Travel and own a bookstore at the same time

For book lovers, many of them have dreamed of owning their own small bookstore. That dream can come true for only… 4 million VND.

With just £150/week (VND4.6 million), you can own a lovely little bookstore called The Open Book located in Wigtown, Scotland, England.

The Open Book is a guesthouse and bookstore located in Wigtown, Scotland, England.

For those who love books, many people have had the exciting idea of ​​owning their own small bookstore, but it is not an easy thing to do. But what if you combine traveling and owning a bookstore? That is the idea for the hostel and bookstore called The Open Book.

Visitors to the Scottish town of Wigtown who want to stay here for 1-2 weeks can rent The Open Book Guesthouse and bookstore to stay here and also try their hand at running a bookstore. This is a rare and interesting opportunity that is especially impressive to many visitors.

For a rental price of 150 pounds/week, guests staying at The Open Book are required to open the bookstore for about 40 hours/week, equivalent to nearly 6 hours/day. Outside of the official opening hours of the bookstore, guests can freely rest or take a walk and visit the town of Wigtown - known as "Scotland's book town".

The Open Book is located on the first floor and the guest house is located on the second floor. Before officially staying at The Open Book, guests will undergo a crash course in bookselling by the Wigtown Booksellers Association.

This bookstore and guesthouse was opened with the main purpose of honoring the activities of private and family bookstores, encouraging the love of books and learning and especially welcoming people from all over the world to Scotland's book town.

The Open Book was opened by the organisers of the Wigtown Book Festival, after a local family donated the building. Previously, the organisers of the Wigtown Book Festival had to pay for a staff to look after the bookstore, but then they came up with the idea of ​​turning it into a multi-purpose, experiential building.

Since turning The Open Book into a hostel and bookstore, the Wigtown Book Festival has never had a bad time. The Open Book has been rented out continuously.

So with a vacation at The Open Book, visitors will have the opportunity to visit, travel, interact with the locals, and also have the opportunity to try their hand at owning a bookstore. Such a vacation will be especially ideal for those who have dreamed of owning a small bookstore.

The organizers of the Wigtown Book Festival say that the money visitors spend on staying at The Open Book is only enough for them to continue to reinvest and take care of the building and the bookstore. The profit is not worth much, what they value is providing an interesting experience for visitors.

In reality, owning a small bookstore is not an easy job because in reality, selling books in small bookstores is often quite slow and the bookstore owner often has a difficult life.

When the Wigtown Book Festival took over the bookstore, the organisers initially thought they would have to close it down because they didn’t have enough money to keep it running and pay the caretaker regularly. But the idea of ​​turning it into a hostel and bookstore has kept the building going.

In addition, Wigtown is not a town that is strong in tourism, opening The Open Book will help their town become more well-known, attract more visitors and from there the business of family bookstores here will also have more signs of improvement.

According to statistics, 57 private bookshops in the UK had to close last year due to poor business, with the new business model of The Open Book, many family bookshops will have new suggestions for business. Since 2005 to 2014, the number of private bookshops in the UK has decreased from 1,535 to 939.

The Open Book’s tenants are diverse and creative. Some people have held a cake-making contest in the bookstore during their stay, while others, who are musicians, have organized small concerts… Life inside The Open Book is vibrant and interesting.

The most effective booksellers will be invited by the festival organizers to return here on suitable occasions, and this return visit will be completely free of charge.

Most of the guests who have stayed here feel excited because they get to experience a new lifestyle, a new job, waking up every day to take care of the bookstore to make it look beautiful and welcome customers into the store.

The people of Wigtown are also very friendly, they often come to The Open Book when they hear about a new guest to see what this guest is doing with the bookstore. The peaceful life in a small book-loving town will make many people feel "fascinated".

September is the time of the Wigtown Book Festival, and the most successful bookselling couple have been invited back to look after The Open Book during the festival.

The couple had already planned to hold small concerts at the bookstore during lunchtime, and there would be a late-night story reading program at 9:30 p.m.

Owning a family bookstore is a unique experience because you are not only surrounded by books but also have interesting social interactions. You are not just selling books out of duty or simply for profit but also connecting with your customers through books. There is no boundary between personal life and business.

According to doanhnhansaigon.vn