If you've been down to the shop today...

If you've been down to the shop today you may have got a surprise!
 Books have been moving - in fact every secondhand book has moved to a new home ... we'd have really liked it if they moved themselves something like this:

But they didn't!  Instead I did it (along with some conscripted family and mini minions for a few shelves)!

It was a task and a half but well worth it as it means we can again fit more things in! Yes MORE!
This time not only more secondhand fiction but a whole new glass shelved display of Gifts!

It's not all quite finished yet, but it's getting there ... we are awaiting a delivery or two of new gift stock to come in, and that's why everything had to be moved. So they would have a nice new home ... not as some may claim because the bookshop boss just likes to change it up like the supermarket and keep the customers guessing!
The minion and mates that suggested that were duly despatched ... to get coffee for said hardworked bookshop boss.

We would also like to put customers minds at rest and assure them that no bookcases or books were harmed in the making of this wonderful new shop design - although the same cannot be said for the bookshop boss who was savaged more than once by errant bookcases and vicious thrillers that decided to jump off shelves and pound her into the ground in one notable case!

Still we have survived to tell the tale and invite you all to come down and see what's new and acquaint yourself with some great bargains and new books & gifts too.


Anyway I'm now off to grab a sugar free vanilla latte & a cookie to refuel before playing with the gift displays a little and putting out some new card ranges :D See you all soon here in the shop...

Remember we are here to serve you and we really appreciate your support - go on Shop Local and use an Independent - it's better for all of us when we go local to go global ;-)

So we'll look forward to seeing you, recieving an email from you, chatting on the phone (01522 525557) with you or even facebooking or twittering with you when you come in for your look around, books and supplies - or indeed for any other reason too!

Ebooks, Website Updates and a Fantastic Product of the Future!

Wow - Been busy recently - not only re-arranging the shop to make yet more space (honestly this place is like a tardis, always more space to be found, you never know what you might find in it and time in it seems to move in funny ways!) but also refreshing the shops websites too!

Yes the digital age is here, no use pretending it's not and ignoring it, which wouldn't work anyway as some of us have been reading ebooks for much longer than Kindles and the like have existed, pda's & now phones are a much better multi tool anyway, however that doesn't stop me buying the real things too! So it's a much better idea just to get on and go with it - so that's what we've done!

Now on our online shop sites of www.lincolnbookshop.co.uk & www.lincolnchristianbookshop.co.uk you will find a new page entitled 'Ebooks, Audio Books & Mp3 Offers' for your delight and delectation, this means even if you have gone 100% Digital you can still support us here locally!

It really is better to Go Local to Go Global - and yes this includes even in the cybersphere!
Local Community and Businesses puts more into the Local Economy, so by going Local you keep your Local area healthier and lots of healthy local areas and economies make a healthy world!

So please do use the sites and maybe put a favourites on them so you go to them everytime you want to make a purchase (Books, Ebooks, Cds, DVDs, Mp3s & lots more too!) each sale through the sites help keep us here and you don't lose out at all as our shop sites always match Amazon price, or other big name online shops!

Don't forget we are not just active online but in the real world too!

Remember that one of our favourite things is to actually see you in person, so please do come visit the shop too!

If you are members of the Community Partnership Scheme then tell your groups about these fantastic prices because if they come in to the shop itself and buy themselves copies of physical product then this will count towards your Schemes total! If you aren't signed up to Scheme then it would be well worth it - it's open to any community group or initiative regardless of size!

Just to let you know these are not the only bargains, come in store and see whats on offer at the minute - we'll look forward to seeing you, recieving an email from you, chatting on the phone (01522 525557) with you or even facebooking or twittering with you!

Anyway see you in the shop soon - if it's the real one remember i'm likely the one behind the counter sipping on the Caramal latte - and yes the counter has moved, we moved it to the centre of the shop at the end of September ;-) I'll provide pictures of the new look shop for all the blog watchers once I've finished this new crop of re-arranging!

Ohh and I nearly forgot about the Fantastic product of the Future! Here you go, it really is a fantastic product and I'm wholeheartedly endorsing it:

Praise where it's due

I believe it's important to give praise where its due and so I want to take this space to thank some people for doing a grand job through this last week or so of horrendous weather.

