Author: Sharon

Since the bookshop closed, over the years, it’s been great reminiscing with Sophie and Casper, and it’s helped Casper in particular, get over some issues that w...

For a large proportion of retailers, the Christmas period is their most important time of the year, because that is when they make the most profit. For us, Chri...

Unfortunately, our bookstore chain never survived. The company went into liquidation and all 41 stores closed. Twenty-six of our branches went into administrati...

For those of you who are still in the Christian retail sector, what an exciting time for you all! Especially the ladies! If I was in a shop right now, I’d be gr...

Many years ago, while I still worked for the bank, I was attending a wedding when I spotted a girl with whom I was vaguely acquainted. After the ceremony, she w...

“Get over it!” How many times have people said that when somebody is harping on about an issue that bugs them? Cammie was very patient. I constantly whinged to ...

One of the best aspects of working at the shop was that there was a large variety of jobs to do and different skills to learn for each of them. Good We had two ...

Apart from The Gaithers and anything black gospel, our all-round most popular selling music was an Irish lady called Marilla Ness, Celtic singer Máire Brennan, ...

He always looked like he was posing for a photo shoot, but to actually call him a ‘poser’ would be cruel because not only is that a negative judgement, but he’s...

The situation with the drunken men was becoming increasingly worse. Almost every day we had to deal with an unwanted disruption, and it began to feel like the d...

The first years of stocktaking were performed when the shop was closed. We would take one or two days and finish within the timescale given by Head Office. Extr...

Of all the drunken men who frequented the store, Ryan was the one who touched my heartstrings the most. Firstly, he was the most regular – visiting us up to 3 t...

It is not always easy to make the right decisions when faced with somebody who has a penchant for self-importance. It is even harder when that person is a custo...

Adam spoke in monotone voice. He wasn’t autistic but would have loved people to think he was. I liked him. My colleagues didn’t. Casper and Trudy had endured mo...

From time to time, I loved to play pranks on my colleagues to ease the tension of a stressful day. Jessie was my best accomplice because she was even more giggl...

People tend to see things from their own point of view. Therefore, whenever I am evaluating something that I did not approve of, I try to turn things around and...

Items disappeared from the shop from time to time. The most opportune moment for thieves was during the lunch period when less staff were on the shop floor. Not...

Even though our shop was in the heart of the city, it was grubby in places that could not be easily cleaned. Apart from the two main display windows at the fron...

Tristan was a small elderly man with a row of gappy teeth and a wide grin. He spoke in a gruff voice and wobbled when he walked. This was not owing to old age. ...