This is what we Look Like!

This is our dedicated Religious, Christian Books & Church Supplies Section!

Christmas is here! Gifts, jewellery, Cards, Bibles and Kids Bible Books!

Nativity Sets now in stock! Bibles, Theology, Spirituality, Ministry, General Christian Life Etc

Church Supplies! Candles, Wafers, Church Stationary, Incense, Christian Music, Cards, Gifts etc.

Here are a few pictures of us for those who follow along on the blog but can't get in for whatever reason - as you will see we are a real bookshop for all we are open sided and open minded enough to be in a market hall.
Also you will note the picture of the Christian bit prove we have now moved into the pre-christmas season with lots of nativities and such now in stock - I challenge anyone out there who has recently been at meetings and have never been to see us to say we are not a real bookshop! Assuming makes... well we all know the adage! Come by and visit us and don't make assumptions based on the word Market - Marks & Spencers Started in a market! Starbucks started in a market and so did lots more! The market is fully enclosed and filled with specialist stalls as well as the mundane! A Science-fiction and Movie Memorabilia collectible specialist is the market! The Stamp Man for rare & collectible Stamps, Coins, Postcards and other such rare, treasured & exclusive finds is in the market! Artist Supplies & bespoke framing is in the market - Wendy the artist on artist supplies is a professional artist who is regularly commissioned for cover art and private work! She paints in the market and does art tuition in the market! Then of course there is us - not just a bookstall but a niche market book specialist - we import US fiction on a weekly basis covering Crime, Thrillers, Romance, Science-Fiction, LGBT and other markets - we are one of the few in the greater county and further afield that does so! We deal in specialist markets such as transport and military history - DVD's, Books & more! and of course there is my personal joy - our religious, christian & Church Supplies unit! Committed to serving Lincoln & Lincolnshire churches and faith communities, because no city should be without a Christian bookshop and resource centre.
Of course lets not forget Al's Arts & Crafty Bits also in the market and part of us - one of lincolnshires best papercraft suppliers for the last 5 years now!
Market is just a word, no one scoffs at going to the Supermarket but yet going to a Market Hall denotes something less worthy, something to be scorned and lessened - well put aside your preconceived notions and come visit Lincoln Central Market - you will be surprised at just how many upmarket (see there's that word again!) types pass through it and how many select customers it reaches out too - we have in the years I have now been here happily and repeatedly served on a weekly and monthly basis Judges, Bishops, MP's, Councillors, Doctors, Actors and just everything else on down. There's no shame in being in a market or visiting a market - the only shame is that some think there is and that's no shame on us, its just ashame that some can't work past a bias.
Ok rant over pictures following - enjoy and see you in the bookshop in the market tomorrow!

The Main Bookshop Pictures!

Science-Fiction, Horror, Military & Historical Fiction!

Large Print Books & Secondhand Crime & Thrillers Section

Our newest Niche Market -The LGBT Section - Small but growing!

The kids love to play in Pegasus Books! - Our Childrens section - almost impossible to keep tidy!

Autobiography, True Crime, and the beginning of Ladies & Saga Secondhand

Puzzles! Classic Literature, Secondhand Science-fiction & Horror

Always look up and not at your feet! Jigsaws, Paint-by-Numbers and lots more are up high!

Al's Arts & Crafty Bits, opposite the religious bit! Decoupage, Stamps etc - a papercraft heaven!

Hello & Welcome in!

Outside for Ladies & General Fiction, Westerns & Romance, The Entrance for Paranormal & Historical Fiction, inside for Pegasus Kids Books, Crime, Thrillers, Science Fiction, LGBT, DVD's, Audio Books, CD's, Jigsaws, Games and Arts, Secondhand Books Sections and lots more - oh and inside and passing through and across the aisle for Al's Arts & Crafty Bits and the Religious & Christian Books and Church Supplies!
Wow - not so little and yes very very real.

We got Candles, Wafers so don't Wine!

The Jigsaw, Paint-by-Number and Sticker people have been great and have been helping to keep us in the last few weeks - probably because they know a good deal when they see it and realise we are much better value than most of the competition in town! 

