The local scene of Coventry and Warwickshire

In yesterdays Telegraph it was brought to my attention that there is a new book showing the UK's crappest towns. You know the type, the books that end up in The Works for £1.99 in a year. Well Nuneaton and Coventry both make the top 10 crap towns at 8 and 7. I also accidentally ended up on BBC Coventry and Warwickshire breakfast show on Thursday too as a local lady had stated she would never go to Coventry in a million years and I tweeted that I'll be moving my business there soon due to Fargo!

Coventry

I'm going to start a new regular piece on the blog about what is GREAT about the area. From buildings and musicians, to parks and shops, to show that Coventry and Nuneaton isn't all concrete and charity shops.

As I live in Nuneaton it is actually a pretty sad state of affairs with no real new direction being made (new KFC! *sigh*), but the old Ritz Bingo hall is being talked about becoming a theatre or community space so hopefully soon will turn a corner.
It has only been in the past 2 years where I've seen a little more of Coventry and I, like the lady on BBC Coventry and Warwickshire, thought it was a bit of a dump at first, but after spending a lot more time there, there is so much to do and so many great shops, all independent, it's an exciting time. Fargo Village will be the go-to place too.

Nuneaton

In the shop I will have local acoustic music, or any music really, just not loud rock bands! My first 'Focus on' piece is on a band close to my heart.
It's me.
I've started with me just to get it out the way, and when I say me, I actually mean Jonathan Coates and I, also known as Barricades Rise.

We've been playing together over half our lifetime and mainly in and around Coventry and Warwickshire and we've played some magnificent venues. We'll no doubt grace the Bookshop stage a few times so here's a little song by us to show you what to expect.

For more on us visit www.barricadesrise.co.uk, follow on twitter @barricadesrise and like on Facebook.

I'll be focusing on loads more musicians in later blogs, but just wanted to ease you in.

Michael

A manic few weeks for The Big Comfy Bookshop

Trying to open a shop is hard, but when it comes together it feels fantastic. I'm not jumping the gun just yet but the premises I have lined up is fantastic, flexible and in the ideal location. But let me say this. It is not in Nuneaton.

Nuneaton

I've spent the best part of 9 months trying to start in Nuneaton to no avail. I've covered why in this blog here so I won't bore you with other reasons. I'm not announcing just yet where the shop will be until the lease is signed.

Last week though all the good vibes evaporated as I was burgled. I currently run The Big Comfy Bookshop from my house and so my day-to-day job involves cataloging books, writing blogs, doing social media stuff and generally spending 6-8 hours a day on my laptop. Last Monday though whilst I was out some ####ers smashed my kitchen window and stole my laptop and camera. A lot of the bookshop is backed up but some isn't, so this week will be damage limitations. The kick in the teeth though is that every photo of my 18 month old from the day he was born was on the laptop, and we have no back up. Couple this with the fact my wife Heidi who works at North Warwickshire and Hinckley college, had a week of rehearsals and performances of Miss Saigon at the local arts centre so she's been out for 12 hours a day, and then 3 gigs in my band Barricades Rise in 24 hours, it has been exhausting for both of us.
The college show was superb, see some great pics by Jonathan Coates at www.jscoates.com. The band gigs went well too with a great review by Rob at Redwood photos here.

Miss Saigon performed by NW&H College. Fantastic

This week though is a new start and back on track. I'll be updating the blog more often and letting you all know my thoughts on the shop, books and more.

I've just finished Haruki Murakami's South of the Border, West of the Sun so I'll be doing a review soon. I'm currently reading Neil Gaiman's American Gods for our book club. Feel free to join either by Facebook or just let me know on this blog (comment below). I'm also dipping in and out of Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Michael

Nuneaton Carnival - My experience

Photo by Jonathan Coates - JSCoates.com

This Sunday June 9th I took part in the Nuneaton Carnival by holding a stall on the Gala field.
The Nuneaton Carnival occurs every year and each year has a different theme. This years theme was 'A Book at Bedtime'. Local schools, groups and clubs hired floats and got in the party spirit by dressing as their favourite book characters. I couldn't actually see the floats as I was in the field but I was told by my wife that everyone looked great. It was nice that authors and book characters were given the chance to come alive, although how Shrek can be classed as a book character baffles me a little!

Front

I was given a great pitch and was excited to use the large space. I could have bought twice the amount of books! I had a helping hand setting up then by 10.30 I was more or less ready to go. Up until 1.30 it was deserted, the odd few people passing, but this was expected as the carnival was in full swing in the town centre. Once 1.30 passed and the floats were finished the field was swarmed and people started buying books. I met some great people who had heard about the bookshop via radio, social media and this blog and came along to say hello.

