Today we continue our celebration of local high street traders, for Independent Retailer Month.
Throughout July, the Leader is putting these smaller and often specialised businesses in the spotlight.
Meet today's trader...
Name: Caroline Johnson
Business: The Bookshop
Location: 33 High Street, Mold
Telephone: 01352 759879
Opening hours: 9am-5pm, Monday-Saturday
When did you open and why?
The shop opened in 1981 in a small unit by the cross. The previous owner was an ex-schoolteacher and opened up originally as a children's bookshop, I was the children's book buyer for a bookshop in Chester and came to Mold as the manager.
Why did you open in this location?
It soon became obvious that there was market for a general bookshop in Mold and we expanded the stock range to include adult books and maps.
It was amazing what we were able to stock in such a small shop.
We always had what people wanted, even though it meant running backwards and forwards to the stock room for titles we didn't have space for on the shop floor. It certainly kept us fit!
In 1993 we moved to our present shop in Upper High Street, it was sad to leave the little shop but we needed the space for our ever expanding stock lines.
Tell us about your business/what do you sell?
We sell a wide range of books with a strong emphasis on non-fiction - natural history, travel books and maps, history and biographies.
We like to support local authors and have a very interesting selection of local history books.
We are very proud of our children's area, particularly the pre-school section. Helping customers to choose books to start youngsters on the path to reading gives us great job satisfaction.
We also now stock art supplies and jigsaws, which are very popular.
What's your most memorable/proudest moment in business?
We bought the business in 1986, my husband was the manager of a book wholesale business and when the previous owner decided to sell we jumped at the chance to buy it.
I was very nervous opening up on the first morning as the owner and not as the manager, but we soon got to grips with running a business and we are very proud of the fact that it became so successful we needed larger premises.
Have you had any strange requests/quirky suggestions or stories from customers?
Because we are a bookshop people think we have access to allsorts of information.
We are able to help with requests such as where's the nearest cafe or B&B?, I did struggle with where can I buy a rubber dinghy?, but I definitely will not order a title from a certain online retailer which we have on occasions been asked to do!
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