We have a full and exceedingly large spinner chocablock full of paint-by-numbers and scraper foils! and we have deals on them, you buy 2 and the price is less! 

We have a brand new and full sticker stand and a lot of the stickers on it are 3 for £1 - these include disney, pooh, dora the explorer, transformers and lots more! 

and we have had a whole range of new season designs in the Jigsaws. From Paul Lamond - some stunning Gothic and Fantasy Images on them! From JR a load of steam trains and rural/wwII scenes in! and lots more from about 3 or 4 different brands, and we have a whole slew of kiddy jigsaws as well as Jig Rolls at a really great price. Well worth looking at.

OK theres lots of new stuff coming in almost daily - and some of the Greetings Cards we now have in are really good as well and at a cracking price for the style and quality of them too! Come take a look some time soon! Just don't get the minions too excited as they get uncontrollable then and I end up having to calm them down with coffee and chocolate! oh or wait a minute is that me I end up having to calm down with Coffee and Chocolate (remember you are always welcome to come for coffee and a chat but just remember to bring me a Caramelatte from Nero's or a Caramel Machiatto from Starbucks when you come!)

Hey, so anyway we now have the most common sizes of Candles in stock! yes that includes fluted base, Votives - Stick & Cased, Sanctuary Lights, Baptism (3 sorts) and Wedding candles! and we have had to re-order twice as well! 

So yes we have candles - don't forget to pick up one of our spanky full colour Candle and Church Supply brochures when you are in - it even has a section on the back for you to fill in what size candles you normally have - if you don't do the candle buying then please pass it on to someone that does.

We also have Communion Wafers in ( and yes they have had to be re-ordered and topped up as well!), so thats Priests Crucifix, Peoples Crucifix, Priests Plain and Peoples Plain and yes Gluten Free ones as well!
Yes we have Baptism Certificates, Confirmation Certificates and SGA Packs in stock.
Yes we have Daily Reading Notes and Sunday School Material and yes please do place them on standing order with us, it makes re-ordering so much easier for me to do!
Yes we have Bibles, Books and everything else you can think of - Don't forget to take a postcard for the church/community noticeboard!!
No we are not fully stocked up yet, but we are getting there! but as it's all coming out my own pocket it will take a little time - and:

NO DON'T say when you come in - and I offer to order it for you - 'No thanks I will get it off the Internet'!!
I mean you can get it off the internet if you want (heck I shop the internet too!) but don't actually say it to me, or the minions, when out of my own pocket and at the sacrifice of my own wage I am struggling to kit out a Christian Bookshop so that you have the books and candles on hand! It is rather like Marie Antoinette saying about the poor, 'let them eat cake'! its just not really very well thought out, a bit like salt in a wound or a stab in the back! 

Just say - 'No thanks that's ok'. That we can live with much easier as we can fool ourselves you won't buy it off the internet and will come back in after you have looked around other shops and not found it!
But let me just point out - when I offer to order it for you it will usually be in stock within 3-7 days - you don't often get it from amazon etc any quicker, heck ask some of my customers and you will realise that in a lot of cases it comes in within 2 days depending on day of the week and suppliers! and when I order it for you from new you don't then have to pay a carriage charge for the item! so yes even if amazon or whoever are offering a bit of a discount add in the carriage charge and you may well find its actually no cheaper! and just think when you order it from me thats the money I need to buy the stock to make sure that the next time you come in needing that Nicky Gumbel book or Margaret Silf book its there on the shelf!
Ok whining done - rant over on that one. (and no we don't sell alcoholic communion wine - we can arrange to have it despatched to you but we don't actually stock or sell it as we are not allowed  to because of Licensing Laws).

New rant!
To all the gen book Unicorn Tree'rs I have who have done or are contemplating doing this! - Don't ask me, or the minions, to look stuff up on the computer because Waterstones, WHSmith etc, won't, can't... if you are not actually going to buy anything from us and are then going to come back in the shop and tell me you got the book whose title you had me look up for you on Fantastic Fiction.com last week from the competition! especially when its a book I have in stock and on the shelf when you come in clutching your gains!!
Please understand neither I nor the minions mind looking stuff up (unless you can see we are really busy- but then leave us what you want looking up and ordering on a note with a contact number and we will do it and get back to you after we have finished being busy!) we like playing on the computer! but please understand it is a service we offer to our customers and to be a customer you actually have to purchase something!! otherwise you are not a customer but at best a browser, and though we don't mind browsers in the shop we really want them to become and be customers that browse the shelves. 

