After more than nine years, it felt like we needed an update in the Books, Café and Home departments at Mainstreet. So, in September 2017, we took the plunge and announced that the shop would be closed for two and a half days to allow time for building works. It sounded so simple – moving the Café counter nearer the kitchen door, building a new Book till and moving the existing Home till to an improved position. But, as anyone who’s taken on renovations will know, you always have to go through the pain barrier before things start coming together.

With the benefit of a couple of months distance, everything did go pretty smoothly. The builders even worked ‘til midnight on day two in order to give us a sporting chance of reopening as advertised at noon on Wed 20th Sept. We made it in the end, though the process has not been without its teething problems.

The Books team are very happy with the new till, not least because we can hide all those boxes of books. The Café side of things has had more to contend with the move to table service and introduction of a new, seasonal, menu. The Home department feels so much more spacious, it’s looking all sparkly and gorgeous for the Christmas season.

Thanks to all our customers for bearing with us throughout, and, of course, to the Mainstreet team for keeping calm and carrying on.