Norfolk Children’s Book Centre celebrates its 40th anniversary in a new home
As it reaches a milestone birthday, the long-running indie is getting a new lease of life in a fresh location.
More than 40 years after founder Marilyn Brocklehurst opened Norfolk Children’s Book Centre in the garden of her home in Alby, the indie bookshop relocated to Wroxham Barns this summer. The move followed Brocklehurst retiring a couple of years ago, handing ownership of the business over to her sons Matt and Tom. She announced her intention to sell her house at the beginning of last year and the hunt for new premises began.
According to bookshop manager Annie Rhodes, it was “very hard to find anywhere suitable”, as many nearby towns already had bookshops and “we knew that we would need more space than any high-street building could give us”. An email to Wroxham Barns owner Ian Russell proved timely, as two units had just become available at the family and tourist attraction in the Norfolk Broads.
“Ian was very keen that we move here when the opportunity arose because I think he could see it would be beneficial for both of us,” explains Rhodes. “As it turns out, this has worked out as well as it possibly could, I think, in terms of our needs for space and the increased footfall.”
The new bookshop comprises two units, with one housing the retail space and the other used as an office. Though the new site is just a 20-minute drive from the Book Centre’s former home, it has a “very different feel”. The original bookshop was tucked away so customers had to journey there specifically, whereas the current location benefits from the passing trade of families visiting Wroxham Barns’ farm, activities and shopping village, which has “already presented opportunities and challenges equally”.
We knew that the nature of how we work would have to change being here, and that what people expect of us might be slightly different – Annie Rhodes, Norfolk Children’s Book Centre bookshop manager
“We knew that the nature of how we work would have to change being here, and that what people expect of us might be slightly different,” says Rhodes. “I’d started to think about the type of customer we might get here compared to the old shop and I planned the layout in mind, with an increased area for board books, as there are a lot more young families that come here.” In the old shop, the team welcomed customers with hot drinks and tailored recommendations but, as the new site is “more of a walk-in shop for casual buyers” at the moment, “it’s tricky to figure out what the customer expects from us and what we need to give them”. Post-summer, Rhodes wants to refocus on the customer experience “because that is what we pride ourselves on”.
The move to the new premises was complicated by the decision to implement an official stock-control system. “A lot of our time before we even packed the books was spent scanning them all onto BatchLine. It added an extra job for us, but we thought, in the long term, it’s going to be worth it, because not knowing what we’ve got in stock has presented so many problems over the years.”
Rhodes began working at Norfolk Children’s Book Centre almost 13 years ago, though she met Brocklehurst a few years earlier while studying English Literature at the nearby University of East Anglia in Norwich. “She came in my third year, when I was doing a module on children’s literature… I’d always had an interest and love for children’s books, [but] I don’t think I quite realised the range that was available until Marilyn came in.” Coincidentally, Rhodes started dating Matt following that and, after “a range of odd jobs”, she joined the bookshop team. She now manages 10 staff members. In the past few years there has been “quite a lot of change-over”, but she feels she has “a really good team now”, bringing “varied experience and interests and expertise” to cover all areas of the children’s and YA market.
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Rhodes anticipates that they will see “different sorts of books sell here compared to the last shop”, adding: “It’s already been quite illuminating to see what people are buying – books that sat on shelves for years… As I predicted, board books have definitely been the order of the day here, which has been different for us. But I’ve actually quite enjoyed exploring what’s out there in terms of different types of board books… Publishers are making some really interesting, tactile things.”
She continues: “There’s a lot of innovation in children’s books generally. One of my favourite bits of the job is unpacking boxes and seeing what there is. There are just so many wonderful books coming out all the time. We’re so lucky, really, to be in an industry that’s constantly innovating.” She is particularly passionate about picture books and “trying to broaden people’s ideas of what [they] can do”, as well as graphic novels and she is “always looking for the quirky, the edgy, the weird”. One area of the market she feels is currently neglected is “where children go from middle grade to YA” and she calls more for books for tweenagers.
Shortly after moving, the Book Centre hosted an opening event with former Children’s Laureate Chris Riddell. The walls of the last shop had been signed by 172 authors and illustrators over the years and Rhodes wants to replicate this in the new site, with Riddell the first to add his name. She is keen to “focus more on events” in the new, more accessible location, adding: “We want to involve all the other businesses on site, try and work together to do some activities and create a programme of events in the shop that will invite more of the community in.” For the 40th anniversary next month, Rhodes is organising a celebration in the bookshop which will include an event with author-illustrator Nick Butterworth (who opened the original shop in Alby) on 16th October and a visit from Jamie Smart’s Bunny vs Monkey characters.
Another priority is outreach to local schools, following a drop-off in many regular school customers since the Covid-19 pandemic. Rhodes admits: “It’s really tough re-engaging schools in a digital age. So much of what Marilyn used to do was physically go into schools or go to conferences where teachers are… We do want to carry on offering all of the services for schools and teachers, but it’s becoming increasingly hard. All the costs have shot up.” However, she is optimistic that the new site will make a difference and hopes to work with Wroxham Barns to include the bookshop in the attraction’s wider offering to schools.
Rhodes is also keen to create “more chilled spaces” on the “fun-heavy” site to “offer something slightly different for families and children”. The units come with a large outdoor space. “What we’ll plan to do is have a bookshop garden first of all and then maybe have some outdoor seating, so we can hold story times or special events outside. By this time next year, we’d hope for it to be a functioning part of the shop because I love the setting here... I like that there’s the opportunity to collaborate on things to do with the farm and animals, wildlife, nature.”
