THIS YEAR, the Griffin Bookshop celebrates its 15th birthday.
“Having started out in a small 30sqm premises in Almancil, we were lucky that we seemed to provide what people wanted and business snowballed,” says Linda Taylor-Gonçalves, the owner of the business.
“After a year, we needed more space. Luckily, there was a vast area available behind our shop that we knocked through to create much larger premises.”
Now, the Griffin is an Aladdin’s Cave where book lovers can find – or order – everything from the Koran and the Bible to obscure authors to Danielle Steel. There really is something for everyone.
“We have lots of clients who are experts in their particular fields who often recommend a book that would be great to sell in the shop – an authentic Portuguese recipe book or birds of Portugal, for example,” says Linda.
Special discounts
There is also a special client discount scheme to benefit regular clients and their website, www.griffinbookshop.com, contains details of all the best books for living in, or having a special interest in, Portugal.
“We can order any book (we offer an out of print book search service) and, now that we have recently arranged an improved delivery service with our main UK distributor, we have improved our delivery times to our customers. We offer special, free book ‘chat’ monthly magazines to our clients and can arrange for local reading groups to contribute a book review to this magazine, in exchange for copies of the nominated book free,” adds Linda.
Often complimented on their vast choice of books, particularly for children, the Griffin has been described by one regular client as ‘a proper bookshop’.
Contact 289 393 904, email griffin@mail.telepac.pt or visit www.griffinbookshop.com
