lady Lever’s court dress from 1913, her shoes, stockings, and feathers from her headdress, also a small number of objects from private lenders. We will be showing some archival images, of the gallery, along with newer images depicting just how busy the gallery is today.  There will also be film clips from the British Film Institute, one from 1910, showing a tour of Port Sunlight Village as Lady Lever would have known it, and another short clip showing the gallery in the distance being built in 1919. Our shop will also have some exciting products to reflect our exhibitions in our centenary year!

2. What is the history of the Lady Lever Art Gallery? How do the exhibitions and collections displayed at the gallery inform your buying?

The gallery was founded and built by William Hesketh Lever, founder of Lever Brothers, to house his collection of art, and he dedicated it to the memory of his late wife. It’s home to one of the UK’s finest collections of fine and decorative art.

As well as this wonderful permanent collection, we host temporary exhibitions throughout the year, from “The Last Bohemian: Augustus John” to “Kunichicka: Japanese Prints” which is on now.

Our merchandising team attend the planning for exhibitions so they can source a wide variety of books and gifts to reflect the exhibition, then the shop team will merchandise the products in our wonderful shop!

3. What do you want the shop to bring to the gallery experience as a whole?

The gift shop is usually always part of your experience when visiting a museum or gallery, whether you buy or not, as they are always cleverly positioned near an entrance or exit! Luckily we are, and it’s one of the most important parts of your experience as ‘it’s the bit of the museum you can take home with you!’ We try to create a warm and friendly atmosphere in our shop, with background ambient music playing, the tempting sounds and smells of our wonderful café next door drifting through!  Our long-standing retail team are always on hand for a chat, or bit of advice for that gift or book, that you may need, or just want to buy because once you’re in our shop, you can’t resist temptation!  Our gifts and books are influenced by the gallery and the collection, but we also stock a broader range of books and gifts as we are a perfectly located gift shop within a village setting.  We have a large loyal customer base who choose us for their gift purchases – we’re very lucky!

4. What sort of books do you find your customers are most interested in? Do they generally correlate with the galley’s collections?

Our customers love our book selection. Their expectations are for us to stock books relating to the collections and the gallery, & local history books, but we stock such a vast selection also.  We have local history, art history, history, children’s, Japanese culture, and even cats! The staff here also make suggestions for books to sell, which we think helps, as we have a diverse collection here. We’re very proud of our book section, and our bookshop has a great reputation.

The free tote bag with a Yale book purchase has proven very popular, – I made a “free tote bag with this book” bookmarks for the Yale books.

5. And finally, do you have any exciting plans for the shop in the coming months that you’d like to share with us?

As part of the centenary, we will have an exhibition called Pure Brilliance: The Boodles Story, this will showcase exquisite jewellery spanning the local brands 200-year history. Costume and fashion exhibitions are always extremely popular with our visitors and I’m sure this will be no different. We are looking forward to reflecting the exhibits in our shop merchandise with unique, inspired jewellery and gifts and some lovely gift books covering the world’s great Jewellery collections.

Of course, us retailers know that Christmas is just around the corner! The village and the gallery really are a special place to be over the festive period. The planning of our Christmas merchandise has been in full swing for a while now, we promise to have lots of beautiful decorations and gifts for all your family and friends. Why shop anywhere else!

1. What was it that inspired you to set up Books on the Hill in St Albans?

The shop was set up by my mum Clare who became inspired to open a bookshop whilst on holiday when the opportunity to buy a bookshop came up. However, my siblings and I did not want to relocate so looking closer to home for spaces became her priority. My retirement dream was to run a bookshop so I started that journey a few decades early by partnering up with my mum to open Books On The Hill. We opened our doors on 11th November 2019, a few hours earlier than expected due to the incredible queue forming at 9am down Holywell Hill.

2. Tell us more about the beautiful historic building Books on the Hill occupies.

The space we occupy has had many different lives since its construction in c. 1600. From being a tearoom run by Mr and Mrs Hayes in the 1950s until the mid-1980s (known as the Pilgrims Rest) to most recently having been a furniture shop (known as Wesley Barrell) the shop has had many different uses. But its purpose of being a space for the public to enjoy has remained a constant. We also have a fun resident ghost who is a monk travelling from the cathedral in the secret tunnels running below the city where he does the flower arranging.

3. Stocking an entire bookshop from the ground up must have been a daunting and exciting task back in 2019. How did/do you choose the books that line your shelves?