Andy Bradley, the onsite supervisor here at Lincoln Central Market, has worked really hard to keep the market open and trading every day during this nasty weather, despite the fact that many other places closed and he could have taken that option as many others did. Instead he thought first of the traders and their livelihoods and despite it all came in and ensured it was open and heated for us! Thank You Andy and your Team of Paul & Emma.

I would also like to say thanks to Paul Bolden, one of Andy's team.
Last Monday when the place flooded even though Paul wasn't officially at work, when told of the problem by Ben Lockley, offered to come down with him and then worked hard to finally stop the flood that had been going on for quite a long while by this point. He then acted as a really good and concerned member of the Lincoln Central Market team and family and stayed on in his own personal time to help clear up the spill.

Now if only there were more like Andy & Paul - they are the real credit to my mind and at this time to Lincoln City Council - I am quite sure there are others like them and I only wish I had come across them to date!

If you know of any others who deserve an accolade or even a thanks like this - then do it, say it, post it - you can even put it in the comments here!

Unicorn Tree Books sustains flood damage from Landlords burst pipe.

Phil from the website Christianbookshopblog.org.uk says it so well for me, as of course did the Lincoln Echo:


"DO YOU LIVE in or near Lincoln? If so, please consider contacting the City of Lincoln Council about their failure to take responsibility for a burst pipe that led to flooding, inconvenience, loss of sales and stock damage for their tenants in Lincoln Central Market this week, including our very own Melanie Carroll at Unicorn Tree Books.

Read all about it as reported at thisislincolnshire.co.uk:
Lincolnshire Echo: Market traders angry as council refuses to cover cost of flooding caused by burst pipe

Lincolnshire Echo: Market traders angry as council refuses to cover cost of flooding caused by burst pipe

STALLHOLDERS have reacted with disbelief after the City of Lincoln Council refused to cover the costs of flooding in Lincoln Central Market.

Water cascaded from inside the roof of the Central Snacks café for more than half an hour on Monday morning, and ran “like a river” towards nearby Unicorn Tree Books.

But now traders Barry Reeves and Melanie Carroll say the council has told them to claim on their own insurance as the burst pipe which led to the damage was “not a maintenance issue”.

“The council is trying to wangle its way out of it,” said Mr Reeves, chairman of the Sincil Street Traders Association.

The report continues quoting Mr Reeves as he describes the appalling situation of a leak that simply went on and on pouring water into the marketplace because “the caretakers didn’t know where the stopcock was.” Yet here is the common sense advice that the City of Lincoln Council offers to householders who may be concerned about the possibility of burst pipes in their homes:

Preventing frozen and burst pipes

* Make sure you know where your stop tap is and that it is working.

How can a Council which offers that advice to householders not know where the stopcock is in its own premises — especially when it rents those premises out to other people? Prospective stallholders at Lincoln Central Market are offered the following assurance:

The City of Lincoln Council works in partnership with the regional Business Link service to provide access to all the information, advice and support needed to start, maintain and grow your business.

If you think giving Melanie and other tenants in Lincoln Central Market the brush off instead of helping them to brush up and recover from this flood is an act of negligence, please drop the City of Lincoln Council a line and say:

You made BBC Radio 4′s ‘World at One’ on December 1st when you cancelled the Lincoln Christmas Market because of the bad weather. It was a sensible decision under the circumstances. It would be an even more sensible decision to support the Lincoln Central Market which is there all year round! You have a duty of care towards your tenants to ensure that the space you’re charging them for is fit for purpose — and when accidents happen because of your neglect, the least you should do is cover their costs!

Please take remedial action now for your existing stallholders that will reassure prospective stallholders that you can and will live up to your promise to provide all the support they need to not only start but to maintain and grow their business."

Addendum - I have today added quote marks because it would appear some people who work in certain places didn't realise this was actually a copy of a news article from the 2nd of December from the UK's leading Christian Bookshop Trade blog - www.christianbookshopsblog.org.uk

Steampunk, The Echo & Me!