Back

My brother gave a helping hand in selling and promoting the shop and together we felt we had a good day. About 4.30 the crowd had dwindled so we packed up and left by 5.15, with help from my dad. A family affair! Along the way a lot of friends came by and said hello (some using the gazebo and shade I had plus chairs to ease their weary legs for half an hour!). Overall the day was a fun, sunny, great success.

My musical partner in crime Jonathan took along his camera and caught some great shots. See them on his photography website.

Someone walking their fox at the carnival

I'm in Coventry at the POD, Lamb Street tomorrow Wednesday 12th June from 12-2pm selling books then again in Leicester at the LGBT centre from 11-3pm. It's a busy week!

I also will hopefully have news on a property by the end of the week. Fingers are still crossed.

Michael

The problems of looking for a premises in Nuneaton

It's been 10 months since I finished my full time job to work on The Big Comfy Bookshop full time. The first month was a holiday really as my wife was on maternity and it gave us plenty of time to spend with our new son. Then September hit. Heidi, my wife, goes back to work full time and I start looking into premises and how to sell online, as well as look after my son a few days a week, It's exciting.

I take 2 weeks to organise all the books that are stored in my loft (about 1000 of them) then realise I need more storage. In the meantime I'm driving back and forth all over the country to pick up books. It's fun and exciting. Meeting ex-bookshop owners and book lovers. Then September melts into October and I get the website up, finally. I spend October adding books to the website. I view a property that is perfect and in November an offer is accepted. Woo Hoo! I have a premises!

November rolls into December, which quickly ticks into January and 2013. More and more books are added to the website daily and I'm nearing 2000 books online! My storage facility is close to bursting with about 8000 books, 90% of which are still to be looked at and catalogued. The Facebook is slowly ticking along with 150ish likes, and my twitter has about 200 followers. March comes. I'm frustrated at the 4 month wait of the shop. I've gradually been eating into the money that I need to open the shop, as I need to eat and clothe my baby. Not eat my baby, feed and clothe him. I'm the one that eats. Nevermind.

The shop falls through.

I panic as my heart was 100% in the shop. I had the inside scouted by North Warwickshire and Hinckley College Interior Design students and I even went into the college to talk to them about what I wanted, and I saw some fantastic pieces of work and ideas, and now that's gone. I think about returning to my mundane brain numbing desk job. My wife metaphorically punches me in the face and tells me to man up. I man up.

I view another property. A smaller one but a lot cheaper but it has everything and more than the first shop had. I start visualising the layout. I get excited. Everything looks great. It is owned by the Co-Op. They won't lease it to me as I will be selling tea and cake and they also serve tea and cake, even though the shop has been vacant for over 12 months. Obviously my tea and cake sales would eat into their tiny business and ruin them. Anyway, shop falls through without an offer being made.

Then, world book night! At Nuneaton Library with about 40 other book lovers who are there to meet local author Rosie Goodwin. It's a fantastic night and I give out my business cards and explain I have no premises but I am online. Every single person thinks it's a fantastic idea and just what Nuneaton needs. I beem inside. I can do this. Just opposite the library is a tiny little council owned shop with a 'to let' sign. It's just £7500 pa with a rolling lease. Absolutely perfect to start up in. I ring the next day. It was leased last week.

Son of a beesting.

I decide to start attending fairs as a seller. My first at Stockingford Spring fair is amazing, taking double what I expected and meeting loads of people who had heard about the shop through the grapevine. Fair 2 was appalling, at Nuneaton URC. There was no advertising by the 'promoters' except a message a month before on their Facebook saying 'Don't forget about our Craft Fair!'. No one knew about it except those I had contacted myself. I actually had time to read a WHOLE BOOK whilst no one attended. I sold 4 books. Other stall holders left at 11.30. Deflated.

Then Earlsdon festival happened. Oh. My. God. Simply the best experience to date. The day was glorious, the stalls were huge and I literally didn't stop all day. It fired me up.

I spent the next few days trawling around Nuneaton scouring premises. But there simply aren't any that are friendly to new businesses. 

The rent and rates in the town are so high it's impossible to contemplate getting a shop there. For example, this shop

on Abbey Street, with some foot traffic but not lots is £20,000 PA plus VAT (so now it's £24,000) plus rates (not sure how much they are for this but I estimate £5000 PA, so up to £29,000) plus gas, electricity and water. Basically it's £30,000 per year without stock, fittings, staff etc. It's in one of the main streets in Nuneaton but it's quiet. 

