Oxfam bookshop: turning page-turners into poverty-fighters

National World - LocalTV

From rare first editions to recent bestsellers, almost everything here is donated – but don’t let the price tags fool you. Last year alone, this store raised over £100,000 for Oxfam’s global poverty projects.

Transcript

00:00So this is Oxfam Cottom Hill Bookshop and we've been here since 2004.

00:05We are, other than myself, entirely volunteer run.

00:08There's about 35 of us on the team and we accept donations from the community around us

00:13of vinyl, CDs and mainly books, which we then sell on

00:18and the funds go towards supporting Oxfam's work and relieving poverty.

00:22This isn't just any second-hand bookshop.

00:24This is Oxfam Books on Cottom Hill,

00:26one of the busiest and best-performing charity bookshops in the county.

00:31With rising rents forcing independence out of high streets across the UK,

00:37this small store is bucking the trend, not only surviving but thriving

00:41and it's doing it by turning page-turners into poverty fighters.

00:46Tell me a little bit about how buying second-hand books helps the environment

00:50and also the causes that Oxfam supports.

00:53So it reduces waste, it saves resources

00:57and it just means that we can sell at an affordable price

01:02because we're entirely donation,

01:04we entirely run off donations other than a few SBO goods

01:07and all of the proceeds go towards helping the planet and the people in it.

01:12We've got a lot of shelves to fill.

01:14Yes, absolutely.

01:16I think coming to your local Oxfam Books,

01:17you'll be surprised there's one in pretty much every corner of the country

01:20from what I've realised from working here.

01:23It's a really good place to get rid of some of your books that you no longer need.

01:28And obviously with the world, we've become a lot more digital.

01:31A lot of people are using kind of your e-books, your Kindles,

01:34but there is nothing quite like having a physical book, is there?

01:39I completely agree.

01:40I think there's a lot of digital fatigue with people's work

01:42and just these days everyone's on a computer

01:44and just being able to immerse yourself in a book for an hour a day is so beneficial.

01:50From rare first editions to recent bestsellers,

01:53almost everything here is donated.

01:55And as the cost of living crisis drives more readers to buy second hand,

02:00the business is booming.

02:02And for you as a reader, tell me a little bit about your favourite genres,

02:06the things that are in here that you might enjoy.

02:09I must admit I am quite a fantasy fan.

02:11At the minute, I've been reading Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo.

02:16Bardugo? I don't know how to say it.

02:18But I really enjoy that sort of genre, for sure.

02:22Some people call it childish, I'd call it escapism.

02:25So one exciting part of Oxfam books is sometimes you get some very cool hidden gems.

02:32Tell me a little bit about some of the ones that you've seen,

02:35perhaps that are here or that have been sold.

02:38So I was particularly excited when we sold a Douglas Adams signed copy.

02:43I think it was mostly harmless, that book.

02:46And I was also quite excited by, recently, a couple of days ago or so,

02:51we had a book that came in from the early 1700s,

02:54which was basically about the works of William Penn,

02:57who founded Pennsylvania.

02:59I think it was a book that came in from the early 1700s.

03:00I think it was a book that came in from the early 1700s.

03:01I think it was a book that came in from the early 1700s.

03:02I think it was a book that came in from the early 1700s.

03:03I think it was a book that came in from the early 1700s.

03:04I think it was a book that came in from the early 1700s.

03:05I think it was a book that came in from the early 1700s.

03:06I think it was a book that came in from the early 1700s.

03:07I think it was a book that came in from the early 1700s.

03:08I think it was a book that came in from the early 1700s.

03:09I think it was a book that came in from the early 1700s.

03:10I think it was a book that came in from the early 1700s.

03:11I think it was a book that came in from the early 1700s.

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