Maldon Books launches pop-up store in park

Maldon Books in Essex has launched a pop-up bookshop in a shepherd’s hut in nearby Promenade Park after brainstorming ideas over lockdown.

The pop-up store was unveiled in a grand opening on 17th July of The Book Hut with Maldon-based author Jake Tyler cutting the ribbon and signing copies of his memoir A Walk from the Wild Edge (Penguin) afterwards. Crime writer James Henry, of the Essex-based DI Nicholas Lowry series, joined proceedings and there were giveaways throughout the day.

The pop-up shop will be open until the end of September. The spin-off site was funded by the Booksellers’ Association (BA) and comes 18 months after the indie bookshop in Maldon High Street jointly won the National Book Tokens Newcomer of the Year award.

Olivia Rosenthall, owner of Maldon Books, said of the pop-up: “We're so very pleased to finally show you what we've been working on for so long. Early this year, when we had to close our doors once again in the third national lockdown, we were so unsure of how things would be for us. Despite the support our customers gave us, like many new businesses on the High Street, we just didn't know what the future held for our little bookshop.

“We had so many ideas for Maldon Books, from author events to writing workshops to regular story time sessions. The restrictions have made it very difficult to do all the things that we wanted to do, and being a small premises, we weren't sure of what might be possible for us outside of lockdown. So in January we decided to put our heads together, and we came up with The Book Hut.”

The pop-up shop will feature books for both adults and children. It will be open seven days a week unless extreme weather makes this difficult. “We'll also be hosting regular author events, signings and story time sessions too,” Rosenthall said.

"A special thank you to our wonderful team of booksellers, family and friends who have been so helpful with this project — who are still helping as we get ready this week — and to the Booksellers Association, whose funding was used towards our lovely shepherd’s hut.”

For more information, visit Maldon Books or call 01621 854968.