Borrow, don’t buy New ‘Library of Things’ to open
AN empty store in a shopping centre dubbed Britain’s “saddest” last year is to be brought back into use next month – as a “Library of Things”.
Share Bristol has taken over the old Shoezone store at the entrance to the St Catherine’s Place shopping centre on East Street in Bedminster, and the charity is hard at work converting and refurbishing it as South Bristol’s first lending library for anything and everything.
The Bedminster Library of Things already has 150 “things” available – everything from carpet cleaners and pressure washers to cake stands and sleeping bags – and the team are now inviting people in South Bristol to sign up as members so they can borrow and donate, as well as become volunteers to help staff the new library.
The Library of Things concept has been a big hit in Bristol since the first Share Bristol Kingswood opened. It’s staffed by volunteers – and at the moment opens for 11 hours a week across four days. Bedminster’s will open on Wednesday lunchtimes and Saturday mornings at first, but the more volunteers they get, the more hours and days they will be able to open.
The idea is a simple one – people donate items that are typically the kind of things that are fairly expensive but someone might only use once or twice for a specific job. Like a book library, members sign up and can then borrow a thing for a week or so, before returning it.
The St Catherine’s Place shopping centre effectively closed completely last year when the final store – Farm Foods – followed Iceland in shutting up shop for the last time. With redevelopment plans stalling, its owners have been applying for planning permission to convert the shops inside into flats instead, but a couple of the stores on the East Street frontage are still accessible, and the large former Shoezone store is being spruced up ready for the grand opening on June 12.
“Share Bristol has been talking about bringing borrowing to South Bristol for a long time, but finally a Library of Things has landed,” said a spokesperson for the charity.
“The Library of Things appears to be the only organisation operating from the precinct, but a new shop sign and a spruce-up of the shop front seeks to draw attention away from the empty units and focus the eye on the many and varied things available to borrow.
“Many people assume that Share Bristol is primarily a tool library, but actually carpet cleaners and pressure washers are just as popular as DIY tools. But there are much more interesting things to borrow as well – from a trumpet or keyboard, to mobility equipment or kitchen kit like steamers and cake stands, right through to tents and sleeping bags,” she added.
Share Bristol is asking local people to support the charity and help get Bristol borrowing, by donating things to the library – they are looking for anything that people might want to borrow for a week or two, rather than have permanently in their homes.
The small group behind Share Bristol are hoping to have hundreds more things to lend out and longer opening hours after their official opening on June 12, but are asking for people to join as members and start borrowing.