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 17 | A bookshop for just 1,500 locals – and thousands passing through: Katharine Douglas, Ullapool Bookshop (Scottish Highlands)
What does it take to run a bookshop in a tiny Highland village that welcomes thousands of visitors from around the world?This week, Bookshop Stories heads to Ullapool, a picturesque harbour village on Scotland’s northwest coast, where the mountains are dramatic, the landscape is ancient and the population numbers just 1,500.Here, just a short walk from the waterfront, Katharine Douglas manages Ull
Episode 16 | Who says there's a right way to run a bookshop?: Alex Call, Bert’s Books (Swindon)
What should an independent bookshop look like? What books should it sell? And who gets to decide?This week on Bookshop Stories, I'm joined by Alex Call, owner of Bert's Books in Swindon, who's built a thriving independent bookshop by doing things very much his own way.After nearly 20 years at WH Smith, where he rose to become head of books marketing, Alex now combines a physical shop w
BONUS Episode 15 | So, how did Tilly Fitzgerald's opening weekend go: Tilly’s Bookshop (Worthing, West Sussex)
Just a few days ago, Tilly Fitzgerald opened her doors to customers for the very first time. The people of Worthing – along with hundreds more who had been followed Tilly (aka tillylovesbooks) online for years – came out in their droves.But what was going on behind the scenes at Tilly's Bookshop? I caught up with an exhausted Tilly to find out in this special bonus episode.Follow Bookshop Stor
Episode 15 | Why a bookfluencer with 200k followers is opening a bookshop: Tilly Fitzgerald, Tilly’s Bookshop (Worthing, West Sussex)
What happens when you've built an audience of 200,000 book lovers online, but what you really want is a little bookshop of your own?For six years, Tilly Fitzgerald has been recommending books on social media, helping thousands of people discover new authors and rediscover their love of reading. Now she's swapping Instagram for the high street, opening Tilly’s Bookshop in Worthing, West Sus
Episode 14 | How to build a bookshop for a new generation: Aimée Madill, Phlox Books (London)
In early-1980s Belfast, a young couple opened a shop selling art books, Scandinavian design, bespoke furniture and cappuccinos. They called it Phlox. Decades later, their daughter brought the name back to life in East London.In this episode of Bookshop Stories, Tom Idle meets Aimée Madill, owner of Phlox Books on Francis Road in Leyton, to discover how she's created a new generation of the fam
Episode 13 | Can a bookshop change the reading culture of an entire town?: Richard Drake and Melanie Greenwood, Drake The Bookshop (Stockton-on-Tees)
Richard Drake and Melanie Greenwood never planned to become booksellers. Richard was a maths and PE teacher, Mel worked in environmental policy, and Drake The Bookshop began after a visit to a bookshop café in Penrith planted an idea that refused to go away.Eleven years later, their independent bookshop has become part of the fabric of Stockton-on-Tees.In this episode of Bookshop Stories, Richard
Episode 12 | Romance isn’t a trend. But are romance bookshops?: Cassie Simmons, Main Character Books (London)
Romance is booming, and a string of romance-only bookshops are opening across the UK. But is this the beginning of a lasting change in bookselling – or are we watching a bubble form?For Episode 12 of Bookshop Stories, Tom meets Cassie Simmons, founder of Main Character Books, the romance specialist in London’s Spitalfields Market.Cassie’s route into bookselling was far from conventional. A former
Episode 11 | Meet the accidental bookseller (and accidental author): Shaun Bythell, The Bookshop (Wigtown, Scotland)
Shaun Bythell never particularly wanted a career. After graduating with a law degree, he deliberately avoided anything resembling one, spending his twenties working on gas pipelines, planting trees, building dry-stone walls and taking temporary jobs.Then, aged 30, he went home to Wigtown for Christmas and the owner of the local secondhand bookshop asked if he fancied buying it.Twenty-five years la
Episode 10 | Can a bookshop replace the pub? Vicki Shenkin Kerr, Bàrd Books (London)
When Vicki Shenkin Kerr opened Bàrd Books on Roman Road in East London, she wanted to create more than somewhere to buy books. Drawing on 20 years working in hospitality, she imagined a neighbourhood space where people could browse, drink coffee, stay for a glass of wine, meet friends, hear poetry, play chess or simply spend some time.Two years later, Bàrd has become exactly that – and Vicki has d
Episode 9 | Can honesty save a bookshop?: Georgia Eckert, Imagined Things (Harrogate, Yorkshire)
What happens when a bookshop owner admits that business is going badly? In 2018, Georgia Eckert closed out a particularly quiet day at Imagined Things, her independent bookshop in Harrogate, having taken just £12.34. Rather than quietly worrying about it, she did something business owners are often told not to do: she told everyone.Her tweet went viral. Authors shared it, journalists called, custo
Episode 8 | How do you reinvent a 50-year-old bookshop? Cathy Hayward, Kemptown Bookshop (Brighton)
What do you do when you take over a bookshop that has already survived for half a century?Kemptown Bookshop in Brighton celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2026. It opened in 1976 and, remarkably, Cathy Hayward is only the third owner in its history. When Cathy bought the independent bookshop in 2022, she inherited much more than shelves full of books: there were established customers, experienced
Episode 7 | Should you ever open a bookshop with your mum?: Linda Furniss and James Firth, The Stripey Badger Bookshop (Grassington, Yorkshire)
What happens when your mum's lifelong dream becomes your career?Linda Furniss had wanted to own a bookshop since she was five years old. Her son James Firth had just finished an astrophysics degree and needed a job.It was James who eventually persuaded Linda that if she was ever going to open the bookshop she'd spent decades imagining, she needed to do it now.So, in 2018, they opened The S
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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