WINSTONE’S Hunting Raven Books will be holding a series of weekend pop-up shops at the Silk Mill to help avoid crowding and provide a more relaxed shopping experience in the lead up to Christmas.
Hunting Raven’s manager Tina says, “Christmas may seem like a long way off, but for shops like ours the planning starts early. With restrictions still in place and limits to the number of customers we can safely welcome into our shop, we’ve had to really think about how we can do Christmas differently this year.
“On the busiest of Christmas shopping days, we will often have up to 50 people in our small shop at any one time and the queues at the till can be pretty long! As much as I love the buzz this creates, we just can’t afford for that to happen this year and we are urging our customers to consider spreading out their spending.”
To help make this possible, Hunting Raven will be hosting three separate Christmas pop-up weekends at the Silk Mill – one in October, one in November and a final one just before Christmas in December.
Tina says: “The idea is to shift some of the footfall out of our Cheap Street shop into a separate space. We had a trial run of this with our socially-distanced summer sale in August, which was a complete success. For our Christmas pop-ups we will fill the Silk Mill with the very best books this Christmas has to offer as well as a selection of gifts, gift-wrap, cards and calendars.
“There will be a number of different ways to shop. People can make purchases to take away with them on the day, or have a browse and place an order to be delivered closer to the time.
“Though the bulk of new titles are published in September and October, exciting new titles will be added to November and December’s pop-ups, so there will be plenty of opportunity to spread the shopping out this year. Copies of the Hunting Raven Christmas catalogue can be picked up in the shop and will be available to view on Hunting Raven’s website www.winstonebooks.co.uk/frome
Tina concludes, “We are very well aware that not everyone can get out and about, and we actively welcome orders over the phone and by email. We continue to offer a free local delivery service, and books by post to those further afield, and will continue do so throughout the Christmas season. We are also working hard to bring you a brilliant online shop too, so that you can browse what’s on offer at your leisure. However you want to shop this Christmas, we’ll be there for you.”
The first Christmas pop-up will take place on Friday 23rd, Saturday 24th, and Sunday 25th October from 10am until 4pm at the Silk Mill, Merchants Barton, BA11 1PT. Dates for the November and December pop-ups will be announced shortly. For more information, or for orders and recommendations, please contact Winstone’s Hunting Raven Books on 01373 473111 or winstonebooks3@gmail.com.