Before we first opened our doors my mum undertook months of research, whilst the shop was being renovated, to curate our initial collection. After our doors opened, we used our teams’ skills to help curate to widen and develop our collection further. Today every member of staff has a say in the books on our shelves, helping to create a wide range of incredible material covering a wide array of categories. Our team reads an array of material which they regularly review for our shop blog which you can read on our website and our shop tags which you can find on books around the shop (both new and our vintage collections).

4. Do you find that being family-owned sets you apart from other bookshops? If so, how?

All indie bookshops are an incredible asset to their communities but as a family-owned business, our shop outlook includes a unique perspective as different generations put forth their ideas into every aspect of the running of the shop. Additionally, our work ethic goes above and beyond normal office hours, with mum and I answering questions on social media (no matter the time) and dedicating extra time to help our customers, both local and global, with their book queries.

5. And finally, do you have any exciting plans for the shop in the coming months that you’d like to share with us?

Yes, we have lots of events coming up, most excitingly our Festival of Culture which takes place from the 2nd to 10th July 2022 in St Albans and online, with author talks from authors such as Claire Fuller, to workshops, drawing classes, podcasts and a range of children’s events including a fun family trail. Our main aim when creating our lineup of events was to ensure that there is something for everyone at our Festival. All the details can be found on our website, or feel free to pop in store.

1. What is the vision behind Kemps General Store & Bookshop?

The vision behind the creation of Kemps was to bring something different to our High Street. I wanted to create a place of interaction not just transaction. Somewhere where people felt a connection to and an engagement with the business and could really find everything they needed in terms of gifting and since 2020 – in terms of books too. Our challenge is always to curate an unusual collection of things to bring joy and encourage people to return with curiosity and anticipation for new discoveries.

2. What inspired you to set up your shop in Malton? How have you seen the town change over the years?

Malton is a market town in North Yorkshire. When I lived here 20 years ago it was struggling to find an identity and was challenged as business came and went and it failed to attract visitors or to meet the needs of its local community. In the past 10 years, this has really changed through a great deal of hard work and a good vision driven by the main landlord in the town making it initially a foodie destination and producing many key events and festivals throughout the year which attract many visitors and raise the profile of the town. New businesses have grown up around these artisan food producers and eateries.

Kemps was one such business starting in 2017 with a gift shop with a small book offer and then moving into larger premises in 2020 and adding a proper bookshop. There are now a growing number of creative businesses joining and an art trail is being initiated this year so there is plenty to shout about here and it really is a terrific destination for a day out.

3. How do you go about choosing the books that line your shelves?

We are still learning our market to a degree despite on paper having been trading for 18 months because COVID closed us for many of those months. Bestsellers are not why people visit us. Our visitors and customers love to browse and discover different and unusual things and our non-fiction collections of nature writing and history are particularly appreciated. We have a children’s book specialist and work hard to offer a good collection of children’s fiction and non-fiction, offering support to parents and schools in choosing titles as well as offering opportunities for young readers to discuss and share what they enjoy reading and work with them to continue the journey of discovery with new titles to support their ongoing reading for enjoyment. We also stock and recommend specialist children’s publishing like Barrington Stoke to support those who might be reluctant readers.

It is our biggest joy to thrill people who find a title they did not even know existed but know they will love, or to start people on a  journey with an author or a series when they keep coming back for more.

4. What made you decide to open a general store? What is your favourite/least favourite part about it?

The idea behind the General Store title was twofold. I was brought up in a village shop which sold everything – that is where my shop-keeping genes come from. I also moved to London in the 1980s and there was an amazing shop called The Covent Garden General Store which sold all kinds of amazing and usual things – I just loved that place. So, I decided that being a General Store would enable me to sell whatever I liked – and that is what I did. Over time our 500 or so book collection was so appreciated we decided that our little town needed a proper bookshop so we decided to become one. General gifting will always be part of our offer but being a bookshop is an absolute joy and taking the step of expanding during COVID, scary as it was, was absolutely the right decision.

Meeting and interacting with the customers is my favourite part of having a shop – closely followed by choosing and buying the stock. As you might imagine – finance, accounting and bill paying are my least favourite part of the business.

5. And finally, do you have any exciting plans for the shop in the coming months that you’d like to share with us?

We are continuing to develop our profile as a book shop and extend our events programme. This year Alison Weir will visit Malton again after her successful event for us last year and we have a number of food writers who will be taking to the main stage at the Malton Food Festivals this year which gets over 50,000 visitors. In June we will be hosting a new local authors event and also workshops for new writers to help them get published by bringing in publishers and writers to share tips and advice on how to get started.

We continue to work with the local professional theatre company sponsoring events with them and the summer will see some exciting activities and shows around Winnie The Pooh and other bears in books. Our autumn and winter programmes will focus on a Skandi Christmas with a Skandi Noir festival of events in the final quarter of the year. So, it’s a busy time for Kemps and an exciting future we hope.

