Jump into romance, find intrigue in mystery or escape with adventure. It is all on offer on the bustling shelves of this “hidden gem” of a book shop in Ripon.
The Little Ripon Bookshop, founded by husband and wife team Gill and Simon Edwards, is part of the independent book shops resurgence.
While the online behemoths find it easy to offer cut-price books, more and more people have been flocking to the likes of Gill and Simon’s shop.
The shelves are stacked with a mix of new books and classics.
It may have been a daunting task in the beginning and during the coronavirus lockdown, but the Little Ripon Bookshop has thrived on community, friendship and loyalty.
The shop has grown in recent years and even expanded into a vacant unit next door. It has been doing so well that it’s not so little anymore.
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On a rainy weekend in a gloomy year, Gill thinks there is nothing better than the prospect of curling up with a novel by the fire. She told the Stray Ferret:
“I think that people do have a sense of belonging here. We have got a book club that’s really successful. We are doing it online at the moment, but it’s still going well.
There are just loads of people that love books and they know that if they don’t use it then it doesn’t work. So many people are keen to keep us here and that’s wonderful.”
Find the shop on Westgate in Ripon.
Coronavirus has, of course, been difficult for the shop. It closed its doors for three months but adapted to the online world and delivery quite quickly.
Gill and Simon’s customers appreciated the deliveries but the book shop was trading at about a quarter of what it normally would.
Things are a little different in The Little Ripon Bookshop.
But as soon as they opened the doors again in June, customers flocked back to support the book shop and have kept coming back since.
With a few months of consistently busy trading, the shop is now in a good position to weather any coronavirus lockdown storms on the horizon.
This is part of the Stray Ferret’s ‘hidden gem’ series, highlighting small, independent businesses. They need to be tucked away but growing in popularity with an eye-catching and unique product or approach. Send us an email with your nominations.