Made the Echo on page 3 again http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/news/Author-androids-Anna-Karenina-appear-video-link-Lincoln-festival/article-2529609-detail/article.html- just a small little mention about The Book, Android Karenina, that we are going to be at the The Steampunk Festival/Convivial with - Along of course with other Quirk Classics and books!
Costumes are in planning, well ok I'm planning mine - modding my topper and building my goggles being the creative type I am! - though minions already had outfits as they already had full tickets to the event, including the ball, and do real Victorian (and Tudor!) Re-enactment anyway to go with their punkish attitudes!
The Echo lists it as being in October when in point of fact it is in September - so anyone going along please do call in and visit with us in the literature section there in the Lawns - and of course do call in before the event and share the fun that happens in the shop all the while.
Hey there's an idea maybe later in the month we could have a steampunk craft day and do some in shop modding, make a few pairs of googles, practise paint techniques for the aged look, or even just have fun with some victorian papers & assemblage pieces?
let me know if you're up for that and pass on the news to other.
See you in the shop soon - and remember if you want to bring the coffee I'll provide the chat!

A Round Up, Some Questions and a new white table!

So whats new in your friendly bookshop?

Well the newest edition, as of today, is a white table in the middle of the shop!
Now as you may know we don't have a seperate room where we can hold regular events like reading groups, book discussions or craft classes, though we really want to hold them!
So I am trying to get feedback here, would you consider doing these types of things in the open venue of the bookshop whilst the shop was open if the events were either free or really really cheap or coffee was provided? (Because as I'm sure you all know by now I will do much if a really good caramel latte is added into the equation - it is a payment and reward in itself!)

So anyway I think it would add an interesting vibe as other people browsed while you breathed the books as it were in terms of a book group - or created and learned a new craft, what do you all think please?

Talk like a Pirate Day and visiting Author Sue Hampton was well recieved - thanks to all the young-uns that walked the plank to see Sue! I had a great time!
We still have copies of Sue's book - 'The Lincoln Imp' in stock for those that couldn't make the day and we also have some of her other books in and they are very good too!

We would love to do some more author or themed events in store (Hence another reason for the big white table where once there were bookcases!) - so if you have any idea's then please let us know!

The Bishop of Lincoln, John Saxbee, has a new book out - 'No Faith in Religion' and it is now in stock and available, though it is selling pretty fast!
Please pass the info on and reserve or come in and buy your copies (and yes we do mail order too!), it is an excellent book and a wonderful symphony of blended idea's on the dichotomy of faith and religion!

We have Calenders, Diaries, along with Advent Candles and Christmas books, cards and items making an appearance now! Lots of Christmas Decoupage and Craft things too! and not forgetting Parsons Pocket Books & Lectionaries! Yes it's early but they are selling already.
Please think of us!

Oh and of course dont forget about our Church & Community Group Partnership Scheme! Tell others, join yourselves!
This is a real opportunity for working together to build community by supporting each other! More proof if needed that we are Working with you and for You!

The basic idea, as i've said somewhere her before, is that Churches and Community Groups (this also includes schools, clubs or any community, church or group based initiative) sign up with us as a Partner, once signed up you promote us to all your church/group members and then everytime they come into the shop and make a purchase, providing they let us know they are part of your partnership (we can provide cards for you to give them), you get a percentage of that sale held in credit for your church/community group!
We think this is worth it as we are helping you and we hope building community at the same time - and yes we do not deny we hope it helps us too by increasing the outreach of our shop too!

Ok and we would be really grateful if you could let your friends, collegues and networks know about us, both in person and through the Facebook groups/twitter/blogs! So next time you visit the fb group page, followfriday on Twitter, or even come into the shop then please 'invite people to join'!

So that's the news, info and questions from your friendly folk and slightly mad but highly amusing and mostly tame wonderful bookshopboss at Unicorn Tree!
Please do respond, tell others and feel free to pass on this message to any you think might be interested.

See you in the shop! and don't forget mine's a caramel latte and bring one for yourself as well :0)

It's about time too! - In the Lincoln Echo again!

Ohh yes indeed - I, me the bookshop boss, Unicorn Tree Books and Lincoln Central Market are once again in the Lincoln Echo!

And best yet - another career moment has been achieved in the life CV - because oh yes and wait for it...I am now a page 3 girl!!

Yes indeed my picture graces page 3 of todays Lincoln Echo, along with an article on how time is no longer standing still in Lincoln Central Market but is merrily marching forward with the rest of us.

So anyway here for all to read is the article in question.

I would like to say thank you to the News Editor for responding to my notification on Saturday and sending down the nice reported - Michael Brown - who was a great guy, and sending the nice photographer -John Jenkins - who was also very nice and even managed, true to his word and skills, to make me not look too much like a rabid chipmunk on a seriosu caffeine high! Thanks guys.