I read with interest about the Bookshop on the Green’s connection with Bournville Hub and the Bournville BookFest. What inspired you to open up this shop? And what has been your favourite part of this new endeavour?

We really wanted there to be an independent bookshop in Birmingham and thought we couldn’t be the only people who wished for this. Having run Bournville BookFest for nine years we often heard people wishing for an independent bookshop in Birmingham and lamenting that there wasn’t one. And we’d discovered from the festival that we loved bookselling. So we decided to roll up our sleeves and give it a go and The Bookshop on the Green was born! Without a doubt the best part of running The Bookshop on the Green is meeting new people and the lovely relationships we have established with our customers. We’re fortunate to have a wide-ranging customer base from children and families to students and staff from University of Birmingham and lots of older people. Our customers brought us flowers, chocolates, cards and tins of biscuits on the first birthday of our bookshop. We were so grateful to have found a special place in people’s hearts and within our community.

What’s it like running a bookshop on Bournville Green? How have you seen the area change over the years?

It’s a joy selling books and chatting with our customers in such an amazing location. We get to see the changing seasons on the beautiful Bournville Village Green. At the moment we’re really enjoying the daffodils planted in drifts on the Green. And we get the smell of chocolate wafting on the air from the Cadbury’s chocolate factory behind our bookshop! Bournville is truly beautiful and you can easily forget you are in Birmingham.  We’ve seen Bournville become much more diverse over the last few years and that’s great to see and this diversity is reflected in the books people buy.

The Bookshop on the Green has a bustling events schedule. What has been your favourite event thus far?

It’s hard to choose but a particular highlight has been our evening with Natalie Haynes who made us both laugh out loud and think hard about feminism in Classical times through to modern day. It reminded us what a joy it is to hear someone talk who knows their subject so well, especially someone who can hold an audience as well as Natalie. And, of course, it was great to welcome Natalie Haynes home because she grew up in Bournville.

Tell us about your local area. How has the pandemic impacted your business and community?

Bournville has a population of 25,000 people. Traditionally, it was built as a model village for the workers from the Cadbury factory but has expanded a lot since Victorian times. There are still people who work for Cadburys but there are also lots of young families and retired people who have made Bournville their home. The biggest employers in the area are the University of Birmingham and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital so we have a really interesting local population of people doing interesting jobs in both the Arts and the Science sectors. There are lots of University staff and lecturers living in Bournville, including the Forward winning poet Luke Kennard. We also have ballet dancers who dance for Birmingham Royal Ballet. It makes for a really interesting community.

During the pandemic, Bournville really pulled together and supported its own. We set up and ran an emergency food parcel scheme from Bournville Hub and helped to support Street Champions on every road in Bournville. We co-ordinated a VE Day anniversary afternoon tea for the over 60’s delivered to people’s doors by the Street Champions. It’s been great to see how the pandemic has changed people’s habits and has helped revitalize the Village Green with people gravitating towards green and open outdoor spaces. People are generally spending much more time locally rather than going into the city centre. This has been really good for the local, independent shops and the shop local movement in general.

And finally, do you have any exciting plans for the shop in the coming months that you’d like to share with us?

There’s just so much to look forward to in 2022! We can’t wait for the Commonwealth Games to come to Birmingham this summer and we’re looking forward to tying this in with the Big Jubilee Read which features many books from Commonwealth writers. We’re also very excited about the publication of Jonathan Coe’s latest novel about and set in Bournville which is due out in the Autumn. We’re hopeful of a Bournville based launch event and are looking forward to welcoming Jonathan back to Bournville.

YRL: Marple Bookshop has been serving Marple and its surrounding area for the past 50 years. What was the bookselling vision behind setting up this shop?

MB: We were looking for an investment in property and decided to open a bookshop following a suggestion from a relative who already worked in a bookshop and was willing to offer us help and advice. Once we had decided on this course, our research of the local area led us to Marple, which we saw had a lot of different clubs and societies, whose members would be potential customers. This was coupled with an interest in books due to a background in primary school education. At the time we started there was a shortage of educational activity books and we specifically sourced these from educational publishers.

YRL: Do you find that being family-owned sets you apart from other bookshops? If so, how?

MB: From our own perspective, it’s lovely to share the experience of the highs and lows of running a shop with your family! Our customers still appreciate the personal touch, with the majority of customers phoning or coming into the shop to place orders for specific and niche books. We never cease to be amazed by the huge variety of interests and books requested. We also take the time to phone our customers when their books arrive in stock. Having three generations of our family now involved helps us with buying and stocking our shelves and knowing about some of the trends that people are interested in, together with years of experience and regular visits from publisher reps with new titles.

