Sticky: Oxfam International Updates

EAST AFRICA APPEAL – Latest info on Oxfam’s response and how to donate here:

https://donate.oxfam.org.uk/eastafrica?intcmp=hp_hero_ea-barrow_080111

THE SYSTEM’S BUST – Excellent stuff here, join our GROW campaign to help fix the system:

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/get_involved/system/?intcmp=hp_column-1_system-join_030811

PAKISTAN FLOODS – One year on, an update:

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam_in_action/emergencies/pakistan-floods-one-year-on.html?intcmp=hp_more-stories_pakistan1yr_030811

We have been silent too long …..

Hey folks , sorry we have been silent for what seems like an eternity in blog years . We will however try to make amends for that. We are breaking our silence to let you what’s happening in our world over the next few weeks .

On July 14th 2012 we are welcoming the team from Just Trading Scotland to promote the Eswatini range of products in our shops .Have a look at their website http://www.justtradingscotland.co.uk/categories/902-Eswatini-Swazi-Kitchen/productsand pop along on the day. By purchasing a marmalade or chutney you will be supporting a worthwhile cause .

 

Also upcoming is author James Christie promotion.On july 19th at 7.30pm James will be joining us to promote his book “Dear Miss Landau…” .If you would like to know more you can check out his publishers page here http://www.chaplinbooks.co.uk/authors.html. Tickets are £2.00 redeemable against your  purchase on the night . Our readings are normally very chilled with drinks and fairtrade nibbles provided by us .We hope to see you there .

Hopefully we will keep you up to date on ourselves soon.

Brief update

It’s been six months since our last post. Rest assured we’re still here, still busy. One of our New Year’s resolutions after a hectic Christmas period was to be more regular with our blog postings. So here, slightly later than expected, we are.

Currently it’s Crime Time at the Byres Road book shop in Glasgow, with a big promotion on crime fiction from the classic to the contemporary. There are more big promotions planned in the coming year. Stay tuned for more news.

Upcoming event: Syd Sharp returns.

Our posts are fast becoming a monthly rather than bi-weekly thing. We are experiencing a sustained surge in donation at present, in part due to Bookfest, part due to summer clearing out. While it can be tough to manage so much stock, the benefits are clear and immediate: more quality stock + more choice = increased sales. Last year Bookfest accounted for a makor spike in sales across the network, so it will be interesting to see how this year fares.

The extra quiz we put on for Bookfest was a great success. A full house in attendence, and £120 raised for East Africa (thanks everyone, especially the table of women who bought strip after strip of tickets). We also had our talk  on the poor houses of Glasgow, so we’d like to send our personal thanks to our volunteer Alasdair Ramage, whose presentation it was.

*

This month sees Syd Sharp return to the shop to showcase more of his bookbinding and printing expertise. Syd did an interactive  workshop in the shop previously and we had a lot of queries about running it or something similar again. This time round, he’ll be talking about Letterpress printing using an Adana printer. Attendees will get a chance to muck in and make their own small booklets. It’s a great chance to see an increasingly esoteric craft in action, so mark the date and get along. It’s on Thurs 25th August at 7pm, on the shop sales area. Tickets are free, though we would like to ask people to donate an amount of their choice to the East Africa appeal. For any further info, contact us at the shop.  

*

Lastly, there is currently a sale of selected New Product goods in the shop (you’ll find similar reductions at the moment in any Oxfam shop that carries New Product). Up to 80% off is being offered. The gardening range from last year didn’t last too long, and at the moment there are some other bargains to be had from the old stationery range (including a quite cool clock made from recycled cups), as well as reductions to many of our card lines.

And staying on topic, its worth mentioning that we had the highest gross sales of New Product of any Oxfam shop over the first quarter of this year, the first time we’ve ever topped this offer. Here’s hoping the trend carries on through the run in and through Christmas ’12.

 

 

Bookfest Literary Quiz Special

Busy busy here with us. But not so busy that I can’t find a minute to mention an extra instalment of our Literary Quiz, running as part of Oxfam’s Bookfest 2011. It’s slightly short notice, but it’s on Tuesday 12th July, 9pm at The 78 Kelvinhaugh St. Prizes for the winning teams, free entry. If you’re not on holiday, there are only poor excuses.

