Books / East Bristol Books
A day in the life of East Bristol Books
It’s a sparkling Saturday morning after last night’s heavy rain. At 10:15 Old Market feels sleepy still, slightly hungover, but you can count on Russell being there already, outside his bike workshop next door, looking at a bicycle with a customer.
And Phil, the owner of Bristol Vintage across the road, waves his hand while chatting to one of the hairdressers at Coven. East Bristol Bakery – the other EBB – is also open, of course, and there’s time to grab cup of coffee (and perhaps a cinnamon roll) before opening the shop.
Some parcels small enough to pass through the letterbox arrived earlier on. We get a lot of these: bundles of slim poetry pamphlets from small presses; the latest issues of weird, radical, folk zines, stuff you are not likely to find in other shops, whether physical or virtual.
is needed now More than ever
Dan Eltringham and Andrés Anwandter, co-owners of East Bristol Books
Controlling that kind of stock is another thing, but we are quite pleased with the way the spreadsheet labyrinth is working so far. There should be time for that later though; now is a good moment for ventilating the space, re-organising the windows, tidying up the shelves a bit, and sweeping the floor.
Minutes later, the first customers find us broom in hand. They start browsing and comment on our display of political pamphlets. The first sales of each day seem to cast a spell on subsequent purchases: if that magic works again, we should be selling more Bristol Radical History Group publications today (and needing to place a big re-order soon).
Shop interior, East Bristol Books
Some days we sell lots of poetry pamphlets; others, translated fiction or the exploratory non-fiction prose we categorise simply as “essay.” A group of people ask if they can leave some flyers saying “Boycott Israel/Free Palestine” on their way to a demo in the centre. One of them can’t resist taking Raja Shehadeh’s What Does Israel Fear From Palestine?, one of our bestsellers.
Marta from L’Etoile Gallery comes in to ask for a title, while her baby Carlo remains very quiet and observant in his pram. Another friend, Mike, a poet, is here to order books for his son’s birthday. He stays for almost an hour, our chat frequently interrupted by customers’ queries or comments. It has suddenly become very busy. Tom from Gloucester Road Books, visiting the shop for the first time, introduces himself and joins the conversation.
Andrés Anwandter and Dan Eltringham outside East Bristol Books
A girl from Belgium, who is here for the weekend, wants to purchase something very local about nature. Late Light by Michael Malay, with its cover depicting Troopers Hill, seems to be exactly what she is looking for. She happily takes it, along with issue 2 of the excellent Wort Magazine.
The flow of customers declines a bit towards the late afternoon. We brew some black tea to have a look at a catalogue and mark some titles for ordering. It’s been a good day; we deserve chips and beer from the Ill Repute to round it off.
Shoppers queuing outside – photo: East Bristol Books
Visit East Bristol Books at 12 West Street, Old Market, go to www.eastbristolbooks.co.uk or follow @ebb_bristol for more information.
All photos (unless stated): John Wong
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