Let me make clear I don't mind if we look something up and you then don't get it due to price, timing of delivery etc etc or any of the other really legit reasons there may be - I just object when you are using us as an information service with no intention of supporting us! lets face it, it's like getting on a bus for a ride out to view the scenery and then not paying the fare!
Also - sort of tangential to the last one, please do not moan at me and my minions when you bring me the books that you purchased from the competition for credit and I only give you a 25p or 50p credit on them! after all how much credit do the competition actually give you on your secondhand books?? and Yes by all means do give it/them/the books to a Charity Shop instead of to us - we support and believe in charitable giving and charity - and this statement is just annoying really, especially when prefaced with 'I might just as well take them to a Charity Shop then! I would be just as well off!' as I am pretty sure they dont give you a credit at all in the Charity shop either. 

(Oh and by the way this shop financial year - since September 07 - I (Unicorn Tree) with our customers help have given over £265 to our sponsored charities - yes you can check this out on our justgiving.com charity pages to make sure what I am saying is legit! I only give through justgiving so that it can be tracked and you all can be assured our charitable giving is a legitimate fact and not just something we say! - £215 to GOSHH and £50 Christmas appeal to Habitat for Humanity - so actually you know what, when you give your books to us and I give you a credit you are supporting charity as well - as I have made a commitment that I keep at my own expense to tithe a percentage of my shops profits to charity - when you donate stuff that percentage gets higher! how much of the actual money from some charity shops actually goes to charity?? I know for a fact the answer in at least one case is, well that would be about 0.01p a year! but thats another story.)

So please don't moan at me when you do not get much back on the competitions books, buy our books and leave our stickers on so I, and the minions, know they are ours and you might get a little more. 

Oh yes and the reason you get more back on the secondhand books than on new books is because the secondhand books cost me less to buy so I can afford to give you more, (but then think about this before you start saying how much money I make on them - you bring me a book and I give you a 50p credit on it, so it cost me 50p to buy, I then put it out at £2.00 - lots of profit you say?? only if i sell it in the first place! but saying I do, the purchaser pays £2.00 and then brings that book back and I then give them a £1.00 credit on it as its one of our secondhanders and you get a 50% Credit - so actually all I made on that book is 50p! Not much profit there at all really! especially if you then only buy a book that costs the value of that credit!).
If we gave you 50% on the new books we would be giving you more than we make on the book in the first place, in fact i would then be paying you to buy the book from me in the first instance! and if I was going to do that I might as well just leave the till open and say help yourself!
So OK I really do understand you all want the best return or best deal on things you can get (so do I, it's natural!) - but you know what I bust my back trying to give that best return and deal to you in the first place, I am not looking to get rich merely to make a decent living doing what I love- selling books.
My books are generally cheaper - often a lot cheaper that the competition - yes even most of the newest books!
Margaret Dickinson's new book - 'Sing As We Go' is full price in all the competition shops - £5.99 and it is only £5.75 with me - that 75p instead of 99p is pretty much true on all the brand new fiction - thats my pocket that comes out of - and I do not begrudge doing this as I want you to have good fiction at good prices, but please then think about it when you come in and don't then expect the unreasonable along with the reasonable.

Ask me and the minions nicely and we will happily try to explain all this, but please do not be rude and objectionable. Please think a little on what you say and how that effects me and the minions. After all when you ask us to do the work like looking up books but then you buy them elsewhere - well in time thats a minion less working, and then there won't be anyone with the time to look up the books for you!

On the secondhand side of it - well at least you are getting something back on the books you buy, and please don't just buy up to the value of the credit note you are given - especially when you keep coming in with other peoples books to make up that credit note - after all if you do that often enough I won't be here anymore as I don't get a government subsidy like the lending library does and essentially thats all I am if you keep buying off others and getting credits off me and just topping up the books to the value of the credit note! At least a few times a month can you actually buy something off me please, it doesn't have to be a full price brand new book, a cheap secondhand will do rather than just swapping books or using our knowledge and systems?

