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September 2009

Fabulous coincidences.

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This really is quite astounding.  Fom time to time customers hand in books that they have finshed reading, one such book was handed in the othe day. We went to price it up and there on the inside page was the name of a previous owner; my best friend of 30 years! To understand how remarkable this is our shop is in Cornwall she lives in Norwich but the book came from her Uni days in Bradford, 20 years ago! This book was sold by her at the end of the term so that she could afford the next term’s textbooks. For 20 years this book has floated along a river of readers until it finally ended up in my hands.

I’m posting it back to her!

And the book in question? Burger’s Daughter by Nadine Gordimer, she says it’s a brilliant read and that everyone shoud go and buy it. Unfortunately Hurley Books no longer has a copy 🙂

New range of cards

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Steve went up to Top Drawer recently and we will soon have lots of lovely new stationery lines and cards in the shop but how about this for stunning home grown talent. https://www.suzysharpe.net/ Suzy paints the most fabulous farmyard portraits and we are now stocking someof her greetings cards.

Where’s Wally (or who’s a Wally?)

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Well it would seem that spell checking isn’t my strongest point so many thanks to everyone who pointed out how to spell seagulls. I suspect that there are more so enjoy a Where’s Wally search at my expense. Nice that the blog is being read though so thanks 🙂

Liz

Vote for Us!

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OK shameless plug I’m afraid. The Telegraph are running their 2009 Shop Awards. You can nominate us under Local Shops Best for Home. Click on the link to nominate us.

So why nominate Hurley Books? We’re an independant bookshop based in Mevagissey. We have the support of locals and holiday makers alike and are open throughout the year. An unusual fact for a bookshop in a small village, behind the scenes we are large online sellers with a warehouse in St. Austell where we ship books all over the world. It’s our worldwide sales that means we can stay open over winter.

When you wander into the shop, music will be playing and if you want to request something we have Spotify which means you can have what ever you want to listen to whilst you browse. Our stock is always changing but my favourite area is the Retirement Shelf for Gentlebooks of a Distressed Persuasion. This is where you can find all theose beautifully bound books with glorious covers but that have no “commercial” value, books that were once collectable but are now so broken and ropey that only a book lover would want them.

I also love the train track and the fact that loads of children come in here simply to play whilst the parents can browse unhindered.

There isn’t a book printed that we can’t try and get hold of, of course we’re not always successful or the budget just doesn’t stretch far enough but we don’t care if it’s gone out of print, unlike Waterstones or Smiths we’re not tied to our suppliers. We build up libraries for people and have just furnished The Scarlet Hotel with a library as well as working for private individuals. If a whole library is too much we can package up a small box of books on a theme and deliver all over the highlands and islands of the UK and for something altogether more intimate we can arrange a special introduction with your perfect book. One that you’ve never read before but we think you’ll love.

Finally, whoever is behind the counter knows their books and will greet you with a smile and a bit of knowledge if asked for and if we’re quiet they’ll put the kettle on for you as well. Oh and the dog’s welcome as well.

Now, have we convinced you? If so please vote and it would be lovely to meet you in person some day.

Not bursting at the seams!

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Just realised my last post title leads me nicely into the acquisition of our new fatsac. Better than a beanbag because when you go to stand up it supports you. No more “humourous” falling over and collapsing over the back, it’s filled with recycled foam bits and is so gorgeous that I’m considering moving the til over there and working from the childrens’ corner. The cushion are also by fatsac and I think they really top of our childrens section now. We have great books, somewhere gorgroues to read them and if sitting still isn’t your thing then we have a set of brio and a castle to build up any way you want.

If you’re interested fatsacs can be got from www.fatsac.com – they’re a really friendly team from Fowey – just across the bay from us here.

Bursting at the seams

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After a long summer where it was all we could do to get stock in the shop and keep up with the demand, we are now fully re-stocked with loads of goodies. However, I groaned when I opened the back of the car to unload this morning, Steve obviously credits me with the stregth and stamina of a Trojan (more of Trojans later) and had filled the whole estate full of boxes. Anyway they are all in now, my back is broken and the shelves are heaving. We’ve got a great range of artists books at the mo, plus a large collection of the Osprey campaign books and all at second hand prices, so I expect we’ll have some satisfied customers over the next week. They will browse, exclaim and empty the shelves just in time for me to start all over again.  The fun part is not knowing which section will get a little fillip, I know we have a large collection of old children’s books sitting in the warehouse and my money is on them and luxury motorcars.

Modern technology

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Having great fun today trying to do a thousand and one things. One of those is to get to grip with my online world. This is us on twitter https://twitter.com/Hurleybooks and obviously you’ve got the new blog, the hopelessly DIY website is at https://www.hurleybooks.co.uk/ and I’m also trying to work our facebook. The next thing is to work out the best way to use them!

Beyond the new fangled technology I’m also trying to deal with the more mundane details of delisting stock, shelving (loads and loads!) and finding customer orders.

Here’s this week’s blackboard puzzle.
” A plane is flying with 500 passengers, some are Americans, some are French but the majority are Chilean, the plane crashes exactly on the border between Spain and Portugal. Where do they bury the survivors?”

I hope you enjoy this one as much as our corporeal visitors.