This month I nominated The Edinburgh Bookshop for the Responsible Business Champion awards for all the work they do in the community.

The Edinburgh Bookshop is a cultural and community hub in the Bruntsfield/Morningside area of Edinburgh.  It has won Scottish Bookshop of the Year 3 times in the last 6 years and was the 2014 UK  Children’s Bookshop of the Year.

The bookshop is very much part of its community, happy to welcome parents who need a chat or support, children who need an urgent toilet stop or simply those who wish to have a rant!

The bookshop provides a year round range of free events for the community including:-

• Two storytime sessions a week for the under-5’s
• The monthly neighbourhood Speakeasy where customers are invited to come for a drink, some gossip and a reading or poem and some late-night browsing.
• A raft of author events from big names to new discoveries
• Support and advice for struggling or reluctant readers

The Bookshop aims to be a responsible, ethical business.

• All staff are paid the Real Living Wage – not the lower UK Living Wage
• For the last 5 years they have supported a European student to work

with them as part of the Erasmus programme

• They take 4 school pupils for a week’s work experience each
• They sponsor their local literacy trust – The Craigmillar Literacy Trust
• They provide around 50 raffle prizes every year for local charity fundraisers
• They recycle over 95% of waste produced by the business
• They use green Energy suppliers and ethical cleaning products
• They buy as much as possible from other local shops and suppliers
• They offer discounted books sales to local school libraries and churches.
• They use local businesses and venues for events
• Free nappies and sanitary products are available in the toilet for customer use.

This month owner Marie was at the award ceremony presented by the Minister for Corporate Responsibility, Kelly Tolhurst. Well done!