Books / News
Popular bookshop reopens in bigger premises
No sooner have the team at Max Minerva’s opened a bigger bookshop in Bristol than they are turning their attention to opening a new store in North Somerset.
The new and larger Max Minerva’s is only a few hundred yards away from their original location.
Now located on Henleaze Road in Henleaze, their former premises on North View in Westbury Park are set to become a cheesemongers.
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Plans are now also afoot to open a second Max Minerva’s on Portishead’s High Street in what for three decades was stationers Morgan Westley.
The shop in Portishead is due to open on Saturday with a guest appearance from children’s mystery writer Fleur Hitchcock.
Max Minerva’s is opening in what for three decades was Morgan Westley – photo: Google
Max Minerva’s is owned by married couple Jessica Paul and Sam Taylor.
Before opening in Westbury Park in 2018, Jessica helped develop collections for the Singapore National Library and ran a small online bookstore in Australia; while Sam ran Bristol Story Lab, which worked with schools in Easton to turn children’s stories into illustrated books.
Sam told Bristol24/7 that North View was “a really charming little shop but it was only 333 square foot, which limits both our stock and the children’s events we can do”.
In the larger shop in Henleaze, there are two dedicated kids sections. With more football, Jessica and Sam are also hoping to attract new younger readers.
The section in Max Minerva’s for the youngest readers
A reading chair underneath a lampshade made out of pages from a book
A quote from Lemony Snicket reads: ‘All the secrets of the world are contained in books. Read at your own risk.’
With regards to the Westbury Park community, Sam added: “They’ve been great. The shop we moved into had been a bookshop for 40 years. Then it was forced to close and the shop was closed for a couple of years.
“When we reopened, the community was really glad to see that the bookshop was back because it had been so much a part of their lives.
“So there are a few that are sad to see us leave that particular unit because it holds that romance.
“The community has been really supportive the whole way through lockdown so hopefully we can build on that and just give them a bit more choice, a better service and even less of a reason to go online to buy books!”
Max Minerva’s is now open at 47 Henleaze Road
All photos: Martin Booth
Read next:
- Bristol’s bookshop revival challenged to be more inclusive
- My Bristol Favourites: Jessica Paul and Sam Taylor
- Turning fallen trees into amazing works of art
- Bookshop makes the move into bigger premises
- ‘Truly devastating’ break-in at record shop
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