Serenity Booksellers, a popular independent bookshop in Romiley, has opened a second store in Stockport's town centre. The expansion comes after the success of their original shop, which has hosted a variety of events, book clubs, and author signings. The new store aims to become a community space where people can connect over their love of books.
The owners of an independent bookshop in Romiley have opened their second store in Stockport in less than two years after high demand. Co-owners Chris and Kelly Willocks first opened Serenity Booksellers in Romiley Precinct in April 2023, and it has become a popular spot for book fans with its regular events, book clubs, and author signings.
Since opening, they have hosted a variety of notable guests, including Manchester City star Alex Williams, Manchester Arena bombing survivor Martin Hibbert, human rights lawyer Tawseef Khan, and literary stars Peter James and Kate Mosse. Following the success of the original shop, Chris and Kelly decided to open a new store in Stockport’s town centre at the end of last year. Within a short space of time, it has also been successful with local residents. Alongside a vast collection of books – including children’s, fiction, and non-fiction – the shops host creative writing and poetry groups, children’s story time sessions, and have their own monthly book club. “The support we’ve received from our community in Romiley has been overwhelming,” said Kelly. “It has been wonderful to chat to so many people about books they love and introduce them to new favourite authors through conversations, book clubs, and even exploring new reads through the events we’ve been lucky to put on.” Speaking about their plans for the new store, Kelly and Chris said they were ‘excited’ to be part of Stockport and see it going from strength to strength. Just recently, the town centre welcomed a new interchange and town centre park. A £1bn programme from Stockport Council aims to boost the area even further with thousands of new homes, office spaces, and public realms, with a number of the area’s bars and restaurants also getting widespread acclaim too. “The regeneration of Stockport has been fantastic,” said Chris. “There is a real energy and buzz about the place. It’s been great to meet so many new faces, some of which are already becoming regulars.” But the pair accept that they were a little concerned about how opening a bookshop in a climate where people are so accustomed to being able to buy books online or in supermarkets would initially go down. “Although it’s a lovely idea to open a bookshop, we didn’t go into it with a romantic vision,” explains Kelly, who has had a decade-long background in book retailing management in Australia. “We put our business management hats on and did substantial research of the UK book retailing market and our area and found that, encouragingly, book lovers still prefer a physical book to an e-book. “We are more than a decade beyond when devices like the Kindle became an alternative, and they are co-existing side by side. People love supporting local if they see the value in it. We have to do our part in making sure we are a place customers want to return to repeatedly, and we've done that in Romiley thanks to the community there.” Thankfully, most of their events regularly sell out in advance with many authors also dropping in to sign a number of copies of their books on the shelves. Next year, the bookshop will also co-host Stockport Noir 2026 - a festival dedicated to crime fiction. They have events featuring authors Louise Hegarty, John Ironmonger, Jess Kidd, Adelle Stripe, Nussaibah Younis, and Jonny Sweet coming up across both of their stores, and they are also gearing up for a big event to mark the 25th anniversary of the Murder Squad collective – made up of crime writers. Taking place at Stockport Masonic Guildhall on May 21, the event will feature six prolific northern Crime Fiction writers, including Ann Cleeves, Martin Edwards, and Chris Simms, with a discussion panel and Q&A event, alongside book signing opportunities. “What's important is people are finding new joy in reading,” Kelly says of what she hopes their shops are adding to their local communities. “Our first experience in running an indie has been so positive that we decided to bring that to Stockport too with the aim of becoming a community space where people can chat and browse books and come together for events for all ages, book clubs, and eventually a creative writing group like the one we've established in Romiley.' Serenity Booksellers is in Romiley Precinct (SK6 4EA) and on Warren Street in Stockport’s Town Centre (SK1 1UD). For more information on upcoming events and signings, click here
BOOKS BOOKSHOP COMMUNITY STOCKPORT ROMILEY EVENTS EXPANSION INDEPENDENT BUSINESS
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