The following night we have another event. A talk by one of our volunteers, Alastair Ramage, on the poorhouses of Glasgow. It’s on in the stote, 7.30pm start, and you can get tickets on the door or in advance from us. Admission is £2 and all proceeds go to Oxfam.

*

Other than this, well, donations have risen over the last few weeks, and we are seeing some excellent stuff. We have dedicated a section of our floor to Folio Society publications, mainly due to the enormous collection we recently received (three trips by car). If you’re unfamiliar with these works, they are hardbound, slipcased and illustrated editions of classic works. History, litertature, biography, humour, they cover a lot of subjects. They make perfect gifts and many of the editions no longer reprinted by FS can be quite collectible. Anyway, the upshot is, we currently have a broad range of these titles in excellent condition, sitting on our floor, screaming to be bought. Get them while there still here.

 

Quiz dates confirmed for June and July

Took a little longer than anticipated to get it sorted, but it is now. Tuesday 14th June is the next one. And for Bookfest 2011 we’ll run an extra quiz on Tuesday July 12th. Both will be hosted, as always, at The 78 bar in Glasgow’s West End. Teams may be any size and it’s free to enter. Prizes for the top teams.. 

In case you’re not familiar with Bookfest, follow this link to get the basic idea on what it is and what to expect this year, including our ongoing partnership with the Hay festival . There is also a book donation drive running from the 14th May to the 6th June. This bolsters our stock levels in anticipation of the increased sales that the shops have come to expect around Bookfest fortnight. So please have a mooch about and see what else you really, truly don’t need to be hanging onto and consider donating it. It’s worth saying too that you don’t have to give specifically to the standalone bookshops. Bookfest incorporates all Oxfam shops that sell books, whether as their sole offer or as part of a ‘standard’ offer including clothing, bric-a-brac and the like. In fact. it’s the local suburban shops who benefit most from this influx of stock.

*

For yet another year, the Byres Road bookshop was the top ranked bookshop in 2010-2011 by NSC (or ‘net shop contribution’, the profitability of an Oxfam store) across the entire Oxfam network. In the current retail climate, we consider this a significant achievement and John and I would like to extend our warmest thanks to all of our volunteer team and our customer base. We would have no business to even speak of without the generosity and time of many people. We hope we can have another trading year like it in 2011/2012.

*

Lastly, our series of Spring promotions continues with our Antiquarian Sale. Following Crime month, and the yearly Postcard and Vintage Kids sales, we’ve decided to give over the space to a selection of older volumes. It’s a very eclectic mix of subjects and formats and it’ll be open to browse and buy for a few weeks yet.

Quiz time again

The date is to be confirmed but it will likely be around the third week of May. Slightly shorter lead-in time for this one but we hope it will be well attended as usual. Like I say, I don’t have a confirmation from the 78 yet. Just putting the good word out.

*

The postcard sale will be winding down toward the end of the month, though there’s still plenty of fresh stock going out on a weekly basis. The sale always does well, lots of bulk buying. One customer spent over a hundred pounds in one purchase. It took three of us a good fifteen minutes just to sort it in to similar-prices stacks. Come back any time..

*

The full range of the new Stationery lines have arrived and are on the shop floor for purchase. Some really nice recycled notebooks, writing paper, envelopes. Should go well.

*

Lastly, if you are still feeling the need for chocolate, you can still bag a post-easter bargain. Handful of eggs going cheap and cheerful, if you’ll excuse the unintended and awful pun.

Seasons of Retail

It does kind of divide into seasons. So April is the January equivalent: the new (financial) year.

*

The kids antiquarian sale went well this year. One customer can take credit for a disproportinately large percentage of the sales. A sound marriage of supply and demand. Many thanks Mr.

And so we come to another annual promotion: Old Postcards. This tends to be very popular, with people/collectors often buying  £10/£20 at a  time. In fact, no sooner were the bones of the display out on Monday morning than someone spent over £30. Postcards accumalate throughout the year and there’s usually a surplus from the previous years sale too. I recommend getting in sooner rather than later if this is a field of interest.

