The Key to Peach Street: A Few Wrong Attempts, Then Finally the Right One

After years (2.5 to be exact!) of planning, finding properties, losing properties and lots of paperwork, I am thrilled to share the news: I finally have the keys to the bookshop premises!

Standing in the empty space this morning, it felt surreal to think that this is where the hard work truly begins. Getting to this moment has not been straight forward; it has been a process of patience and persistence.

The Road to Here

  • The Planning: I started writing the Business Case for Greenwood Chapter in January 2024. I hadn’t intended to spend years working on it but in the absence of a viable premise, it seemed logical to do as much research and planning upfront, outside of my day job
  • The Hunt: The truth is, I thought this would be the easy part of setting up a business but it quickly became apparent that this was not the case. Finding a suitable premise in Wokingham was hard. I viewed a few rentals that didn’t work out, offered on a property that turned out to be riddled with damp (a survey saviour!), reached out to garden centres about a pop-up and even seriously considered a ‘book bus’
  • The Vision: There were days of doubt where I questioned if a property would ever come up in Wokingham. Nothing came onto the market – certainly within budget – for over six months. At that point, I revisited my research about opening in another town but it wasn’t right; the ‘community hub’ model wouldn’t have worked anywhere else
  • The One: Then, Peach Street. When this property became available in March, it honestly felt like the stars aligned. No red flags, big enough to do what I want with the bookshop but small enough to not overwhelm. Once our offer was accepted, the process moved extremely quickly. Offer to completion took only three months

 

What’s Next?

Since this property is actually a full back-to-brick renovation project, I have officially moved into the phase of meeting with builders to discuss plans.

I’ll be documenting the renovation, and the chaos of setting up, so expect to provide updates as I go.

Let the renovations begin!