Oh the places we will go….
Do you love a road trip? Tim and I do and given the chance we will jump in the car and head off on ‘the open road’ to track down ‘all the bright places’ and re-fill our creative reserves by visiting other villages, towns and cities.
As business owners, our trips are ‘purposeful’ and work related – a ‘busman’s holiday’ is the term we use. Wherever we go, we plan which independent bookshops or independent retailers we can visit to seek inspiration and magpie ideas to bring back to Booka.
After all ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’ and on our most recent trip we found lots of wonderful ideas, products, books and atmosphere.
Read on to find out where we went, the shops we visited and what we did:
Recently Tim and I had the opportunity to meet up with a brilliant Bookseller, Tamara MacFarlane – she is the owner of the award-winning bookshop, Tales on Moon Lane which includes three shops at Herne Hill, Stanstead Road, (both in London) and the destination for our road-trip Ramsgate.
Tales on Moon Lane has won Children’s Bookseller of the Year three times (2008, 2011 and 2021), along with other industry and business awards. Over the years, Tamara and her team have worked tirelessly to ‘raise equality in children’s books’. 
The opportunity to meet with Tamara and chat about her business model and her vision was not something I was going to pass up on. The 9 hour round trip did not put Tim or I off, we saw it as a valuable and worthwhile journey to transcend the four walls of our shop and learn from another highly successful model of bookselling. Let the journey begin!
Margate was our first stop. It was hot and buzzing with activity. We parked on the sea-front car-park outside the Turner Contemporary Gallery and spent the afternoon pottering around and getting a feel for the town. Of course, we visited the gallery – an amazing space showcasing ‘Ingrid Pollard – Carbon Turning Slowly’ exhibition. We also visited the gallery shop. Gallery shops are always so well curated and this had lots to offer in terms of branding, merchandising ideas and a well curated range of products which reflected the place and locality of the gallery.
Of course, we had to find the Bookshop – The Margate Bookshop is a pocket-sized delight, selling new and second hand books. There was a lovely vibe along with an inclusive and diverse range of books. We were served by a very friendly and gregarious bookseller who told us that the lovely branded cloth bag we bought would hold a book and two bottles of wine – the perfect book take-away! Thank you
I bought a copy of ‘How to Focus’ by Thich Nhat Hanh as I am always trying to find ways of switching off from the day job and living in the moment – I hope it does what is says on the blurb!!! I also picked up a copy of ‘Pharmacopoeia – A Dungeness Notebook’ by Derek Jarman as I am fascinated by him as an artist and also would love to visit his home and garden at Prospect Cottage – alas it was a little too far this time, but perhaps there is another road trip pending.
Tim bought a copy of ‘The 392’ by Ashley Hickson-Lovence which he had been wanting to read after devouring Hickson’s most recent novel ‘Your Show’ (Booka’s Book of the Month for April). It is set entirely on a London bus travelling from Hoxton to Highbury and takes place over 36 minutes. There are a myriad of vibrant, diverse voices and although we are not city dwellers, our daughter lives in Peckham so we felt a connection with the book and will pass it on to our daughter the next time we visit the big smoke.
The food scene was fabulous. As much as we would have loved to linger on the sea front and eat in one of the busy cafes, we had dinner booked for later and so had a sandwich in a small café in the Old Town called ‘The Little Fish’ – very friendly and welcoming and lovely lemon cake to finish off with.
Sadly, we had to leave Margate and head to our accommodation in Ramsgate so we could have a little pootle around before dinner.
Ramsgate was stunning – more compact than Margate, it had a much more community feel and a ‘lived in by locals’ vibe, which is what we like. The Royal Harbour is the focal point of the town and a hive of activity.
We strolled along the quay-side and down the streets admiring the architecture and seeking out our next bookshop – the beautifully vibrant Book Bodega, on Harbour Street. A very new, chilled and modern bookshop that sells ‘books and brews’.
We bought gorgeous retro postcards of Ramsgate and a copy of ‘My Monticello’ by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson all packaged up in a brown paper bag with a ‘Book Bodega’ stamp – loved the simplicity of it all and incredible pink bar stools where you could order a coffee and while away an hour or so.
We stayed at a lovely hotel, called ‘Albion House’ – this was not our first choice of Hotel, but it turned out to be an incredible find. It is situated on East Cliff, opposite the Kent Steps and had stunning views of the Royal Harbour. The welcome was warm, the décor delightful and the food memorable. We will definitely go back and recommend it highly.
