Former BookTrust director opens children’s bookshop

Louise Chadwick, a former director of programmes at BookTrust, has opened a children’s bookshop in Shrewsbury.

Button and Bear, which opened in the county town on Friday (16th September), will sell mainly picture books and fiction for children of primary school age, although Chadwick will also sell teen and YA books directly to secondary schools.

Chadwick said she opened the shop because she wanted to create somewhere she would have liked for her own children, who are now grown-up.

“When I worked for BookTrust I was responsible for programmes like BookStart; my focus has always been on children’s books,” she told The Bookseller. “If we can get children interested in books at an early age we can hook them for life.”

The shop space is spread over two floors and includes a café, gift shop, baby feeding area, events space (which can be hired out for parties), and bookshelves. Chadwick is planning to run regular events, including weekly ‘rhyme time’ and story sessions, as well as a ‘teddy bear picnic’ at the end of the month.

There are also plans for author events, as well as events run in partnership with the Shrewsbury Book Festival.

Chadwick decided to set up the shop in Shrewsbury because of family connections as well as the lack of children’s book facilities in the town. “The Waterstones’ children’s section here is not accessible for pushchairs and the children’s section at W H Smith’s is downstairs," she said. "Our events space is also downstairs but we will close the shop for events that are accessible.”

Button and Bear opened early last week because of demand from “people knocking on the door” and Chadwick said customers wanted to support local independent shops.

"It’s all very well looking for books online but people want to browse,” she said. “With picture books especially, you need to be able to handle them. Parents still want information about books and nothing beats having someone to talk them through what is available.”