Yes! It's exactly what that article title implies - a bookstore on a barge! On an actual river! There are not enough exclamation points in the world to contain my excitement!
I could hardly believe my eyes when I read about it in this morning's Shelf Awareness:
Books ahoy! Although we mention business and book launches routinely here, the word launch is literally appropriate for the Book Barge. The Express & Star reported that the "canal bookstore . . . moored at Barton Marina, Barton-under-Needwood . . . is the brainchild of Sarah Henshaw. She has transformed her 60-foot narrowboat into a haven for book lovers wanting something different from high street chain stores with the help of her trainee carpenter boyfriend.""Opening my own bookshop was a childhood dream but I began to fear it would never come true," she said. "I didn't have the money to rent a high street shop. Then we came across Barton Marina and loved it, it's so pretty. But when I inquired about units there weren't any available."The inspired solution to this dilemma was to take to the water. "I very much want this to become the community bookstore, not just a gimmick, and the locals are being very supportive," she added.
Brilliant, no?! As I gear up my own business plans and drool over locations I'll never be able to afford, I can't help but be awed/jealous by the utter coolness of a bookstore on a riverboat. I want one! Also, now I know where I'm taking my next vacation.
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