*

Easter food is in, cause it’s getting to that time. And our new Stationery range is due. Our shop New Products will then be complete for this period of 2011 and will comprise:

– Oxfam Everyday Cards

-All-year-round food

– ‘Everyday’ range (includes cleaning products, toiletries)

– ‘Gardening’ range

– ‘Stationery’ range

– Easter Food

And not to forget: Cath Tate cards, Leeds Postcards.

*

Lastly, a mention of the Byres Road Oxfam Music shop. They have had a shop floor refit, and while I haven’t personally seen it, I’m assured, it’s very cool.

Caro Ramsay & Pat McIntosh

A last minute reminder that we have Caro Ramsay coming to read from her work tomorrow night at 7.30 in the bookshop. Caro stock is ever-rising as a crime author and she’s an interesting speaker. The event is in aid of Oxfam’s ‘Bit of a Do’ campaign around International Women’s Day (see previous posts for links). Tickets can be purchased at the shop for £3 and they’ll also be available on the night.

Then – date confirmed- next Wednesday, also at 7.30pm, we have Pat McIntosh (again, see previous post for more info). As with Caro, tickets will be £3 and available from us at the shop.

*

Finally today, I want to remind that our Vintage Childrens Book promotion is in full swing, and doing very well. Stock is starting to get limited now so please come and check out what we have sooner rather than later.

Many little things.

Many thanks again to the 78 for hosting our quiz. I was unable to make it this time, but by all accounts everything went as well as usual. Next one should be around May.

*

Crime month is winding down and making way for our retro Childrens books promotion. If quirky ephemera in this category appeals, please drop in. I’m not 100% sure exactly when it is but I’ll post here when I know.

*

We have some excellent events coming up in March. As I’ve previously mentioned here, during the week of March 8th, Oxfam is inviting you to celebrate women’s acheivements as part of Interenational Women’s Day (‘Have a Bit of a Do’ is the page name at Oxfam’s website).

At the bookshop we have Caro Ramsay, the celebrated crime author, returning for her second reading on Wed 9th March at 7.30. Tickets are available from us for £3 each. I found Caro to be an engaging and generous speaker last time. Recommended.

Also booked (date to be confirmed) is Pat McIntosh, author of medieval mysteries. Pat has also done a reading with us before. For the event that time she changed into a home-made reproductions of a medieval outfit for the event.  The Q&A involved many questions about historical detail and its incorporation into a contemporary genre. Unique, a bit of fun, and a must for fans.

*

Lastly today, just to draw attention to our refreshed New Product ranges on the cusp of Fairtrade Fortnight.

The new gardening range covers a range of goods from gloves to the popular Ellie Poo planter. There are even seed packs and plant kits for children that contain paints to customize their pot as they like.

The relaunched Everyday range includes some of the Faith toiletries range from previous years as well as the sub-range of toilet cleaner, fabric conditioner and washing powder that we’ve had in some form or another for a few years now. And the popular lipbalm that appeared before Christmas is also available, along with many other lines. Best to pop in to us and have a browse.

Date for the quiz & a £1700 classroom.

A date has been booked for out fifth Literary Quiz (these are a regular occurance now so I guess I should drop the numbering). It will be on Tuesday 22nd February in its usual venue, The 78, on Kelvinhaugh Street. Quizmaster Derek likes to change things up from quiz to quiz, as regulars will know, so center your chi and bring an open mind. And if you haven’t been before, it’s a predominantly literary quiz, branching out into related genres and sometimes film or other crossover topics . Prizes for the highest placed teams and decent food on offer if you want to get there early. Not a bad idea as it can be busy. Start time is usually 9 o’ clock, give or take.

*

A word of thanks and congratulations to Hyndland Primary School who raised £1700 pounds to purchase an Unwrapped classroom from us this week. I believe they organised a sponsored pirate treasure hunt. All credit to them, it’s a huge sum of money and it’s a generous and considerate gesture to use it for this end. Well done kids!

*

The new bookshop at Royal Exchange Square in Merchant City is due to open, hopefully by next week. The manager, Gillian, previously worked at the Ayr shop, and I think she’ll do a great job. It’s a smaller unit than ours, about a third the size of our shop (going by numbers of books) but it’s very stylish and striking. They’ll concentrate on high quality non-academic non-fiction and fiction offers, possibly offering some academic stock when the demand is high for that. I recommend a visit when it’s up and running.