Last month, I took part in the Booksellers Association’s Shopfloor Publishers Scheme, a project that invites publishers to spend a day working on the shop-floor of a bookshop.
As someone who applied to be a Christmas bookseller at Waterstones in Preston, where I grew up, every year, I jumped at the chance to fulfil a lifelong curiosity: what is it like to work in a bookshop?
When I arrived at Chorleywood Bookshop in Rickmansworth on Monday 23rd September, they’d unfortunately been the victim of adverse weather conditions. Heavy rain meant the shop had flooded, soaking some of their merchandise, so it was all hands on deck from the start. Sheryl, the owner, had already mopped up most of the water, and rescued what could be rescued; we heard that cars were floating in the car park just down the road!
Whilst in the bookshop, the phone rang frequently. I took a number of these calls, and it was often customers asking if we had a certain book in stock, asking about an upcoming event, or returning a call about collecting an order. I also made a number of calls, including to Gardners (the UK’s largest book wholesaler) to check the stock status of a number of titles which customers asked us to source: was the book out of stock? And when would more stock be made available?.
It was a busy day for deliveries, and a number of boxes were delivered throughout the day. As soon as we had cleared one delivery from the bookshop floor, another would come in. We unboxed incoming stock, which was a mix of new books, customer orders and event stock. We separated customer orders, and kept them to one side to be collected later. The bookshop had a handy system which texted the customer to let them know their order had come in. We also made a note of any damaged orders, books which had been damaged in transit, and requested replacements of any damaged copies we unboxed. I’ve included some photos here of just a couple of the damaged books we unboxed.
One of the highlights of my day in the bookshop was assisting with selecting and wrapping books for the shop’s Virtual Schools project, which sees the local council provide free books for carers and the children they care for. We looked at the books they’d enjoyed previously, and tried to pick similar titles based on what they liked to read. It was fascinating to see what Francesca, one of the booksellers, chose for both the adults and the children, based on their age and interests. We then wrapped these books in wrapping paper, to go to recipients. I hope they were well received!
It was so nice to meet some of the bookshop regulars, who visit the shop and attend events frequently. Clearly, Chorleywood Bookshop plays a huge role in the local community, and is a warm and friendly space for residents to visit and browse.
At the end of the day, we closed the doors, cashed up, and made sure everything was tidy and ready for the following day. We had 69 paying customers, some of whom bought books, others bought cards, and a few kids came in to use National Book Tokens.
It was amazing to experience bookselling first-hand, and I’d just like to thank the Booksellers Association and the brilliant booksellers at Chorleywood Bookshop for this invaluable opportunity. Head to MUP’s Instagram and TikTok pages to see a video diary of my day in the bookshop.
Also a quick reminder to support your local bookshops, both independent and chain, this Bookshop Day (and throughout the year!). Christmas is coming, so when you start your book-shopping, be sure to choose bookshops.