In a response to the hectic nature of Black Friday, in 2015 indie bookshops came together to celebrate the first ever ‘Civilised Saturday’ offering the antithesis of the craziness of Black Friday in bookshops around the UK. Last year’s event was a resounding success and it’s now announced that the second Civilised Saturday will take place on 26th November.
This year’s event will be tying in with the Great British Bake Off, and the Danish lifestyle philosophy of Hygge. As expected it will be a genteel, slow paced kind of day, exactly the sort booklovers love!
The event is promoted by the Booksellers Association, who intend on making this year’s event bigger and better than last year.
Around the country there’ll be various themed events in independent bookshops, all embracing the GBBO theme. Mary Berry will be at the Chorleywood Bookshop in Hertfordshire signing copes of Mary Berry’s Family Sunday Lunches, bookshops in East Grinstead will be hosting the Great British Bake Off cake sale with 50% of profits going to the Surrey Sussex Air Ambulance. Meanwhile at Wenlock Books in Shropshire there’ll be a Hygge inspired Civilised Saturday, centred around cosiness, warmth and relaxed Christmas shopping, with Picaresque Books and Gallery in Fantoosh following a similar theme. If you’re in the Bath area, you can pop into Mr B’s Emporium for fun and flower pressing, but wherever you are in the country, we hope your local bookshop is taking part in Civilised Saturday this coming Saturday, 26th November.
Amazon may have brought Black Friday over to the UK as a major promotional event, but British bookshops are bringing it back home with tea and cake, in the most British way possible!
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