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Tuesday, 17 September 2013

Books are my bag campaign

Have you heard about the books are my bag campaign? You can find out more about it here www.booksaremybag.com but basically it is the biggest ever campaign to support your local bookshops. On the 14th of September 2013, bookshops had a celebration with balloons, banners, bags, t-shirts and bookmarks spreading the theme #booksaremybag - Celebrities have taken part too and you can do your part if you haven't already.

Visit your local book shop and buy a book or two. I went out specifically looking to find a bookshop that was celebrating books are my bag and found a book store I had walked past and hadn't even noticed before. It is called Oswald Street Bookshop and can be found in 27 Oswald street, Glasgow - you can follow them on Twitter @OSBookshop

Here is some pictures from my visit:
I love books, I love bookshops and I love chatting with people about books. As much as I love Waterstones I have never really appreciated the smaller book stores or really went into them. This campaign has certainly made me appreciate them and think twice before ordering from a large chain or online.
I went inside and had a browse about the books, the shop is spread across one floor and all the books are focus around Scotland, be it authors or the country.

The owner is a gentleman called Denis who came over to see if I needed any assistance, he dealt with his customer and then came back to help me with my queries. I asked if he was involved in the campaign and we chatted about how I had heard about it. We then had a lovely chat about books, authors, the stock he had an how he could order any book in and that the shop had been open for 21 months. He recommended a new author to me and we discussed some other authors and chatted for a while longer. I cannot express how much of a difference this kind of personal customer service made than in a big chain where you are lucky to have a moment to chat with the cashier. As a result I will be heading back to put in an order for my next read and hope to continue supporting local book shops. If you have a chance, please stop by. You can join the chat and share your pics on Twitter with the hash tag #booksaremybag or on facebook, just search books are my bag.
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6 comments:

  1. B Reading17 September 2013 at 22:49

    I should have supported this instead of going to the book fair. It was a very good event, I don't know which of our local stores were involved though in as there is only one independent bookshop near me.

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  2. Ann Summerville17 September 2013 at 23:30

    Unfortunately our local independent book stores have closed. It's shame because it was a great place for author events.
    Ann

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  3. The Bookworm19 September 2013 at 03:20

    Great campaign! I have a few indie bookstores not too far from me. I really should go. It sounds like you had a great experience at the small bookshop. That does make all the difference.

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  4. Ellie19 September 2013 at 16:14

    It's great if you've got a fab local bookshop to support, although outside of cities, they are few and far between. It's hard to justify spending twice the amount in a store you don't even like. Our bookshop chains are in as much trouble as indie bookshops too (and are included in this campaign).

    I'm still shopping online, I just can't get the books or service I want locally.

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  5. Anonymous23 September 2013 at 06:49

    Sounds very very good. :)

    Thanks for the "follow"

    Happy Reading!

    ReplyDelete
  6. LindyLouMac23 September 2013 at 13:50

    Sadly there is no longer a bookshop, in Tywyn but I had heard about the campaign.

    ReplyDelete