Wednesday, March 05, 2008

It Almost Looks Like A Bookshop

Simon;

Is it Wednesday? I seem to have lost all track of time. And i'm finding it hard to write this, which means I must be tired. Come on Simon, pull yourself together.

The Bertram's stock control system is fully installed and seems OK. It's a mixture of systems that we're familiar with and stuff that we'll have to get used to. I think we'll be winging it a bit for the first week or twelve, but as long as we can look up books order them and sell them we should be OK.

More books arrived today (red bookcases again?)It seems that the shop's filling up nicely. I've placed a big order with Baker and Taylor (an American Distributor), which will really cheer me up if it arrives before Saturday. But we'll definitely have a full bookshop. There's plenty of room to add to the range. I'd say that we'll be at 2/3rds capacity when we open. We've deliberately made sure that we didn't over order, as we'll have a better idea what to stock once we've opened, and we need some budget to order then.

Today was a short one at the shop, and we left at about 7pm. Nina, a previous facebook volunteer came in today to help, as did Claire, who's started putting the kids section in some sort of order.
We've printed out the flyers now and we started distributing them already. We reckon we'll get rid of about 5,000 in the next 3 days. That ought to do it.

Here's a picture of Tim, with what looks like his head is in a white box.
He also looks like he's doing a fancy disco move. He has found the tiled floor entertaining, and I occasionally see him skidding past me. I think the skiddy floor might be a real focal point for the kids...

Just so you don't think all the bookcases are red...Oooooh, don't I look busy. I am in fact checking off the Mind Body and Spirit section, which was a real treat, oh yes.

Look Look, here's another picture of me being busy with books This is a lie, as i'm just pretending to look busy. This is a trick that is often used in bookshops, which I have replicated to show how easy it is.

Some areas of the shop are coming together
and we're putting together a display bay for the authors who are coming to see us on Saturday. There's lots more to add, but you kind of get the idea.

And here's a can of 7up

The sign is hopefully arriving tomorrow, and we have a team of people coming in tomorrow afternoon to make up the goodie bags, and to blow up Big Green Balloons, and maybe make the shop look purdy. You never know, we might just make it...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

they do say though, "red and green should never be seen"...?

um, good luck.

Steerforth said...

It's looking great and I think you're completely right to hold back on the stock until the sales info starts to come in.

A friend of mine lives in your neck of the woods and I think you're also writing something for him - he's Deputy Editor at Retail Week - and said that he liked the Ottakar's/Waterstone's in Wood Green, but thought the stock was too similar to WHS. From the photos it looks like you'll have a really good range that offers something different.

Good luck!

Anonymous said...

It's looking fab and I wish I could be there for your grand opening.
My single tracks are now at no 53, 61 and 63 in the HMV top 100 download chart. Does that make me officially a pop star then?

Kate said...

I have been so very jealous of Mark for getting to come and help you, stuck in Wolverhampton I cannot! However I currently have Graham Marks' cousin working in my branch - another connection to the Big Green Goodness. It looks fab and I will come and see you next time I make it to the big smoke.