I want to be here to serve you all for a long time - and I want the minions to be here to serve me for a long time! - so please buy some stuff off us occasionally and not just use us!
Okay nother rant over.

Anyway thats me done for the night, see you in the shop in the morning - its a minion free day so feel free to bring the coffee!

Edited!! opens!

Just to let you all know that the Lincoln shop was open today - with the alarm system blaring!!
I ask that you consider, should it be open again, not to make use of their services - and not just because I want you to use my services - but because of the way that the four long serving members of Lincoln Staff were treated in the employ of SSG and then in their uncharitable dismissal at the hands of SSG, and of course for all the other staff at all the other shops that have been treated in such a shameful manner.
(If you need to know more about the, shameful and morally dubious to my way of thinking, actions of SSG then click on the title to go to Dave Walkers Cartoon Church blog as he has done a fantastic job of reporting on this issue!)

Anyway the shop was manned by two gentlemen - one from York and one from Birmingham.
I was phoned on my mobile phone by one of the gents to ask for the alarm code!!
Whilst one of the original Lincoln - and so uncharitably treated staff - was in the shop, The locksmith asked 'Should I make the invoice out to SPCK then' to which one of the young men, not sure if it was the one from York or the one from Birmingham, said yes - the ex-member of staff immediately informed the locksmith that no he should not as SSG are not SPCK and do not have the right to use the name.

I would suggest SPCK really needs to crack down on this one soon - there surely must be something that can be done about this use of the name over the shop, when in point of fact both by SPCK's own statement and SSG's Statements this name is not supposed to be being used by the shops!( http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=46788I & http://www.spck.org.uk/ & http://www.thebookseller.com/news/47694-book-chain-drops-spck-name.html ) I know from today that a lot of people do not realise it is not an SPCK Bookshop and that their money is not going where they believed it was, but is in fact going to a whole different charity with a whole different set of aims! come on SPCK at the least you are loosing out on your own potential donors let alone the continued damage to your name and reputation.

The young man from York later came into my shop to again ask for the code. I would tell you the conversation that ensued but I saw red when he told me he worked for "SPCK Bookshop" York, was a member of 'my team' and also in the union.

I pointed out all my team had been dismissed by SSG and our union was involved in trying to safeguard their rights in relation to SSG, and that SPCK had no bookshops.

I have to admit there was a certain word that came to mind! union members that act against their union and other union members due to concerns only for themselves - hmm but that is uncharitable so I would like to say here, that I do understand that the gentlemen from other shops do have a need of a wage themselves and that I forgive them for stepping all over my friends who have been so shamefully treated and for not thinking of them when choosing to come into and open a shop where all the staff were dismissed in so wrong a manner.

I do understand the need to earn a wage and am sorry if anything I said caused a feeling of guilt or made the gentleman from York feel bad, two wrongs don't make a right and I could have been more charitable myself - but then the young man in question could have given some consideration for others and thought how his action might have made them feel before phoning us or coming into our places of work and asking for the codes for the alarms.
One of the other ex-members of staff was also contacted by another SSG employee on her mobile asking for the Codes for the shop! the sheer audacity of these people begger belief - you do not contact members of staff after you have terminated their employment in such harsh manner - this is surely a form of harrasment and not really very acceptable to my way of thinking.

Interestingly though is that although at least three people, not in the employee of SSG and with grievances against SSG, were badgered for alarm codes no one had the codes to the shop as most of us have let such useless info drift from our frontbrain with many other much more pressing issues to think on!
(oops and talking of pressing issues that keep slipping the mind I need to take this moment to wish the Subaru a happy birthday! see not just regular minions get remembered and mentioned on my blog!)
So in the end the power leads were yanked from the main Fire System Zone Alarm box to silence the internal alarms that were set off after the locksmith popped the locks! this in turn set of the very loud and shrill external alarm ( its a failsafe!! hooked up to the main electrics, after all any thief can pop the electrics to a Zone Box!) so anyway in the end a hammer had to be taken to the external alarm box to smash it into silence after a couple of hours, and all this when the shop keys had been sent to the solicitors by the landlord, so they shouldn’t have needed to pop the lock anyway as their solicitors should have been able to give them the keys, and the owners of SSG should have had the alarm code as they had been supplied with it quite a few times!
There is now a glaringly obvious hole in the casing where once there was a perfectly innocent and intact (if occasionally noisy but with good purpose!) Alarm box. I do believe I was also informed of smashed glass in the large window of the back office where online and goods inwards used to be housed, I guess they did not have keys to those locks either!
Sums up the SSG management technique perfectly if you ask me!

