A new chapter for charity bookshops

The new St Columba's Hospice bookshop in Montagu Terrace will open its doors on Thursday .

It has shelf space for more than 4,000 titles, with another 8,000 in the stockroom, and the hospice says it has more floorspace than any other charity bookshop in the Capital.

It is the latest fundraising effort for the hospice, which is also campaigning with the Evening News to raise money for a massive rebuilding project at its site in Granton.

The Buy a Brick campaign asks our readers to donate whatever they can to help the hospice bring its facilities into the 21st century.

The 26 million project will see the inpatient wards completely rebuilt and day hospice and social areas renovated. A new teaching centre will be created, the gardens remodelled and patient rooms re-equipped.

There is 7m still to be raised, and we are asking you to help the hospice take the first step towards hitting the target – see the panel below to find out how to give.

As the appeal goes on, the hospice must also continue to raise cash for its day-to-day running, and the new bookshop will help that fundraising.

It has been set up by Standard Life employee Roni McNeill, who has been seconded to the charity for three months. She found the premises and organised the fit out, while the company itself donated printing and design services and let employees have time off to paint and decorate the store.

Ms McNeill said: "It's been an incredible opportunity for me to work on this project with St Columba's Hospice and I've learnt a lot from the experience. There's such a wide selection of books for people to choose from, a great kids' area for parents to come in with their kids and they can browse books while the kids are playing, or the kids can read books as well. Everybody that's come in has said it's just a nice place to be, there's such a nice atmosphere."

The store will offer fiction paperbacks for 1 each, and the shop also offers a book ordering service for hard-to-find titles.

The store will open its doors at 10am on opening day, and all customers who spend 3 or more that day will receive a voucher for a free hot drink from nearby Cafe Montagu.

Barbara Brockie, trading company co-ordinator for the hospice said: "St Columba's Hospice is very grateful to Standard Life for giving us the opportunity to be part of their secondment programme, and for loaning Roni to us for the past three months – her expertise has been enormously beneficial to us.

"We'd also like to give a huge thank-you to our volunteers who have done an amazing job at setting up the shop in their own time. We are really excited about being able to provide a St Columba's Hospice bookshop for people in the north of Edinburgh."

St Columba's already has shops in Morningside Road, Leith Walk, Comely Bank Road and Drumsheugh Place, with a fifth in Fauldhouse, West Lothian.