We hope you are all safe and well. This week we are excited to bring news of the next phase of our physical shop reopening on 6th July 2020! 

Mr B’s is Opening Fully for Browsing from Monday 6th July

From 9.30a.m on 6th July 2020 all rooms at Mr B’s will be open for browsing, ordering and collection.

After two weeks of being open in a limited form (for ordering and collection only) we’re now satisfied that we can open the full shop in a manner that keeps you all as safe as possible whilst you enjoy exploring our shelves again.

We are thrilled to be able to open up the full extent of the shop and all of us are itching to get recommending and talking books with you once again. 

Opening Hours

Our opening hours continue to be 9.30am – 5.30pm Monday -Saturday and from 11.30am – 4.30pm on Sundays. We’re still opening half an hour later and closing half an hour earlier than our “normal” opening hours so that we can complete our cleaning and disinfecting and complete shelving without compromising social distancing. 

Layout and Entrances 

From Monday you will be able to access the shop by the same doors you’ve always used at No.13 and No.14 John St. Whether collecting, ordering or popping in to select some books you can use either entrance and either counter. 

You will notice a few small changes as you move around the shop. We’ve removed a couple of displays temporarily to discourage being tempted to linger in the shop’s tightest spots, and I’m afraid that for now we’ve taken out some of our comfier chairs that are a bit tricky to clean and disinfect.

Looking after one another

We’re continuing to do all we can to look after and reassure you, and all of our booksellers, as the shop opens up fully. Here are some of the steps we’re taking:

  • Hand-sanitiser is available as you enter and leave the shop and elsewhere so please do make use of it.
     
  • Our booksellers working on the shop floor all have face coverings available to use and we have erected screens at the counters. Please follow government guidance in relation to face coverings when planning your visit.
  • We will be following whatever social distancing rules and recommendations are in place. At the moment this means that we are all keeping at least 1m distance.
     
  • We have added signage to those tighter spots in our labyrinth of a shop to help everyone navigate them whilst giving one another safe space. 
     
  • We have disposable gloves available for customers who would prefer to wear them whilst in the shop.
  • Whilst the layout of the shop makes having an overall customer number limit unworkable, at busy times we may need to restrict access and ask customer to queue outside briefly. 
  • The key areas and surfaces of contact will be cleaned at the start and end of the day and we want to reassure you that the same will be happening behind the scenes and that all office work is taking place in as distanced and safe a way as possible.  
     
  • We are also observing social distancing in all of our work environments away from the shop floor, with some team members still working from home where that’s possible.
     
  • We are encouraging payment by card rather than cash wherever possible.
     
  • We are keeping on top of the shifting government guidance for shops on working safely during Covid-19 and have completed all required preparations and additional steps  to complete our risk assessment. We have also considered where that guidance might lack detail in order to make sure we are doing what we can to look after all of you and our team.
     
  • We would ask all of our customers to follow whatever government guidance exists from to time when judging whether and how to visit Mr B’s and the Bath high street generally.

Other Mr B’s Services

We are gradually bringing back as many of our other service titbits as we can. With the shop floor fully accessible you will be able to browse and purchase our merchandise (in time to get your Mr B’s t-shirt for the summer), greeting cards, stationery and board games once again. 

With current social distancing rules and other government advice in place we cannot yet resume our Reading Spas though. This is under constant review and we will be in touch with everyone who had a booking in place to discuss rearranging. Apologies again for the unavoidable uncertainty around this and for any frustrations it might cause. But do be assured that we will be in touch.

Shopping Online and Remotely

Whilst we reopen the full shop floor here in Bath, nothing changes on our website – except we’ll be adding plenty more new books as publishers get back to full speed with lots of new titles in July. As many of you have discovered, if you can’t make it to the shop, or don’t yet want to make the trip, then our website is the next best thing. You can use it to order the latest titles, enquire or have recommendations from our real booksellers who are running it throughout the day. We can ship books anywhere or you can order to then collect in store. 

And, needless to say, we’re always on the end of an email or phone for whatever you might need to order or enquire about. Just visit www.mrbsemporium.com (remember if you don’t see the book you want on our site then we can add it in moments), call 01225 331155 or email books@mrbsemporium.com.