shop displays

A Bit Of A Week

/ aspinalllucy / Leave a comment

So, it has been a bit of a week in the bookshop, a bit of a week indeed.

There are a lot of meanwhiles in this blog, I am warning you dear reader, but there is an update on the green sofa if you have been reading assiduously……

Let’s start with classical music. Our volunteer who does classical music was infuriated last year when the cat took away his carefully curated shelf of Christmas gift CDs which he had been saving for some months.

These are not those – just in case you are a classical music afficiando

No consolation or advance warning, a refusal to clear any other shelves to make room, just the explanation that there needed to be room for Oxfam new goods – gifts and the like – and ‘anyway classical music never sells.’

Well, this year the mice promised that the classical music Christmas gifts’ shelf would be preserved.

On Thursday, I got a call from that volunteer to say £250 worth of those curated and saved CDs had sold to one customer.

Meanwhile, another volunteer who sells jewellery online for us took her ‘collection’ of bits and pieces (odd earrings, a cigarette case etc) to a local jeweller for scrap value, and was hoping for about £50.

She got £215.

We were on a roll.

Meanwhile, don’t say I didn’t warn you, the model railway needed to be put on the table.

The very nice model railway expert came in late on Monday afternoon – we are closed then but that gives us time to do the table, the window, generally tarting up the shop without customers getting in the way.

He and I spent a couple of hours pricing up and presenting model railway stuff on the table.

I was very grateful, and pleased and then later in the week, he texted me to say he had Covid.

So, that means I have been in house-isolation ( bulbs getting planted.)

Meanwhile, it has sold really well – another bonus for the week.

Meanwhile, we have started on the green sofa.

And I have plans for the next few weeks.

Next week will have a jacket, a pair of wellies, a book The Perfect Puppy, Jess’s spare bed, dog treats, a lead and collar – you get the idea – and a photo of Jess in her bad days….

Meanwhile, when sorting some books the other day, we found a book called The Husband’s Mistake. We thought we could have a shirt with a lipstick smear on it.

And then I found these.

(Now, in case you don’t know Hemingway and Gellhorn were married and he was just a bit unfaithful…)

Meanwhile, the 1777 map.

So, we have got good photos of it and they are now with someone who lives in our village and who has a specialist auction business.

And, they are going to someone in Sotheby’s and another auction house – and we will see. But for the time being, here are the proper photos……

Oxfam Needs a Green Sofa

/ aspinalllucy / Leave a comment

I have an Oxfam plan  – but it may well not work out in practice so I am putting it out to you to imagine – because there will be only one photo. 

(Of course if it works, there will be lots more photos in another blog, or several….)

Assiduous reader, if you are still with me, you may well know that we have a window and table display to sort out.

The window lasts for two weeks but the table needs changing every week – you need books and extra supplies to keep them both filled when pesky customers start buying your display.

But this idea needs only one, or two, or a few books.

So, you walk into the shop and see a slightly battered old green Edwardian sofa.

It would be cleaner than it is now – but still not a pristine sofa.

Now, every week you would see a tableau.

Someone has just got up to make a cup of tea, go to the loo, answer the door, or whatever.

Their ‘life’ is left behind on the the sofa with room for a customer(s) to sit down if they need to.

( Our still-away cat has always refused to have sitting opportunities in the shop – one of the reasons why this might not work  –  but we have a demographic which appreciates the chance to rest while looking at books.)

You need to know that all the books mentioned are open and laid down – the sofa sitter has just put them down when called away.

So, back to your view of the sofa. These area few of the tableaus you might see.

You see some knitting, a cardigan and a pile of 1950s magazines.

There is a dog lead, a winter jacket, a bag of dog treats and a book on dog training.

Some wrapped Christmas presents, some sellotape, some Christmas cards and ’Twas The Night Before Christmas book or Its A Wonderful Life DVD.

And while I am on the festive theme, a dinner jacket and women’s sparkly bolero thrown over the back of the sofa, with her shoes discarded too. You could have a book on hangover cures…

A basket of clothes needing ironing, an iron (we still have four for those of you who have been reading for a while) and a copy of 50 Shades of Grey or The Handmaid’s Tale or The Female Eunuch.

A pair of binoculars, muddy boots on a newspaper sheet, a camera, a notebook and a book on bird-watching.

An Oxfam throw, a mug, packet of lemsip, a hot water bottle and a copy of Cold Comfort Farm.

Another Oxfam throw and some chocolate. DVDs such as when Harry Met Sally, Brief Encounter, or other ‘love’ films, and a copy of Graeme Green’s The End of the Affair.

A pile of old leather-bound books, a pair of slippers and a pipe.

A waistcoat and posh walking stick, maybe a hat, and a copy of a P G Wodehouse.

Laptop, notebook and phone and a novel – should have been working from home but got a bit distracted….

Cookery book, pinafore, shopping list, table plan, some napkins, and a note saying, ‘ You can’t get Yotam Ottolenghi ingredients in Petersfield.’

I think that is enough for now, but I have a longer list. Of course, I do.

We shall see if this ever works but I really hope it does.