In this episode, I'm chatting with Rosamund De Le Hey, the co-owner of Mainstreet Trading Company, about opening a general store, the four things she wanted to make sure her store included to draw in customers, Bookshop.org, and books!
Husband and wife team Rosamund and Bill De Le Hey opened Mainstreet Trading Company in 2008. The store is located in St Boswells, Scottish Borders, and has won numerous awards, including Britain’s Best Small Shop, Independent Bookshop of the Year, and Deli of the Year.
Rosamund has spent her life in books, from reading under the covers by flashlight to launching and promoting Harry Potter while children’s marketing director at Bloomsbury. She moved home to Scotland in 2003, becoming partial to a bacon roll on the red-eye train while commuting to London. In 2008, she and her husband, Bill, opened The Mainstreet Trading Company. Rosamund served as President of the Booksellers Association between 2016 and 2018.
Bill worked as a freelance photographer in London from 1992 to 2004, working for publications ranging from The Telegraph to Car Magazine. On moving to Scotland, he followed his passion for good food, retraining as a chef at The Edinburgh School of Food and Wine. It proved timely to the launch of Mainstreet, where Bill heads up all things food and drink, and drove the launch of Mainstreet Deli in 2012. Bill is now best described as a cheesemonger/wine merchant who is nuts about natural wines.
Mainstreet Trading Company
Invisible Child, Andrea Elliott
Eastbound, Maylis De Kerangal (author) Jessica Moore (translator)
Mend the Living, Maylis De Kerangal (author) Jessica Moore (translator)
The Golden Mole, Katherine Rundell
Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer
Mad Honey, Jodi Picoult, and Jennifer Finney Boylan
Where There’s A Will, Emily Chappell