World’s only ‘book shop Airbnb’ has two-year waiting list – and you need to work:
Welcome to the world’s only ‘bookshop Airbnb’ where guests can spend the night and run the store during the day. The Open Book, a quaint bookshop with a flat above, allows people to sleep upstairs and sell books downstairs.
Located in Wigtown – Scotland’s National Book Town – it offers book enthusiasts the opportunity to ”live their dream” of owning their own seaside shop. According to Airbnb, it is ”the first ever bookshop holiday residency experience” and has garnered such popularity that it has a two-year waiting list from guests worldwide.
. . . . “Booked through Airbnb, paying guests live in the self-catering apartment upstairs and run the bookshop below it for the duration of their stay.
“During their stay, guests are free to change displays, price books, re-categorise them, and make inventive use of the blackboard that entices visitors in to browse or chat.”
“Some guests are happy to quietly run the bookshop, while others come with firmer plans and creative ideas! Bibliophiles, avid readers, kindred book lovers and adventure seekers from around the world come to Wigtown to experience the life of a second-hand bookshop owner in a remote Scottish town.
Presumably this is all possible because the book sales are not the actual profit center here. It sounds as though proceeds of actual book sales or portion thereof are donated to charity.
Still, a clever idea. Better than opening a secondhand bookshop in the 21st century. And given my abilities in running finances, I am inclined to make that big mistake. I should consider a location where I could have an AirBnB with it as well.