However this aside I still could have handled my reactions better and again apologise for what I said whilst he was in my shop and I genuinely do forgive him for the harm and pain caused, I like to believe and am sure that it was not intentional just misthought.

Like I said I offer up humble apologies and do indeed sympathise (well ok I did once I cooled down a little!) with the gents - especially as one did say he felt he had no choice but to go where sent if he was to keep his shop open and the jobs of the others at his shop as that was the bargain he had to agree to to keep the shop open - I suggested he speak to his union rep. as what could possibly be percieved as blackmail, bullying or threats against staff to ensure compliance and make them do things they don’t want to do for fear of being responsible for a whole team losing their job is probably not pucka play!

One of the wrongfully treated ex-SSG staff works for me on a part time basis (the minion known as snowflake or minion no.2) and was in the shop when the gentleman from York came in to try to get the alarm codes again, his words and actions hurt her deeply as she needed and still needs the income that she has been cheated of - she did not in any way resign or quit, she said she would continue working under her old contract as was her right.

I know at least two other staff were also very distressed by this whole situation as I spoke to one almost immediately after I was contacted by mobile by the gentlemen in the shop, and the other made contact later that afternoon, again they did not in any way resign or quit, but said they would continue working under their old contracts as was their right.

Her need now is great, as is that of the other staff now without jobs, and though I offer what hours I can that is not enough to cover her mortgage, and for everything she earns from me she loses in respect of benefits and entitlements, thus unless I, or someone else, can offer her 30 hours a week she will continue to struggle.
As I said back last month - it is my hope to be able to provide employment where possible for my old staff, but I cannot do that yet so if anyone does have a job or three going then please contact me so I can pass on the info to these able people (on a lighter note - Being utterly selfish - I would appreciate it if one of these jobs I know you out there have to offer is mon-friday only so I can keep my excellent Saturday staff please!)
Just to remind, this particular member of staff had worked at the SPCK/SSG shop for over 6 years - the new girl! the other members of staff had all worked there for time frames between this 6 years and going up to 14/15 years! Dedicated, committed and hardworking people who served the Lincoln Christian Community with real commitment and faithfulness in this time.

I know, I worked with them, and we all would most likely still be working there if not for the way we had been treated by these employers. Our commitment to this community never wavered, our faithfulness to the message and job of Christian Bookselling as embodied in choosing to originally work for SPCK never altered, however we are not now there - not by our choice but by cruel circumstances that need never have been. Still we continue to serve where and how we can with a hope for the future!

So given all this, again I would ask you to consider should you support any ventures of SSG?? even if they are still pretending to be SPCK and trading on the good works of that institution and our, and our predecessors, work in Lincoln and for this community??


Speaking of Jobs, I want to congratulate Debbie on her new Job as Dr's Receptionist, she will do an excellent job as she never does any less! and the Surgery made the right choice in taking her on as she will be an asset to them! Well Done Debbie - you rock girl!
Now come on people we need 3 more jobs here please - at least until I am in a position to and can take some of the staff on more permanently with your kind support!


By the way I want to say a REALLY BIG AND HEARTFELT THANK YOU to Father Phillip of the local Orthodox Church for asking his congregations to support our endeavours here, and also to all the other members of Clergy and their congregations, including Bishop John Saxbee, Rev'd Ian Silk, Rev'd Richard Billinghurst & Rev'd Simeon Bishop to name just a very few who have been so supportive and wonderful as we have endeavoured to get the Christian Component fully up and running. I also want to thank all of the customers who have just "found" us and offered kind words and prayers! This really means much more than you can ever know and I do sincerely thank you all.