Ok so there we go, a clock that works and let's me know when it really is caffeine time, generally about 8:45am - 4:00pm Monday - Saturday! so if your passing call in and remember I take mine with a shot of caramel syrup in it too!

See you in the shop tomorrow - or online, or on twitter and remember if you have to buy a book online do me a favour and use our affiliate shop to help support us at least a little - though we do take orders bytwitter @unicorntreebks now too!

Materialise It Mark is a Gem!

Being the sort of Bookshop Boss I am, I am a very hands on creative type (well that's what I tell myself!) and as did many people I once had delusions of Blue Peter and Magpie style Grandeur - that is to say I believe I can build anything out of cardboard rolls, double sided sticky tape, and cable ties - and to demonstrate this fact on Monday I duly did do some cardboard technology work using a cut off end of a spare cannibalised card unit to make some units for the counter.
Now I admit that by the end of the day though they had things in them they were still a work in progress and were waiting to be covered with coloured paper, spud prints or sticky back plastic to make them look somewhat better - but hey that was the next days adventure and I was justifiably pleased with them as they had doubled the stock I could put on the tops and the darn Bingo Dabbers and Bingo Markers were no longer falling over anytime someone even looked at the counter! Oh and the packs of playing cards and the Biro's and Pencils were also once again visible to the human eye of someone taller than the average 3 year old.

Good stuff I thought and pleased I was (probably because no minions were on site to scoff at the impressive feat of design genius!), and then along came my friend Mark H from off the Materialise It stall further up the aisle - now for any that haven't been to visit in person Materialise It is an absolutely must see stall, especially for all those Sci-Fi fiends like me! Marks stall sells Sci-Fi collectibles, models and toys. Yep Millennium Falcons abound, Yoda and wookies astound, Daleks and Doctors aplenty, Battlestar Gallactica surrounds and Marvel Characters stand out! yep you name it and it's probably there, and along with these are cool posters, signed Photo's and lots extra as well - oh and its also the place to get a Chess set as well.
So anyway Mark comes in to say good night sort of thing and looks at the fantastic cardboard creations and gets this look on his face like he just smelled curdled milk! and with that points out all the lovely backing left over from the new bookcases and says you can do something with that to make units, to which I start thinking veneer, the curdled milk look at this point is more a sneer!
See Mark is pretty good at turning out incredibly complex dovetailed drawers and pine shelving units from scratch - me? not so much!.

So anyway the next day Mark comes in and gets some of my nice shelf backings and about 40 minutes later brings down this work of art!

Now isn't it just fantastic - safe to say that though i had been proud of mine upon seeing this little gem I became shamed and immediately consigned it to the rubbish bin, but even better was that today he made me the opposite sides unit as well - purpose built for the items I needed displaying!


The man is a genius and an artisan and not just a cool sci-fi dood - my shop may replicate the TARDIS in being able to stretch the dimensions and fit in more than it should, but Mark is definitely a strong contender for talented Dr's Companion, definitely an Adric in the making (though hopefully without heroic but sad ending at the hands of a cyberman).

So Mark, thank you! and all of you out there go visit him next time you're in - honestly he has some of the coolest things in the Market - after our own stuff of course!, including two daleks on top of his stall and looking straight down the aisle to the main doors by us.

OK gushing over for now - minions are on half term so I am having to do all the work again!

So anyway just to remind everyone Lent and Easter are nearly here so please get the orders in for Palm Crosses and Paschal Candles - they are all in, but we have already gone through 30 bunches of Palm Crosses, one box of Paschal Candles - and I don't want it to be like Advent when two days before the start, and one day after the sets are gone, lots of people start showing up looking and getting upset.

As a small Independent business I can only get in what I am pretty sure will sell, so if you let me know you want it I can ensure it will be here, but if not then you do risk it not being in stock at the last knockings.

Oh Easter Cards and Mothering Sunday Cards are also in stock - as are the Church Group bundles and Packs of Crosses and bookmarks etc.

Today I sent off a CBC order for gifts, rosaries and other Communion and Confirmation items, these should be in early next week.

On other fronts Sherrilyn Kenyon's 'Dream Hunter' has been in and sold out, and is expected back in later this week, as is 'At Grave's End' by Frost.
Westerns seem to be doing well at the minute, Louis L'Amour, William Johnstone and lots of other Key Western Authors are in stock and selling well.

