Children’s Books We Love;

Animalphabet, Alex Rider & more…

We’re always a bit biased towards children’s books, and a lot of people have been in touch asking for recommendations to entertain children in lockdown. As ever, we’d highly recommend that all grown ups borrow these books from the children to read afterwards!

Dear Customers,

Friday 1st Nov, 2019, saw a very special visitor arrive in our little village of St Boswells.  HRH Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay (as he’s known when in Scotland), had a day out in the Scottish Borders. He spent the morning in Hawick, opening a new hi-tech factory for knitwear firm, Scott & Charters, the first new mill to be opened in the town for 40 years.

What an amazing birthday present! At an awards ceremony in the Houses of Parliament last Tues, 13th Nov, Mainstreet was named as Britain’s Best Small Shop 2018 from a shortlist of 25 businesses (and 600 entries). The Best Small Shops competition, managed by the Independent Retailers Confederation (IRC), celebrates the commitment and creativity of independent retailers on the UK’s High Streets and the central role they play in their local communities.

National Bookshop Day on 6th October seemed like the perfect moment to award our winners and runners up from the inaugural Summer Reading Diary competition.  The campaign was launched in June to encourage local and visiting children to review up to five books they’d read over the summer holidays.  There were two categories, 4-7yrs and 8-11yr, and two big prizes – win your height in books!

Sat 23rd June saw Mainstreet transformed into a mini street party/festival for the day, with bunting, balloons, cake, books and masses more – all to celebrate the past 10yrs.  We hope you enjoy this photo diary of all the fun…

Mainstreet is celebrating 10yrs this June.  As part of the birthday campaign, Rosamund and Vivian have selected ten books from ten years of bookselling.
“It was very hard to select ten books to represent ten years of Mainstreet. We tried to think of which book had been the most satisfying hand-sell of each year – it’s an eclectic list, indeed many of the books need to be carefully put into the right hands. The list is dominated by fiction, but also includes some very powerful non-fiction titles and, of course, children’s.” Rosamund

On a sunny day in the middle of May with Bill de la Hey…

ALLIANCE WINES LAUNCHING OUR SPRING LIST

What feels like many moons ago I was invited to sit on a panel to judge an award which went by the catchy title ‘The Award for outstanding Contribution to Children’s Literacy in Scotland’. Ok, so it probably wasn’t that but something similar. The panel consisted of six people with one thing in common – we ALL LOVE BOOKS and are passionate about promoting reading for pleasure among children.

Difficult though it is to believe, there was life prior to The Beast from the East. It was possible to wear normal shoes and walk along the pavements of Edinburgh without disappearing into an eight foot snowdrift. I did exactly this last Thursday and was rewarded with a day surrounded by publishers, booksellers and the odd author. The Annual Scottish Book Trade Conference was in town…

I have been away from the shop floor a fair bit in January so I thought I’d let you know what I’ve been up to…

Twice a year our HOME team spend a few days in London at TOP DRAWER, a design led lifestyle show which each year showcases talented makers and suppliers from the UK and beyond.

This Christmas we bring together pieces from some of our favourite makers, nestled amongst all manner of sparkling baubles and stocking fillers. Alongside linen scarves, beeswax candles and Scottish spun twine and raffia, we have gathered together a few highlights to get you into the Christmas spirit.

We’re getting into the spirit of (whisper it) Christmas and hosting a pop-up shop for one of Edinburgh’s top independent retailers, Biscuit Clothing.

The dust has cleared and we’ve almost finished tweaking, so here’s a taste of the new look at Mainstreet.

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.

For the past few years Vintage Publishing have run a summer campaign to find their best Vintage Indie Bookshop. This year we decided to go for it!  Regulars to Mainstreet will be familiar with our beautiful vintage Citroen H Van – what better way to support Vintage publishing than by creating a Vintage pop-up bookshop…

Summer 2017 marks the 20th Anniversary since first publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Rosamund was lucky enough to work at Bloomsbury from the very beginning of the Harry Potter series until the Deathly Hallows in 2007, so this summer has proved a trip down memory lane. As part of their celebrations, Bloomsbury announced that 20 lucky bookshops around the UK would win the right to host a Harry Potter Quiz night, the winners of which would then go forward to a national final to be held in the autumn, we were thrilled to be selected as one of the 20.

