A day in the life of stella books
A customer rang me other day and asked whether we were a warehouse or a shop so I thought I would tell you a little bit about us and a typical day in the shop.
We are in the lovely village of Tintern in the Wye Valley in South Wales. I’m sure you have heard of the famous Tintern Abbey, built in the 11th century and now a magnificent ruin - well we are a wee bit further along the village. The road runs alongside the River Wye, which is tidal and can be quite scary at times especially at high tide. We have watched the river rise until it fills the field on the opposite bank and then slowly cover the road outside the shop.
On occasions floodwater used to come into the shop until Cliff, who owns the shop with his wife Chris, fitted flood boards to fit both doors. Not so much of a problem now, fortunately - books and water do not mix well! Part of the building we are in was built in 1688 or thereabouts and was a bake house. I’m told it was extended around the early 1800’s, and now houses Stella Books (that’s us), an antique shop, the village grocery store and a private dwelling.
The shop is lovely (well I think so anyway). It doesn’t look big from the outside but people are always amazed when they come in - we have five rooms ( now 7) and the shop just seems to go on forever. Our day starts at 9 am, though Chris is usually here from around eight. Adam, Jo, Sonia and her hearing dog Abigail arrive at nine while Margaret and I bring up the rear at 9.30 am. Adam is responsible for the internet, Jo does booksearch and helps Adam with the internet, Sonia looks after our mail order department and sends out the email lists to our customers along with doing most of the office admin, Margaret takes care of our university customers whilst I look after all the customers who visit the shop. The large office window overlooks the river, the fields and Tintern Abbey.
Adam usually brings me the internet orders and I reserve and find the books between answering the phone and dealing with customers in the shop. We have a lot of regular customers and it’s lovely to see them and have a chat. I have one man who comes through the door like a whirlwind. He is always on the way to somewhere and reminds me a bit of the mad hatter in Alice in Wonderland, he has a quick check to see if we have anything new in the railway section. Then there is my lovely gentleman who calls every couple of weeks and spends a couple of hours in the Welsh Topography section. He wears a hearing aid and sometimes doesn’t have the volume turned up enough so we have some wonderful cross-purpose conversations.
Lots of people are amazed when they see the large collection of Enid Blyton and Rupert Bear we have and you should hear the “ooh’s”, “ah’s” and “I had that one and I wish I hadn’t given mine away”. Chris is one of the leading experts on Rupert Bear in the UK. One lady saw our copy of Peter Pan in Kensington gardens illustrated by Arthur Rackham and ask if she could just hold it as she said she could never afford such a beautiful book.
If you are ever in our part of the country do call and see us. I would be delighted to show you around and hopefully you will find something you like to take away with you and remind you of your visit to Stella Books in the Wye Valley.
Contributed by Noreen Shaw.
(Published 1st Nov 2006)