Oh and the sale is ongoing with orange cross 50p books still available and new books at £1.25 or 5 for £5 still available - come by and see, and remember if you cant come in person then please use our Amazon affiliate sites to buy your stuff!
http://astore.amazon.co.uk/unicorntreechristianbooks-21 Our Christian Book Ashop
or
http://astore.amazon.co.uk/lincolncentralmarket-21
Our everything Ashop.
Please support us however you can and we would love it if you would link to our Ashops or help promote them, or any of our sites or activites if you can, and remember come by and visit and don't forget the bookshopboss likes coffee with caramel shots!
see you in shop in the morning!

The New Look Unicorn Tree Books & Al's Arts

These pictures are in no particular order - sorry I will probably try to re-arrange them at a later date to give you a walk through but for now they are like the tidying of the shop... a work in progress!

You are lucky to have them as what with snow and antibiotics and extracted teeth and exposed jawbone it was all I could do to show up let alone anything else this week! See what a devoted bookshopboss I really am!

The Main Entrance to Unicorn Tree Books, including Unicorn Tree Christian Books & Church Supplies & Al's Arts & Crafts.

The Main Entrance inside looking straight on and through!

A close up of what you see when you look up after entering the main entrance - some very nice and unusual jigsaws! and all at such good prices as well!

The Main Aisle as you come in through the Sincil Street Doors - ie what you see when you first walk in!! A spinner of Small Art activities, A stand of DVD & CD's and then 5 bays of books - an entrance- and then another 4 bays of books ( but you cant see them in this picture!)



The Main doorway in from Sincil Street looking from our main entrance into Unicorn Tree Books - We really are not hard to find once one comes into the Market itself.

The Children's Activity Books form an integral part of the entrance and advertise both the Christian and General Nature of the Shop to everyone in a friendly way!

Just as you get through the door we are utilising all the available space and have used the back of the card/book display unit to make a Prayer Card/Bookmark/Postcard/Card display area. (watching blue peter really has paid off in the long run!). The Cash desk is just opposite it and this unit can be seen from the other Shop entrance as well.

And just inside the stall we advertise the nature of one of the sections we have worked so hard on and battled so hard for! Look how good we are we still use the required wording but we have centred the main use - yes we are indeed proud of being a Christian bookshop as well as a general bookshop, and yes we are happy to sell religious books across a breadth of studies and theologies, that's because we are ecumenically and community minded!

Just inside the door and turning Left - reached by going past the till point and Childrens Section... Our nice display of Seasonal Cards, Bookmarks, postcards and a few prayer cards...

and then of course is the new Christian Books & Church Supplies Department. (this pic was taken from further back standing just at the start of the General Department in the ladies fiction and Saga section.

The new till point/Cash Desk area- yes we actaully now have a desk to stand and serve behind and it makes a good display point for seasonal items, stationery and Audio Books!

Looking out from behind the till point, actaully more by the computer side than the till side, you look down past the sticker stand, into Non-fiction, MBS, Biography and 'white books', War & Historical fact and fiction, Westerns, Sci-fi, Horror, LGBT and at the far end Crime & Thrillers.

Oh and the round mirror is so we can see into Als Arts from the behind the till point!


The side entrance to Unicorn Tree books is past Paranormal Romance Fiction & puzzle books, you then look in and see Als Arts Beads, glues etc as they lead into the new cut through section to Als Arts. You are also looking at the reserve bookcase section of the till point the entrance to which is guarded by a doorway made of Bin Number stickers amongst other things - as these deplete they will be replaced by the christian posters we are hoping to order soon, with their doorway flick flack stand!.

The General Section of the bookshop - just as you come in the main entrance. Basically Ladies & Saga, looking down to Crime and Thrillers, with a smattering of Jigsaws above! And if you look Left coming in through the Main Entrance you will now see the start of our new and improved and expanded Christian Books & Church Supplies section - with its new lead through into Al's Arts & Crafts via the Childrens section!

and this is what you see around the corner and looking into Als Arts from the Christian Books and Childrens section walk through! ( and somedays you will see bookshopboss's motherminion sitting there making cards as that's where her table and chair are - she is Mrs Al by the way - it was her stall before it was my department!)

Al's Arts from outside looking through the new entrance point made to give Als Arts more space! See the nice Slat Board that they gained from as well! Its the reverse side to the Display Slats in the Christian Gifts Section! Nothing wasted and all space utilised!

