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.

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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.

 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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..

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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.

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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.

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Seasons of Retail

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Quiz time quiz time quiz time

Many updates on the main Oxfam website worth looking into.

During the week of March 8th, Oxfam is asking us to celebrate women’s achievements for International Women’s Days. Browse through the tabs at the link for more information on why this is important and why you should get involved.  

Follow these links for information about floods on Sri Lanka and Colombia, and updates on Pakistan and Haiti.  There’s also an excellent general guide to Oxfam’s work here, well worth a look.

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February is Crime Month at the bookshop. We’ve seen a significant growth in crime donations and sales across our network over the last few years. It’s a genuine success story. For us, Crime Month has been great for drawing in new customers and showcasing the variety of stock we have.  

Also our fifth Literary Quiz will be happening in February at the 78, probably in the last week. I’ll update with the exact date as soon as we finalise it. It will be fiendish, as always.

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2011

I think “The Year Britain Froze” is the title of an upcoming Channel 4 show about the extreme winter we’ve had (I say ‘had’ in the hope that another similar freeze is not lurking in late Jan/early Feb). Regardless, businesses must be run as best they can. It was a difficult period, both for us and retail in general, but we’ve survived intact (and this is including a spate of local power-cuts in the run-up). The last week of Christmas trading was a lifesaver for the bookshop, balancing the slower footfall we were experiencing over December in general. It’s Christmas after all, and people simply have to get what they need, grit or no grit.

So, forward then, with an eye on the end of financial year. There’s a lot happening in between now and then. Comic Relief, Valentine’s, Fairtrade Fortnight to name a few events. And at the shop we have our annual crime month in February. At the moment we’re concentrating on promoting gift aid, the scheme whereby we can reclaim tax on sales of donated goods. This amounts to considerable extra revenue for us as a network, so it’s important to ensure the public are aware of Gift Aid and how it benefits us when they sign up.

I hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year, and here’s to 2011.

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