New Edinburgh Bookshop gets opening date after Ian Rankin and Alexander McCall Smith help raise £32,000
The Edinburgh Bookshop has announced the opening date for its new premises at “a long-neglected Oddbins site” in Bruntsfield.
It comes after a campaign, which featured rewards from local authors Ian Rankin and Alexander McCall Smith, helped raise £32,000.
Speaking to trade magazine The Bookseller, Marie Moser, owner of the independent bookshop, said: “Over 400 customers generously donated £32,000 to the project via Crowdfunder and direct donations to the shop. These wonderful people are all individually thanked on a giant window of thanks on the side of the shop.”
The new shop will open its doors for the first time at 2pm on Friday, August 23, with bestselling authors Maggie O’Farrell and Catherine Rayner on hand to cut the ribbon.
The new premises, at 176 Bruntsfield Place, is just yards from the birthplace of Muriel Spark – the Edinburgh-born author of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie – and the store will feature a tribute to her.
Housed in what Moser described as “a long-neglected Oddbins site”, the new Edinburgh Bookshop will also have a separate children’s fiction room and more space to host book events and book clubs.
Marie added: “As well as a greater selection of books on offer, the new shop features specially commissioned illustrations from Kate Leiper and Chloe Savage, a children’s room with an enchanted wood theme, a secret bookcase door and plenty of comfy seats to sit on.”