The transformation of an empty historic building in York city centre into a new independent bookshop has taken a step forward with new plans.
Topping & Company has applied to fit signs on the outside of the building on the corner of Museum Street and Blake Street which is currently being renovated.
Their application stated signs featuring their branding would help advertise the business while the wider conversion would hark back to the building’s 19th Century origins.
They added the York store, slated to open in June, could attract more than one million visitors a year.
It comes as conversion works at the building, which has stood empty for four years, remain ongoing after councillors approved it in July.
The Grade II-listed building, which was constructed in 1860, was previously home to the Visit York tourism body’s offices.
Scaffolding is up around the building and posters in its windows are advertising events with authors Nancy Birtwhilstle and Mary Beard on Thursday, 12 March and Tuesday, 14 April respectively. The events are being held at the University of York, with the company yet to give a firm date for Museum Street bookshop’s opening.
Plans lodged with City of York Council would see signs with the company’s light blue and white logo put in the building’s windows and hanging ones fitted to outside walls.
Company founder Robert Topping said in July the York store would be the largest independent bookshop to open anywhere in the country in living memory.
It is set to join other Topping & Company stores in Bath, Edinburgh, Ely and St Andrews.
The company’s plans stated the York store would be more than just a shop, with its sites elsewhere thriving despite challenges facing the high street.
They added it would be of great cultural and public benefit to York when it opens.
Up to 30 people could work in the shop when it opens, according to the company.
Plans stated: “Independent bookshops are at the heart of their communities, reaching out and providing services, spaces and events that benefit the cultural wellbeing of the cities and towns they are in.
“Topping & Company in York will provide a space for people to gather and will cultivate a sense of community through discussions with authors, booksellers and fellow readers.
“Browsers have flown from Germany just to attend an event, such interactions do not exist in the largely solitary and transactional digital market.
“Genre-specific book clubs will create a sense of belonging and book signings and author events will be held bringing some of the biggest literary names into the city, alongside local authors, and allowing their readers to meet and engage with them and their books.
“These will extend the use of the building beyond normal retail hours and contribute to the night-time economy within the cultural area that includes the York Theatre Royal.
“It is expected that visitor numbers will exceed half a million per year, based on similar sized bookshops in Edinburgh and Bath.”