After looking at every single available shop (through the windows at least, then researching online) there is not one single shop in the centre that a new business, or at least my business, can afford. This is why I am having to look outside the town.

I am investigating a pop-up shop in Nuneaton too though. I am hoping that a landlord of one of the empty shops has some vision, and would rather have their premises hosting a business for a few weeks or months than having it empty. I'm starting that process now.

The bookshop is very much alive, but will take any help it can get whether that be you know of an available space, even if it's for a short time, or maybe you fancy helping out at one of the craft fairs I'll be at, or maybe you're a graphic designer who wants to add more to their portfolio? Designing flyers maybe?. This was started with the Nuneaton community in the front of my mind and I want to involve as many people as possible.

Next week I will be meeting with someone to look at a premises outside Nuneaton. It's an excellent opportunity but it obviously takes the business outside of where I wanted it to start. It's bitter-sweet.

Thanks for reading this long ramble. I am passionate about this.

Michael

@BigComfyBooks

I've just come back from the Nuneaton Spring fair

I have just come back from holding my second stall, this time at Nuneaton URC for a spring fair. Unfortunately the rain put paid to a lot of visitors, so much so that I ended up reading The Tales of Beedle The Bard from cover to cover!

I made a few sales but it was all a little deflating, hopefully the next stall we have at Earsldon Festival will prove a hit. Although I didn't sell much, nearly everyone that I spoke to has said they love the idea of the shop and this time I had my business cards at hand.

The stall(s), early morning. I got 2 tables!

One thing I need to look at is the layout and actual books on show. I took more or less the same books to this fair than the last, with a few new additions. I stacked them, fanned them and made them look pretty but I'm thinking I may need to have less books, concentrating on just a few genres rather than as many as possible. It's a learning curve.

Are there any specific genres that you'd like to see on the stall at all? The more input from you, the better!
Finally, I've just come across a great new bookshop start up in local Kenilworth called the Tree House Bookshop. Go and view them HERE

Michael

World Book Night today!

Today see's World Book Night hitting 3 years old. It started in 2011 and has grew quickly year on year, with tens of thousands of people applying to be givers in 2013. I am one of the lucky ones to be chosen.

The list of books this year varies drastically from literary, to humour and biography and even graphic novel. The book I will be giving out today is Jeanette Winterson's biography 'Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal?' From 2 til 3 I'll be in Nuneaton town centre giving away all 20 books then tonight from 7 til 9 at the Nuneaton Library, there will be a chat with local author (and the new Catherine Cookson) Rosie Goodwin along with Warwickshire based writer Penny Freedman.

World Book Night in Nuneaton

World book night happens on 23rd April this year. I have been chosen as a giver. I have just come back from picking up my books and I'm as giddy as a schoolgirl, if they still get giddy, what with PC gone made and all.

I have chosen Jeanette Winterson's Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal.

Watch this future award winning vlog.

TTFN.

Michael

@bigcomfybooks

HMV closes in Nuneaton

It's been living on the edge for years and now it's finally tipped over. HMV in Nuneaton is no more. The local Newspaper has just put out a short story to say it'll be gone. It's not a surprise but I have mixed feelings about it. Firstly, it was the only place in town to get new CD's & DVD's but then again I haven't bought one from there for over a year, the Internet has killed it for me. My musical life partner Jonathan has written a great little bit about it all himself and I agree 100% with him. Have a read HERE.

As for books, well, it never stocked many and those that it did were no cheaper than Waterstones. Hopefully one reason why my shop will flourish! Let's hope the space left behind by HMV will not be taken up by the 98 pence store. I'm unsure if the demise of HMV will benefit me in any way as I won't be selling DVD's or CD's (bar local musicians), but at the least, if someone likes to go into shops to browse, they have an option of TBCB.

Will there be a resurgence in our town centre? or any similar town any time soon? I guess that's why this whole bookshop thing came about. People moan (rightly so) that it's dying out there yet no one is willing to do anything about it. I am hoping that they all flock to the shop once opened.

Talking about the shop, today I received a letter from the solicitors inviting me in to see and sign (hopefully) the lease, 10 minutes later I get a call from the estate agents asking when they can do some work on the place before I start! Not long now (I'm still not counting chickens though).

Well this blog has been pretty eratic.

Michael
@bigcomfybooks