- Are you an internet cafe?
- where is the internet cafe?
- can I do a money transfer here?
- Can I do copies here?
- How long have you been here?
- Can you keep an eye on my car in case a traffic warden comes along?
- are you open?
It's obviously going to take a bit of time for people to get used to there being a bookshop in Wood Green again, and we need to let as many people know as possible. Despite this blog being as popular as it is, and having a facebook group of nearly 400, and despite being in the local paper for the last 3 weeks, and being on the evening news 3 weeks ago, most of our potential customers have no idea we're here. And we knew this was going to be the case, hence phase 64 of the 'Great Plan'. We're doing a mixture of going back to basics and trying new things to get our name out there. I've posted about 500 flyers through letterboxes yesterday, and I have another 500 to do today. We've persuaded the library (London's 2nd most popular) to let us advertise on there big plasma screen, and Tim's putting together a powerpoint thingy for it today. We're also putting some more signs at the corner of the road we're on with arrows on saying 'Bookshop, this way', having been given permission from the owners of the buildings on the corner.
And we're starting to pull together an events programme. We've got an Easter Fun Day for families, a week on saturday, and I'm hopefully negotiating something with the London Rollergirls at the moment, of which more to follow
could be fun.....We'll, I'd better get flyering.
Don't hold your breath guys. We still get people coming in saying "Didn't this used to be a cookware shop?" and "How long have you been here?" almost two years down the line!
ReplyDeleteOf course, you could turn this on its head and start offering money transfers, copying and Internet access - could be quite lucrative!
Our premises used to be a camera shop and we still get people wandering in brandishing their Nikon's asking if we fix cameras. I've grown tired of patiently explaining and now just say that although we're a bookshop I have a screwdriver out the back and I'm willing to have a crack at it if they wish. Then they look around and the truth of the situation dawns on them.
ReplyDeleteI also get people asking "do you only sell children's books" as though the foot high lettering on the front proclaiming "The Children's Bookshop" wasn't clear enough...
this is such a lovely blog, i wish you all the luck in the world. just popped over from stroudgreen.org.
ReplyDeleteI've got a new enquiry for you: Got any of my books on your shelves? Pretty sure I know the answer to that one ... ;-)
ReplyDeleteGood luck and keep posting!