Our shop, our people and the work we love
About our shop
When there’s an opportunity I visit bookshops. In the past six months I have gone in and introduced myself to Bàrd Books on Roman Road in East London, and Boekhandel Bijleveld in Utrecht, Netherlands. I have admired their stock, wondering about the fate of books they do not sell. I would never take such risks! The reason that both shops do take risks is that the leafy groves of the capital and the wealthy canal-sides of Holland are a hinterland of disposable income. We don’t have a lot of that in Dudley.
The answer? Work harder. Convince more people of the supreme value of the reading experience, that it is more-worth your limited financial resources than other competing consumables. Reflect your belief through your pricing, your curation, your presentation, your pride.
All those who have worked at the bookshop have understood this, though at very different levels. The perception of a post-GCSE student, looking for occupation (and some gain) between June and September, just isn’t the same as well-read late-twenties, or even those later in life, toughened by hard experience, who see in books the first step over the wall.
There’s a ‘churn’ of personnel. Some stay a few weeks just to help, but I do not accept long-term volunteers. The word is from voleo – ‘I wish’ – whereas the words for work are always less gentle: werk, travaille, lavorare, shugul or the Old English swinke. Always the hard sound, connecting with the hard metal of money.
So those who work here do not get rich, but they get something. Then there is a penumbra of people who just help on occasions – do practical jobs, provide advice, communicate the shop more widely. Are representative of its values.
Customers are rotational. By that, their returns to the bookshop are in cycles – of one week perhaps, but more often a matter of months, sometimes years. When I can, I collect email addresses and add these to a list, informing of the Poetry Breakfast – and so aim to keep in touch.
I would like to see that number – of people who visit cyclically – rise to include diverse groups who find their interests and identities reflected in the bookshop’s stock.
Our team
So many people, over time, have brought about the present moment. Notable among them have been Jack Bowater, Ronaldo Hare, Rachael Blount, Erica Wood and Claire Tedstone.
Jack
Ronaldo
Erica
Claire
The Old Place
Jack arrived in the shop in the summer of 2018 having just finished a Chemistry degree at Nottingham University. After first buying quantities of philosophy and classical literature he offered to work. He brought both practicality and vision; he has a skillset that comprises computer technology, spatial awareness and the ability to use just about any tool he picked up. Back then, I thought the second floor was no-go for visitors – too murky, dirty and drab, suitable only for storage. Jack however relishes the impossible and went to work with paintbrush, electric drill and endless planking. Over four years he moved the place forward. Whenever he reappears now a few jobs get done, and he is content to receive the work of great thinkers, in tatty copies, in return.
Ronaldo approached us at the end of 2018 – he was actually eighteen a the time – to ask if there were events that he could help us to organise. In fact he took over the whole running of what was to become the present Poetry Breakfast, recruiting performance poets through social media expertise, through visiting large-scale poetry events at Birmingham Town Hall and through professionally surveying the audiences to find out what they most wished for in the presentation. Ronaldo has taken his marketing skills since those times, in the bookshop’s Reading Room, The Old Glasshouse and The Court House, to his own property business, but he remains in touch – an instigator of culture and true friend of the bookshop.
Rachael had an Arts degree from far away Falmouth, had returned home to Tipton to do various jobs before coming to us in 2020. At the time I had bought a magnificent and vast collection of sci-fi; she saw the mystery of the building she worked in, and began to adapt it accordingly, and began the work of adornment. She was also a practised online seller and opened up new markets. Her business sense was unwavering. Not surprisingly we could not keep her for more than 15 months; she went to work for Virgin Media.
Erica took over the work Rachael had begun: the development of the Children’s Section. She had an eye for what appeals to younger readers; she also had a great way with customers young and old. Her special strength was her problem-solving. When parties were organised (book launches, opening of new rooms) Erica always brought a calm reassurance to the operation.
Claire Tedstone became involved with the bookshop early in March 2022. Her work had brought her into contact with local Middle-Eastern background artists, and the bookshop became venue for production of an ornate banner, that would lead a procession celebrating Nawruz, a Persian-origin festivity marking the spring equinox. The procession, to Priory Park, took place on a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon, and was attended by hundreds.
The New Place
Jayne and Elizabeth have been supporters of the bookshop from its Old Place days. Their loyalty survived the move. Along with Jayne’s daughter Nic, they transformed the interior of the current premises. The book-loving public have much to be grateful for in this energetic trio.
Of the trio, sadly only Liz remains. It is her staying-power that has sustained the bookshop for five years now. She has even encouraged her younger family members to join the book trade! Ryan Parsons joins us on Saturdays, effective with tech and does a good job heaving heavy crates of books up the narrow stairway to the storage above.
Jack visits periodically, and throws himself into whatever the work is on a particular day. What were general DIY skills he has developed to a professional level; he now fits and renovates people’s conservatories. Ronaldo’s early promotional activities laid the basis for a career, a profitable venture into property.
Just as we always pay for book-collections that we take into the shop. Everybody who works here gets some money in return. This is the beginning of the school summer holiday as I write; I am currently grateful for the assistance of Shaan Kaur, Mehak Khan and her sister Henna. In the bookshop’s fourteen-year history so much of the progress that has been made has been through the involvement of young people, their curiosity and enthusiasm.
We love what we do
Our mission is to revitalise reading – for the activity of reading to be seen in a new light.
We do this through trade. Those who have books to sell receive a realistic sum. They are shareholders in the enterprise, in the same way as our workers and customers.
Some collections come straight to our door; others I have to go out and seek. I’m often asked, where do all these books come from? The answer is, I’m doing deals all the time. If a book is respected, hasn’t had 100,000 copies printed (in which case it’s the territory of big warehouse sellers as its value is likely to be very low) and its condition is good, then I will try to buy it.
We aim to become main stockists of regional authors. That is to say, both on website and in the shop’s street-level Entry Room, you will find these writers’ work, placed alphabetically, ready for sale. If ordered online or by phone, the books can either be collected or sent via a carrier.
‘Local Authors’ is our special function. Hosting a monthly Poetry Breakfast we are in touch with many creatives. We think highly of their work and want it to reach a wider readership. The (often) local setting amplifies a sense of community and the self within that community. Further, we believe, in the case of poetry, the reading of work that has been performed can only deepen the experience of the work. Reading is a means to internalise the ‘voices’ of others, and we are better for their presence.
Our work process
Work begins at nine. The first item to be dealt with is the online sales.
Searching the shelves can be disheartening, to put it mildly, but at the time of writing we retain a five-star rating from Abebooks, our principal selling platform.
After checking bank accounts and having a first view of email there is coffee at 11.00. Those present go over the work ahead and then disperse, to list books, to maintain the stock and to open up the shop down below.
Those working above are scarcely aware of the drift of customers along the landings, so absorbed are we in our functions. But conversation is always irresistible and the opportunity to discuss literature or to tell ‘our story’ is rarely bypassed. So the day goes on till three when, unless it is a Thursday or a Saturday, the shop closes and the basic work of parcel-wrapping and washing up goes on till departure at five.
That is the ‘day’ in the bookshop. It can be hard on the back, when lifting. The shop contains distant rooms that can be cold in winter. It is an ancient building so there is always something to be repaired. When you get home you find you’re tired, and can’t remember what you did all that time. The next morning though, for all that the place is cold, the winter sun may be streaming through the east-facing windows of the second floor. You feel like doing it all over again.