Salvation Army charity shops reveal UK is still a nation of book lovers

It seems that despite the digital age of the 21st century, Brits are still very much in love with the good old fashioned paperback. The Salvation Army’s network of charity shops has revealed sales of its second-hand books rose by more than 60 per cent year-on-year this summer.

Paul Wright, head of the Salvation Army Trading Company’s charity shops in the UK said: “Our book sales results are astonishing! Competing with high street retailers is no mean feat, so our shop staff and volunteers really made a big effort this summer; we had some fantastic in-store and window displays. We’ve been so heartened by the public’s support and we’re incredibly pleased to see that books continue to be so popular.”

The chain of over 200 charity shops recently ran a summer promotion to encourage readers to choose preloved books ahead of the holidays, making sure that buyers got themselves a good page-turner, but crucially would be raising money for The Salvation Army’s invaluable social welfare projects across the UK too.

As part of the promotion, which included a limited time three-for-two offer, The Salvation Army’s shops unleashed their creativity under the tagline, ‘There’s more to our books…’ to highlight that a preloved book is far more valuable than people think.

Paul added: “There’s more to buying a book from us than meets the eye. Yes, you get a great read for a snip of the price of a new book, but you’re helping us raise vital funds that help thousands of vulnerable people every year. You’re also recycling – and if you donate it again, the life of the book just keeps going.”

While staff and volunteers got creative with their shop windows and transformed old books into saleable ornaments and fun displays, a range of seven unique bookmarks have also been produced for customers, which share some more of the unusual yet common uses for a preloved charity shop book.

Three of the bookmark designs:

There are seven different bookmarks available, which will be given out free with every book purchase while stocks last.

For more information or to find your nearest charity shop, visit www.salvationarmytrading.org