Little Toller to open bookshop

Independent press Little Toller is to open a bookshop in the Dorset town of Beaminster next month. 

The press will move from its base in Bridport to the building in Beaminster, and operate the office upstairs, with the shop front below.  

Publisher Gracie Cooper anticipates opening the store "in the next two to three weeks."

"We've thinking about it for a while, but put it to the back of our minds for a while—years in fact," she told The Bookseller. "The idea kind of crystallised with Dara's [McAnulty] book, we had this realisation that all these amazing small independent bookshops who have worked so tirelessly throughout lockdown have really supported us and supported [Diary of a Young Naturalist].

"It's a small market town where we are starting the bookshop. I think it will be really good for the community. You open a public service when you open a bookshop—it's a comfortable environment. This is a time when we all need more of those."

McAnulty went on to become the youngest ever winner of the Wainwright Prize. 

The shop will sell the press's own books and promote independent publishers. Little Toller specialises in natural history, and will feature curated lists and children's books on nature and the environment, in addition to author signed titles. The shop also expects to host events in the future. 

"One of the things I really want to do with shop is focus on helping promote and support not just small presses but their authors," Cooper said. "The whole landscape of bookselling is changing—this is an attempt for us to retreat against the Amazon wave and to encourage people to come to a small town, order books and be involved and not just go to prime all the time."

"We've had such a welcoming response from all the small bookshops offering advice, asking how they can help. I've been inspired by all these bookshops, and thought why not have a go myself."

Though she acknowledged the the threat of a second lockdown, Cooper was optimistic about opening, and felt a bookshop was needed in the town to benefit wellbeing. 

"I think the way people shopped changed over lockdown, they have gone back to their local communities, who have done such fantastic things," she said. "The sense of returning to your community is a positive. We're literally just going to sell books, I don't want to take anyone else's business away from them.

"One of the things the [pandemic] has taught me is books have played a really important part in people's mental health. I'm excited, but there's lots to be done. Lots. It's a foolish really, but we are having a go and we are going to do our best to make it work."