Tim and I love and seek out great examples of retail wherever we go and this is not limited to bookshops. The theatre of retail, the curation and the atmosphere is what we tune into and at Booka we have always tried to create an book buying experience that begins before you enter the door. As a consumer we want to be enticed by the look and feel of a shop before we enter it.
It’s tough for the High Street at the moment so retailers need to be on their A-game. If consumers make the effort to come in, they need to be rewarded and their expectations need to be fulfilled and surpassed.
We had seen Archive Homestore & Kitchen from our initial web search on independent retailers in Ramsgate. With its scandi vibe and focus on great design, coupled with a great food offer, we were hooked from the start.
So, the plan was made to have brunch at Archive on the first full day of our tour and before my meeting with Tamara. It did not disappoint. We loved the location, overlooking the Royal Harbour in the old quayside buildings. It was bright, light and airy, a design style we completely love and aspire to. It was very hot, so we sought the sheltered interior for incredible flat whites and avo toast followed by Swedish buns. Simple pleasures. While we were waiting, we browsed the giftware and highly curated selection of books which focused on art, lifestyle, food, the coast and children’s books.
At Booka, we want to expand our café offer to include a Scandinavian inspired lunch menu, so I was delighted to browse and purchase ‘Scandikitchen: Midsommar’ – simply delicious food for Summer days by Bronte Aurell. Watch this space in 2023 to see if we have been able to put this plan into action.
The team at Archive, were very welcoming and professional – easily able to cope with a busy food service from brunch and through lunch. We liked it so much we went back the second day.
The lovely thing about Ramsgate, is that you can stroll around its compact town centre and idle along it’s residential streets at your leisure. Tales on Moon Lane is situated on Addington Street and as we made our way towards it, we took time to browse and visit other independent retailers. One had only just opened and it was lovely to hear, from the owner, that she had decided to open on that street because of the bookshop. It really is true that bookshops add value to the places they are located.
The first thing we noticed about Tales on Moon Lane, Ramsgate was it’s beautiful, bright, fun window with rocking horse and seaside vibe. We were transfixed before we entered. Then we heard the most delightful sounds – storytelling and the joyous noise of little voices starting their journey in the world of books. It was a privilege to witness. Despite being a small footprint, Tales on Moon Lane, hold their story-time in the centre of the bookshop and other customers have to navigate around. Quite rightly the storytime is the most important part. At one point the bookseller had to break off and serve a customer, then go back to the story. It was part and parcel of how the bookshop works and it was glorious to see. There was no fuss, no unnecessary worrying, it just all happened.
This was an example of how important it is to be consistent as a retailer and in particular a bookshop. Having a regular storytime slot, that takes place on a weekly basis is a simple thing, but a very important one and something that we are definitely going to start at Booka. We already curate a programme of kids events and activities, but they tend to be themed like our Dinosaur Day. Starting in September we are also going to run a regular weekly storytime slot which will take place on the same day, at the same time, so that parents and carers can drop in on the weeks that suit them.
I had a fantastic meeting with Tamara and feel completely inspired by her energy and what she has created. As a bookshop, part of our vision is to encourage inclusivity and to be a bookshop for everyone. That starts with children’s books. We love creating book theatre and bringing books to life with our events for children. I hope that we can continue to do that for a long time to come. Bookselling can feel quite insular at times, so getting out and speaking to other booksellers and seeing other bookshops is one of the best ways to revitalise ourselves. My meeting with Tamara certainly helped to do that.
On our final day we headed to the picture postcard town of Broadstairs. We walked along the seafront into the town. It has an incredible beach and old-world charm with its narrow streets and historic buildings. There was a folk festival taking place, so it was packed with Morris dancers, music stalls and holiday makers.
We enjoyed an ice cream in the sun before heading back along the open road to little old Oswestry.
It’s always lovely to escape, but boy do we also enjoy coming home. Shropshire is so beautiful – the hills to the south and the Shropshire plain to the north. I love the peace, the quiet, the greenness (compared to the parched south) and of course our very own literary haven, Booka Bookshop.
Where will we venture next – who knows, but more bookshops and great models of independent retail will be visited, that’s for sure.
We would love to hear about your road trips and how far you would travel for a unique and inspiring retail and/or food experience.
#bookshoptour #retailtheatre #foodiebooksellers