The new wall for Als Arts was made from left over unit sides from the Religious section - again nothing wasted just judiciously reused and re-homed. It looks very good and much neater than it used to - a colourful display of craft and scrapbooker stickers and embellishements!


Looking at the Side entrance view of the shop and Als Arts from the far aisle.

Back to the Crafts Looking down from the main bookshop to the far corner of the Als Arts. Lots of fun Glitters, papers, punches and pencils!

Then standing in the corner we just looked at and looking up and out we have lots of papers, cards, scissors, glues, paint brushes, tools and other such things!

Looking at Crafts from over by what used to be the religious bookstall - remember when it was it's own seperate unit we were not allowed to call it a Christian Bookshop - Council and Diversity rules! of course now its not seperate but joined into the main there isn't really a reason to stop it being known as the Christian Books and Church Supplies department! Just as Als Arts is now often referred to as the Crafts Department!

Looks nice though - lots of decoupage, cards, inks, embellishements and books on all sorts of Arts and Crafts - in fact the range of Art and Watercolour technique books is pretty good and worth a look, let alone the actaul crafts and beading books!

Als Arts as seen standing in the walk through from the main bookshop! Lots of lovely stamps, art sets, paints and other things.


Looking from the Side entrance down the aisle of Unicorn Tree Books - the keen eyed will notice there were very few changes to this section at all!


The walk through from Als Arts into the Main Bookshop and Till Point area, and the side entrance through into Childrens and Christian Books.


Looking through from Als Arts into the Childrens section and the Beginnings of the Christian Books section.

Down the end of the Christian section is the Church Supplies Corner! - Communion Wafers, Incense, Lectionaries etc.

Candles - Altar, Sanctuary, Baptismal, Votive and Decorative Clerical Shirts, Bibles, some Childrens toys, jigsaws and lots more! We are not wasting space here!

A better view of the Church Supplies and Candles section - we are calling it utilitarian working chic for now! We are also calling it slightly empty as we didn't want to do a top up order till the shifting was done!


On one of the Central Gondola's in Christian Books you will find Christian Greeting Cards for all occassions!


And on the wall seperating Christian from Crafts you will find a combination bookcase and slatboard display being used to show a selection of Christian themed Gifts, bible cases, jewellery and more!


The Gift section is right next to the Bibles - so we can put the Bible cases right next to the Bibles! along with the Communion & confirmation gifts, religious Jigsaws, frames and Baptism Gifts.

So There we go theres a whistle stop look at the physical changes we have wrought on the shop/stall in the last 3 weeks - though it still ahs some tidying to be done and a little tweaking we think and hope it works really well. It seems more spacious that it did and we have certainly expanded the religious section significantly and will continue to do so - what you didnt see in any pictures is the three bays outside just past the childrens activity section and spinner - this at the minute is sale stock of oks stuff and overstocks we found lurking when we rejigged the stall - however once these are gone then at least 2 of those bays are likely to be given over to Christian Books and goods! So more to come - and the beauty of this is that that is the main aisle - one of the most traversed thoroughfares in the market - what a witness hey!

Well ok it is really really late - the only reason you got all this is because my tooth (or lack thereof! therefore wound!) is aching and I can't sleep anyway! but as its Saturday tomorrow and I have to get the bus to work in the icy cold I am now saying come by and see it in person! and don't forget the caramel latte when you do!

See you in the Bookshop tomorrow guys - or of course you can always buy from our affiliate site - and we will count that as a visit!

Nearly there!

Nearly there with the big move!
All the fixtures are shifted, religious is now fully housed in the main bookshop now.
Mostly everything is put back together and where it should be, and today the new till arrived and was set up - the new printer/fax/phone unit should hopefully arrive sometime this week too and then we are pretty much fully up and running in our new style shop.
At the moment other than continuing to tidy up and remerch sections as we go we are currently working on redoing Als Arts & Crafts section. It has benefitted from new Slat board and a new outer wall!
Honestly we really do think the stall is some sort of relation to the tardis! as we have moved everything into the main bookstall and increased the space to expand religious/christian books and no we don't know how that happened - well we do but what we cant work out is the physics of it!
So give me to the end of the week and hopefully there will be new pictures up of the new look bookshop!
Honestly it is great - tiring but so good to see it happening and being done with it.
It's all coming together and I give thanks to God for the ability to see it and do it along with the minions.
Minion no. 1 really does deserve the starbucks she has been getting, come to that so do I - lol.
So anyway just to let peeps know - the Easter cards are in (with more to follow!) and there is a great new range of fantastic looking and incredibly cheaply priced bookmarks in from Kevin Mayhew - our favourite: Those who say it cannot be done should get out of the way of those doing it!
Large Ingrams delivery also came in today - so all you sci-fi & paranormal readers have a bumper crop of new releases from the stateside to enjoy!
Anyway sure there is a lot more to say, but as it's another early day start to enable more tidying up and finishing to be done I am signing off with a see you tommorow in the shop.

