We have to move premises, due to the lease being terminated. We need to get our new property "bookshop-ready" & secure it's future.
I hope that if you are reading this you agree that an independent bookshop enhances any town or village. The Children's Bookshop has been in Lindley for 48 years. When we took over the bookshop in 2015 our primary motivation was to keep a long-established bookshop in Lindley and secondly that I could continue to work in a business I loved whilst making enough money to keep it going for the foreseeable future. We have done that for 8 years. Unfortunately, we were given notice that our lease was to be terminated. This was unexpected. Since we announced the news, so many people have commented that we can't lose the bookshop in Lindley, 'our favourite shop'; 'an integral part of the community'; 'Lindley wouldn't be the same without you'. In many ways I feel as if I am simply the custodian of a much loved and valuable Lindley institution that will continue forever.
Many people have offered to help in any way they can since hearing the news. Well here's one way.
We have secured another property in Lindley, however it needs some work doing in order to make it suitable to become a bookshop. This will need some capital investment, and this is where we are looking for your support.
We will knock through a partition wall to extend the retail space; change all the windows to double/secondary glazed units; install heating (damp books are not good), add insulation to the walls. We will fit it out with shelving and a counter area. There will be some painting and decorating and potentially new flooring and light fittings.
There will also be professional fees and other expenses related to moving, all of which we had not anticipated or planned for.
All of this we will be done on as tight a budget as possible. (I am after all a Yorkshire lass). However, while the bookshop manages its' day to day expenses, it does not have the retained earnings to fund all the capital expenses required. This is why we have set up this crowdfunder in the hope that some of you will be able to help financially, and secure the future of the Children's Bookshop in Lindley.
If we manage to raise more than we need we will use the excess funds to support local schools, pre-schools and other children's organisations with quality books.
This project successfully funded on 17th April 2023