30 days to build a Bookshop: Day 1
Over the next 30 days I'll be updating this blog with the process of getting the bookshop ready to open. What's a lass to do with limited funds, a beautiful space and the aching desire to sleep until 11 every day?
This morning I spent a lot of time on the phone, this website is nearly ready to launch and I need help from my suppliers so that our delivery options are seamlessly integrated. This is not my area of expertise. After that I worked on uploading a new collection of kids books to the website. This is all done manually at the moment and is definitely a fun bit because I get to imagine the shop filling up.
I headed into the shop after lunch and on the way I saw a metal spinny chair by a phone box and in my family's great tradition of skip diving I claimed it for my own. At the shop there are these huge plywood panels on all the walls which were formerly adorned with swathes of silky purple fabric. They've been screwed and nail gunned in but after a lot of elbow grease I managed to get the largest of these off the wall by myself which made me feel like a very powerful person so I took a break and span around in the chair for a bit sipping on a Ginger Beer from a real nice cafe called Salmagundi up the road. Chatting to the owner about their shop fitting process, I realised that everything doesn't need to be beautiful and perfect from Day 1, that the shop will grow into the space as it goes and I shouldn't put too much pressure on myself. I took down all the shelving that was attached to the walls, then a couple of doors, then took up the plastic flooring that looks like it would work well in a garage and idly wondered of an artist could use it for messy work.. Throughout the day I met some really lovely locals. Conrad Landin showed up with an excellent friend called Keith who had great chat so I got to know a bit more about the area and a lot more about Keith's son's bedroom flooring. Pia and Andrew brought me beer and were insanely generous lending me a fancy microphone so I can record a kickstarter video. Another guy called Andrew also stopped by to chat about wether I would have a section on books about trains (I might).
It was a hell of a day and I met so many great people I felt even more assured that I've picked the right place to set up shop. Finally, I'd like yo all to know that there is no joy greater than peeling decals off a window with a razor, tearing off strips of old lettering and making space for something new underneath.
That was day 1, I've now got 29 days left to build a bookshop, but I've got a spinny chair and several screwdrivers so I think it's all going to work out.