Bookshop Stories
Bookshop Stories is a podcast that explores the world of independent bookshops, featuring conversations with owners and staff about the realities of running these businesses. Each episode discusses the vital role bookshops play in their communities and the challenges they face in the modern retail landscape. The show also delves into the future of bookselling, offering insights into how these cultural hubs are adapting. With plenty of talk about books, authors, and recommended reads, it appeals to book lovers, while also engaging listeners interested in business, culture, and local community life.
Episodes
Episode 6 | What it takes to survive 50 years in bookselling: Ron Johns, Falmouth Bookseller, Cornwall
What does it take to survive more than 50 years as an independent bookseller?Ron Johns started working in the book trade in 1969. Five years later, armed with £800 borrowed from his dad, he opened his first bookshop in Plymouth.Today, at 74, Ron runs three independent bookshops in Cornwall – the Falmouth Bookseller, St Ives Bookseller and Padstow Bookseller – as well as his own publishing company,
Episode 5 | Can you build a bookshop simply around your own tastes?: Seb Reilly, Plunder (Ramsgate, Kent)
Most businesses start by asking what their customers want.Seb Reilly did the opposite.After leaving what he calls a "proper job", Seb opened Plunder in Ramsgate: a pirate-themed independent bookshop, tearoom and immersive smugglers' museum. He didn't commission market research, chase publishing trends or try to stock every bestseller. Instead, he built the place he wanted to spend time in, filled
Bookshop Stories Episode 4 | Can you build a home a long way from home?: Andrea Moreau, Read The Room (Nice, France)
What does it take to open an independent English-language bookshop in the South of France?For Andrea Moreau, the answer began with a move from South Africa to Nice to be closer to her grown-up children. Less than two years later, she and her daughter, Danae, had opened Read The Room – an independent English-language bookshop and café just beyond Nice's historic old town.In this episode of Book
Bookshop Stories Episode 3 | Can opening a bookshop help you find a new direction?: Jacqui Delbaere, Little Green Bookshop (Herne Bay, Kent)
When Jacqui Delbaere opened The Little Green Bookshop in Herne Bay, she wasn't simply fulfilling a lifelong dream of owning a bookshop. She was responding to a moment in life when everything had changed.After a career in public relations, her children leaving home and the end of her marriage, Jacqui found herself asking a question many of us face at different points in our lives: what comes n
Bookshop Stories Episode 2 | Can a creative writer make a better bookseller?: Lucy Atkinson, Back of Beyond Books (Sedgefield, County Durham)
Lucy Atkinson imagined her future surrounded by books, but not quite like this.After completing a PhD in English and Creative Writing, specialising in historical witchcraft in fiction, Lucy expected to continue writing and researching stories. Instead, she spotted an empty shop in the County Durham town where she'd grown up, realised it was the only thing Sedgefield was missing, and decided to
Bookshop Stories Episode 1 | The fourteen-year dream: Emily Partridge and Black Cat Books (Launceston, Cornwall)
For fourteen years, Emily Partridge dreamed of opening a bookshop.While working in education, she imagined creating a place where people could browse, discover new authors, sit with a cup of tea and lose themselves among the shelves. Like so many long-held ambitions, though, it was always something for “one day” – until redundancy forced a decision that would change her life.In this, the very firs
Bookshop Stories – Trailer
Bookshop Stories shines a light on the people, businesses, and future of independent bookshops.In each episode, we speak to people who run bookshops around the world about the reality of the business, the role their shops play in their communities, and what the future of bookselling actually looks like.If you love books and bookshops, this is the podcast for you (there's plenty of chat about b
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