Books are my business: Alice Walsh of The Village Bookshop in Terenure

I’ve always been a bit of a bookworm, even as a child. I used to hide in the neighbour’s hot press with a torch, reading their Enid Blytons. 

I did English in UCD, and I was teaching for a while. Then I set up a book stall in Temple Bar, with one of my best friends, Mike, who died a few years ago. We were doing that for a few years and then Mike had to move abroad. 

I used to sell books at Electric Picnic, All Together Now, and all those festivals, we would do pop-up shops. Then, 11 years ago, in 2012, I decided to open my own shop, which I did, here in Terenure.

Can you tell me more about the business?

I like buying and selling and I feel a great sense of achievement hunting out books for people. With the shop, it is mostly new books, although we have a secondhand and rare section. 

My husband, Brendan, does a brilliant book stall in Dun Laoghaire farmer’s market every Sunday, he has loads of regular customers.

Myself and my son Harry do a little book market every Sunday in St Patrick’s Park besides the cathedral.

It is a nice way of making a living, you don’t make much money but it keeps you going. You meet really interesting people. 

We tick over — covid was good for us because the day lockdown was announced, I phoned Ryan Tubridy’s radio show and told him we were going to deliver books and the phone didn’t stop ringing. 

People were so grateful, we had people ringing from Australia, asking ‘could you bring a book to my granny for her birthday?’. Business improved and I’d say half of those customers stuck with us.

What is a typical day like?

My husband is more of a shopkeeper than me, he likes going out in the morning, sweeping the path, tidying up, putting things in alphabetical order and all of that. 

We open after 9am because we sell a few newspapers as well. There are two primary schools close to us and often parents pop in and buy something after dropping off their kids. We have busy days and not-so-busy days, which can be frustrating. 

We close about 6.30pm because we get people coming in after work. We are on a couple of bus routes out of town, so they come in looking for books they have seen in the window.

What do you like most about being a bookseller?

I like the interaction with customers. I would never set up a business just to sell books online. I like chatting to people and having regular customers, being part of local life and the community. 

We have people who came in with their babies when we opened and now they are going into secondary school. 

We know the kids and what they have been reading all their life. 

You wouldn’t do it if you didn’t enjoy dealing with people. We had a man in today who was saying ‘I’m so glad you’re here’. Small shops are struggling with rent, rates, and all of that.

What do you like least about it?

Organising and pricing the books. I also really don’t like doing returns — I farm it out to my son, I delegate.

Three desert island books

I picked up a book there about three weeks ago, The Prophet Song by Paul Lynch [which has since won the Booker Prize]. I read it in one sitting and it is still in my head. It was utterly absorbing and unsettling. I thought it was amazing. I don’t usually like dystopian books but I could completely imagine it happening. 

Another book I loved was Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These, it was just fantastic. After reading the last page, I was left wondering what happened afterwards.

Red Notice by Bill Browder, in which he recounts the true story of what happened to a friend of his, a lawyer who went against Putin. I read it before Ukraine and all of that, and it was chilling, a brilliant book. 

Oh, The Places You’ll Go! by Dr Seuss — after college, one of my boys went off to Vietnam for a few years and I gave him that. I sometimes read that story when I am sitting in the shop, there is just something about it.