We are rejigging!

Yep yep - the pictures you see below this post are not now how we look in some part and by the end of the month will not be how we look at all!
yes indeed it's true we are having a major overhaul and face lift - and yes no more would be comics out there with the 'well boss you need' it comments!
So anyway as you can well imagine the place is a bit of a mess as we move all the old stuff out and the new stuff in, rearrange units and change till points and displays, but by the end of the month it will be fantastic!
So far we have relocated all the New Fiction onto nice new units, and a tidy amount of the Secondhand fiction has also been rehomed as well.
We have the sale to end all sales going on at the minute as we have seriously culled both the secondhand fiction and the New Fiction and pulled out anything over 18 months old - these are now for sale at 10 secondhand for £5.00 or 5 New for £5.00.
Whicever way you look at it that's some fantastic bargains going on there. The authors include Dan Brown, Arthur C Clarke, Audrey Howard and other top authors. Honest this is not dross just overstock we needed to shift to make room for the new units and stock!
So anyway Religious books are moving from their 'stand alone and cannot be grown' section in unit 3 over to the main bookstall - this way there is room for expansion - in fact there will be an extra 5 bays worth of space to expand into and some nice gift units and slat wall space as well - This will also put the Christian Books in a much more prominent thoroughfare than they are currently on - and the reason for this??
Because we are not ashamed!
In fact we are not ashamed of anything we do, including our LGBT section which has also been relocated in the move and this is now in a more prominent section as well - situated in the middle gondola of the main Fiction section rather than hidden in the corner!
we are not ashamed and we will not act as if we are - we will not apologise for our beliefs, for our friends or for our outreach!
That said we would like to announce that we are now also stocking Jewish Prayer Books and the Forms of Prayer, and we welcome all our friends from the Lincoln Branch of the Council of Christians and Jews to come by, it was good to meet you and be involved in a very small way with the 'meditation of Advent and Chanukah'. Thank you.
Ok now also whilst I have your attention, Palm Crosses, Paschal Candles and the rest of the Lent/Easter paraphanalia are on order and in some cases even in stock! so NOW IS THE TIME to let me know exactly how many of what you want putting by!!
Pass the word around please - Lent Books are in and orders are being taken for Palms and Candles.
Thank you!
Ohh we counted how many jigsaw designs we had when we had to move them all for the new units! (These went fantastically well at Christmas and are still going well now, probably as we are one of the few places in Lincoln that does them, and we do them all year round and at very good prices as well!)
Anyway that would be just over the 100 mark! These span the gamault from 1500 piece puzzles down to the 8 piece childrens puzzles, with the most number being in the 500 piece range and then followed by the economy priced 1000 piece puzzles, though my favourites are the ones with the Gold and Silver highlighting - particularly the Indian Maid and Fawn one - just lovely! and then also the Shaped Fish & Dolphin Puzzle. Lots of different brands as well, Gibson Games, Jumbo, King, Paul Lamond Puzzles, Falcon, Heye, Classic Deluxe, Ravensburger and a few more as well!
Then there were the Paint By Numbers, both large, standard and small, and 2 different manufacturers styles in those as well. It certainly makes for colourful on top of the new units.
So anyway when the refit and rejig is done and about ten minutes after I stop doing my own victory jig all over the worklorn minions (who actaully have been working! and I have to admit may have some hidden architectural or interior design skills that have a lot to do with making best use of the tardis like propensity of the strange space in a Unicorn Tree domain! Thanks M1 & M2) then I will get out my camera and take new snappy snappies for you all who cannot come in and see it for yourselves.
See you in the shop soon - I am the one with 2 coffee's on the go at the minute as one just doesn't do it in a refit situation.