YRL: What types of books have your customers been buying recently? Have you noticed any trends?

MB: Particularly since the COVID lockdown, we have seen our children’s book sales increase significantly. There has also been a continuing interest in local history books and walking books as we are located on the edge of the Peak District National Park. We place orders every day for our customers.

YRL: If you could recommend one book published in the past year, what would it be?

MB: It’s extremely difficult to pick just one book, but we’ve loved A Year Unfolding: A Printmaker’s View by Angela Harding.

YRL: And finally, do you have any exciting plans for the shop in the coming months that you’d like to share with us?

MB: Like a lot of bookshops, when we were closed during lockdown we re-arranged our shop, updated and modernized some areas and created our new branding. We also installed an EPOS system that integrates with a new online shop. And we continue to move forward and encourage new customers to visit our shop using social media and word of mouth!

1. What’s it like running a bookshop in the Medieval village of Alfriston? Have you seen the area change over the past few years?

We feel extremely lucky to be in one of the most beautiful villages in one of the most beautiful areas in the UK.  The ancient buildings here are wonderful, but of course it is the people that make the place. Alfriston has been a trading centre since before Medieval times, and the tradition of welcoming visitors continues.

Despite the ancient nature of the village, change is constant. In the past 20 years we have seen shops change hands, close, open and move. Maybe the consistent element is the quality of shops and hospitality – we’re fortunate to be part of a vibrant high street with interesting offers and great food and drink. The result attracts people from a wide catchment. And being one of the main villages in the South Downs National Park, the area attracts visitors from around the country – and the world.

2. I read with interest about the charming set up of your bookshop compound. Was there any special inspiration behind this this unique layout? Do you have a favourite part of the shop?

Our shop was a builders’ yard for decades – perhaps centuries; the barn at one end is an 18^th Century building on the footprint of something older. The layout includes a generous yard where we have installed a shepherds hut filled with books and a cabin in our covered entranceway with even more.

We like the idea of the bookshop as a kind of adventure for people, with corners to look around and views to entice. There are a number of challenges, such as tempting people to climb the stairs to our first floor. But we enjoy playing with the layout and experimenting, and regular customers are accustomed to an annual closing when we rearrange bookcases, walls, and doorways!

Because we sell both new and old books, ranging from antiquarian volumes to cheap-and-cheerful bargains, we have to balance the space we give to various sections as well as working out placement and so forth. So a moderately eccentric layout works to our advantage, giving us nooks and corners that in a sense naturally segregate some of the special interest sections, such as the books about the Bloomsbury Group (their Sussex home, the Charleston Farmhouse, is just a few minutes away).

The layout – with two main buildings and a couple of smaller ones – also lets us hide the messy back-office work. It gives us an area to develop as an exhibition space for our collection of book arts. And it allows for a workshop and event space.

3. How do you go about choosing the books that line your shelves?

Our choice of new books is largely down to reviews and interviews and articles we read, both in trade journals and broadsheets. Staff offer their ideas, of course, and customers do as well. And we like working with trade reps who know the shop; we find their suggestions invaluable.

4. What made you want to go into bookselling? What is your favourite and least favourite part about it?

We love books, and love connecting people with books. Libraries are brilliant, but we don’t like the idea of books coming back! Instead, we’re engaged with the idea of ownership. Owning a book bestows opportunities to share, re-read and appreciate a book over time – as well as the option to mark it up, or loan it out, or give it away. We run a social enterprise, giving books to schools, hospitals, foodbanks and charities who pass them on to people. Not only reading but ownership can make some small difference in life.

The feeling of sharing a favourite book can’t be beat, and discovering new books we can introduce to people is a wonderful treat.

Worst part: paperwork.

5. And finally, do you have any exciting plans for the shop in the coming months that you’d like to share with us?

We’re filled with plans, many of them fizzing out but some of them bursting into reality. Our new fiction room combines new backlist, vintage and second-hand books in one space, and we are looking forward to discovering if the experiment adds to customers’ enjoyment or challenges them too much. If it works, we may roll out the idea throughout the shop; we’re hoping to find ways of inspiring people who usually only buy new books to look at old books as well.

We have a number of events in development, including a talk with Costa award-winner Claire Fuller. Zoom has given us a way to reach people that aren’t able to come to the shop, and we hope to work out ways to incorporate it with live events.

And we’re already thinking about another shift of sections – and maybe bookcases. Thinking about what will go where is a constant challenge, driven by our customers – so there is always something brewing!