Tourists eager for a unique Airbnb experience at the world’s only bookshop residency must wait two years due to high demand.
Over 450 guests have already enjoyed their stay at this special place, where visitors spend the night and run the store during the day.
Located in Wigtown, Scotland’s National Book Town, this setup allows book lovers to experience the charm of managing their own seaside bookshop.
The world’s only bookshop, Airbnb has become so popular that travelers from around the world, spanning locations from Hawaii to Beijing, are eager to experience this unique stay.
The shop aims to “celebrate books, independent bookshops, and welcome people from around the world,” according to The Wigtown Festival Company, who is running the bookshop as a non-profit venture.
The Open Book Airbnb has attracted significant attention since it opened in August 2014.
Guests who book a stay live in the upstairs self-catering apartment and manage the bookshop below for the entire visit.
They often express their joy at the unique Airbnb experience of running their own bookshop during their stay.
At The Open Book, guests can change displays, price books, and re-categorize items during their stay.
They can also use the blackboard to attract visitors and encourage browsing or chatting.
While some guests prefer a quieter approach, others arrive with creative plans and ideas to enhance the bookshop experience.
The Open Book began as a daydream for American writer Jessica Fox, according to Medium.
While working at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, she imagined running a bookstore by the sea.
Her vision was detailed, including the jumper she wore and the long counter in the shop.
She could smell the books, feel the cold, and hear the rain outside, all while knowing the bookstore was in Scotland. A specific detail that stuck with her was a little brass bell above the door.
At night, she worked on a screenplay about a pirate girl and soon realized her characters were living more exciting lives than she was.
She promised: “I will invest as much imaginative energy in my own life as I am in these pages.”
Motivated by this commitment, she searched for “used bookshop Scotland” on Google, leading her to Wigtown, Scotland’s National Book Town.
This town is famous for its annual book festival in September. It has a remarkable number of bookstores—one for every 100 residents.
Jessica reached out to Shaun Bythell, the owner of The Bookshop in Wigtown, about a live-work exchange, and he agreed.
Upon her arrival, she recognized the brass bell from her dreams hanging above the door.
“I didn’t need any other kind of affirmation. I knew this is where I would be spending a very long time,” Jessica said.
She fell “completely in love” with Wigtown and Shaun, known for his love of books, having once destroyed a Kindle with a shotgun and displaying the remains on a plaque in his store.
After settling into her new life, Jessica realized her dream of working in a bookshop might not be unique.
This insight led her to plan a bookshop holiday. Luckily, the timing was ideal when a local bookstore owner decided to sell her two-floor shop. They transformed the upstairs into a flat and moved the books downstairs.
She described the result as cramped and cozy, which is exactly what one would hope a bookshop would look like after traveling halfway around the world to visit.
The Open Book originally used a lengthy application process to welcome guests, but this quickly became too time-consuming.
In 2015, the bookshop switched to Airbnb and was fully booked for the year within a month.
Since then, it has maintained a three-year advance booking schedule, becoming one of the most popular Airbnb listings in the world.
Every year, rentals from The Open Book provide more than £8,000, about $10,000, to support the charitable projects of the Wigtown Festival Company in the community, EuroWeekly News noted.
This initiative has received strong support from Wigtown’s residents, with local volunteers frequently helping guests during their stays.
Take a tour inside The Open Book and enjoy a unique Airbnb experience through the video below:
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