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!

OOH how time flies & we have an officially nominated charity to support!

Ohh, who knew bookselling could be such hard work, and so grubby, boks just are filthy filthy things - and no thats not a referecne to those black lace books up on the top shelf at the back of the shop, or those paranormal sex crazed vampire novels such as Laurel K. Hamilton and Sherilyn Kenyon & Christine Feehan write, or even the Blaze range of Mills & Boon books, though it could be an apt description - how rude!! no I mean that books are dust gatherers, I reckon even if the building ws hemetically sealed books would still get grubby!
White shirts are out, cream trousers! never, black is the cool and sensible colour of the bookshop manager!
Anyway enough of that, I have in the last three months been busy rejigging the shop so all the books fit and are in some semblence of order! We are almost there with cataloguing and zapping them into the computer system too! it will be great when its done, well one hopes it will.
Last year we gave £87.00 to various charities through the pennies that people are generous to leave behind, so see that addage about looking after the pennies is apt! as after all when I say the pennies left behind I do mean exactly that, that £87.00 was from 1p pieces left over from lots of £6.99 books etc. Actaully we gave more than that but thats the amount that came solely from Customers pennies.
So this year we are doing the same sort of thing but adding a bit more kick and emphasis where we can!
We have read a book (well more than one! but only the one on this subject!) about being socially and ethically good, so we are attempting to redunce our carbon footprint in the shop - turning off equipment we dont use often and just popping it on when we need it! and we are recycling our cardboard and paper and plastics, we also have a recycling4charity collection box for inkjet cartridges and mobile phones and £1.00 for each cartridge and up to £20 for each phone will go to Habitat for Humanity (GB) to help provide low cost and essential housing both in the UK and abroad! so if you are visiting then drop off your old cartridges!
And we are also supporting a great charity called ClearVision - they take ordinary books and using a clear acetate sheet they braille it and then pop it back into the rebound books, this means that these books can be used by both Blind and Sighted readers! so Children can read to parents and parents to children, young people can read to each other or share their books regardless of whether they can see or not! is that not the best idea!! It costs about £7.00 to turn an ordinary childs book into a braille/sighted book that can be used over and over, so we would like it if you would help us support this great endeavour - to that aim we have set up a justgiving charity fund raising page and would love it if you could find it in you to visit and donate! by the way if you are near the shop you can come in and see one of these great books! its really impressive. So come by and visit and find it to help this great charity if you possibly can by going here:

Anyway so thats what we are doing for this year so far, well that and cleaing books and book shelves over and over again!
oh yes and remember to come visit our nearly proper website at www.lincolncentralmarket.co.uk if you have the time.
anyway enough from me - have to go runa bookshop by myself again tomorrow and its already very late! ta ta for now!