We are thrilled to say that Mainstreet is the Lifestyle feature of House & Garden in December 2015.  Here’s a taste of the story…

And so with the guidance, knowledge and expert linguistic skills of Jon Thrupp, Director of MONS Cheese UK, Bill, Shaun and Phillippa left Mainstreet for the mountains…  We arrive in Geneva to meet Jon Thrupp and begin the drive over the Swiss-French border to Le Grand Bournand in the Alps. We meet Reblochon affineur Jean Pierre Missillier at his maturing rooms and spend some time tasting Reblochon with local wine which perfectly cuts through the richness of the cheese. Good start so far!

A couple of weeks ago Bill, Shaun and Phillippa headed off to The London Coffee Festival  in search of information, inspiration, – and caffination! (As if we need extra encouragement to drink more coffee!) Here is a sneak peek at what we got up to…

Welcome to Mouse Mansion…  Over the past few weeks, Shaun and Phillippa have been secretly building a mansion in our HOME department. It has finally made its way into our windows, and the new inhabitants of Main Street St Boswells have a home!

@TheBookshopBand just had a customer in talking about last night – ‘I’m lost for words…’ (in a good way!).
— Mainstreet Trading (@mainstreethare) June 23, 2013

This tweet is the only way we could think to describe our evening with ‘The Bookshop Band‘! The supremely talented, (and equally charming) Somerset three piece, delighted our SOLD OUT audience with a whole library of bookish melodies and witty tales of bookshops past. All washed down with scrumptious Paella (made by Shaun and Vivian with game from Burnside Farm Foods, and seasonal local vegetables) and a pint or two of Foxy Blonde Ale from The Scottish Borders Brewery.

In the depths of our bookshop, under an arch, you may have spotted two secret doors…  One cold January morning, our team of in-house artists began working on a secret project. After some research, and lots of collecting, the idea for ‘The Book Burrow’ was formed. Based on an idea Rosamund had dreamt up in the early days of Mainstreet, we set out to convert two dusty cobwebbed cupboards under the stairs into listening dens, for children to experience the joy of audio books.

This Summer The Mainstreet Trading Company turns 5!  In celebration we decided to create a blog to give you a little insight into daily life at Mainstreet.  In the 5 years since husband and wife team Rosamund and Bill de la Hey converted the former auction house into a beautiful bookshop and cafe, the shop has proudly received national awards, been host to some truly inspiring authors and more recently expanded to include a wonderfully eclectic new Deli and Home shop. Our community has grown with us, and for that we thank you!

We were delighted to be featured in the April issue of Country Living as their Kitchen Table Talent.  Here’s a sample of the text …  The colourful window displays of The Mainstreet Trading Company in the Scottish Borders village of St Boswells are enough to lift the spirits on a dull day.  This morning, art graduate Phillippa is putting the finishing touches to her depiction of James and the Giant Peach, papering and painting a large exercise ball, crafting origami out of vintage-style giftwrap and hanging a cardboard flock of sky-blue birds.  As the scene takes shape, passers-by stop to admire it before being enticed inside by the aroma of Arabica coffee, and the promise of oven-fresh scones and cakes, which are served daily in the bookshop’s in-house cafe.  By lunchtime, loyal customers will be lining up to buy bowls of homemade soup, clutching and discussing their latest literary finds as they near the till, before relaxing at one of the many tables, tucked next to and among the bookcases, to catch up with friends.

The nice people at Waitrose Kitchen have written an article about Mainstreet – complete with beautiful photos. Here’s an extract of the text…
…. At this family-run bookshop, the accounts are all in order, thanks to the magical combination of great reads and delicious feeds…. In 2003 [Bill and Ros de la Hey] moved to Scotland, Ros’s childhood home, from London, where Ros had worked for many years for publishers Bloomsbury; Bill was a photographer.