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An independent bookshop in Devon re-launched as a community bookshop on Saturday (17th November), bidding to raise £33,000 to bring the store into community ownership.
The Crediton bookshop in Crediton, Devon, has been running for nearly 30 years and owner Jill Holden swapped retirement in exchange to give the bookshop a chance of a new chapter as community-owned enterprise.
It costs residents from £20 to have a stake in co-owning the store, and its owners are hoping to raise £33,000 from the community to run it.
Ken McKechnie, committee chairman and a director of the Crediton Community Bookshop, said: “We have been overwhelmed with the interest and support expressed so far and believe that the energy and enthusiasm of booklovers, volunteers, visitors to the area and the wider community will secure this popular store for the next generation of readers and writers.”
The bookshop aims to support local authors, promote reading and literacy for all ages and provide a meeting place and focus for reading and writing groups. It will specialise in selling children’s books.
The Co-operative Group said there were 5,933 co-operative enterprises in the UK in 2011, up from 5,450 in 2010, and the group has pledged £5m over 2013-15 to developing the Cop-Operative Enterprise Hub, which is a free service delivering advice on how to get community-owned enterprises off the ground.