"Unicorn Tree Christian Books & Church Supplies" now has its own dedicated stall (Unit No. 3 - just opposite the rest of the bookshop) with Candles, Wafers, Incense, Hymn Books, Service Books, Bibles, Reading Notes, Stationery, Christian Books, Gifts, Cards and More now. Watch this space - PDQ is now in and Church/institution Accounts will be ready to be applied for and opened in the next few weeks!

I would also like to thank DLT, Kevin Mayhew, Alban, Church House Publishing, SCM-Canterbury, SPCK Publishing, Charles Farris, F.A. Dumont & Shinglers of Sutton amongst other publishers & Suppliers for being so fantastic in the last few weeks and helping get things moving.

Okay that's all for now - see you in the shop on Monday!

(This post has been edited as a safeguard - for the reasons as to why this may have been necessary visit http://www.cartoonchurch.com/blog/category/save-the-spck, Oops now wait you cant - I guess you better go here instead: http://www.mattwardman.com/blog/series/cease-and-desist-notice-on-dave-walker/ Should I be notified personally and directly by the concerned parties of anything then I will of course let you know and then take any further necessary actions as may be required)

SPCK CLOSES!

On tuesday my old work team and my friends were treated in a most reprehensible way, they turned up to work at the SPCK Bookshop as it had been (it still said SPCK outside but in point of fact it had been renamed as the SSG Bookshop some months ago by the current owners), to do their daily work at the Charity just to open the email system up and find that their employment had been terminated - effective immediately - by the Chairman of SSG from his base in Texas.
This I find to be a totally reprehensible act - to fire people by email - especially such dedicated people. The irony of it is that just the week before they had been out having a meal that was from the £100 they had been given by Mr P. Brewer when he awarded for the them the first 'Third Space' award in the chain. This was explained as being an award for having such an attractive, welcoming and well presented shop! the first two spaces being, our homes and our places of work - places we feel inately comfortable and welcomed - the third space and hence the award is a space other than these two where a similar feeling is invoked!!!
Well there will definitely be no third space awards going to SSG and their owners in my estimation.
So anyway if anyone out there knows of jobs going for some extremely talented and dedicated retailers, who are also skilled in customer service and office work, then please do let me know so I can pass this info onto them.
If I had the ability to give them jobs I would but currently the situation just does not allow for this - however as I am now the only retailer in town doing Christian Books and Church Supplies it is my hope that in the next few months I will have been able to grow this side of the business to such a level as was at the old SPCK and then be able to take on my old staff! so please assist in enabling this (that is if you haven't got a job you can give them yourselves!) by supporting me in growing this business!
Much more information on the goings on of SSG can be found at Dave Walkers wonderful Cartoonchurch blog here:http://www.cartoonchurch.com/blog/category/save-the-spck/k/
So thats the most of my news, though if you haven't been in since the last blog update then there is a music sale on - all cd's currently half price - this will only be on until the end of this month!
We have Jigsaws out on display and doing well - there will be a new delivery of jigsaws in by the end of the month, and also a full top up of Paint by Numbers, Scraperfoils and the Like at the end of the month too.
If you are a Church then let me know what Paschal product you want! and can you give me a clue as to the main size candles you want for every week use as well. On saturday i will have some palm crosses, baptism candles and votive stick candles in stock, along with basic church stationary ie certificates, registers etc. let me know what you need and i will get it!
Ok blog done for now, please again I reiterate either support me so I grow quickly and can give the spck crew jobs being out of their tree with me again (think of it as recycling! recycling staff now there's a green initiative for you get behind this lent!), or offer them a job yourselves if you can - they are great people and did not deserve this treatment.
(This post has been edited as a safeguard - for the reasons as to why this may have been necessary visit http://www.cartoonchurch.com/blog/category/save-the-spck, Oops now wait you cant - I guess you better go here instead: http://www.mattwardman.com/blog/series/cease-and-desist-notice-on-dave-walker/ Should I be notified personally and directly by the concerned parties of anything then I will of course let you know and then take any further necessary actions as may be required)