Mike
Give an Osprey Spinner a new home - for free
December 10, 2009 12:00 AM
The Osprey spinners are one of the stand-out features in a large number of bookshops - that reassuring, hulking presence in the military section that is quite simply packed with Osprey goodness. But, with the sad demise of Borders in the UK, it looks as if there will soon be upwards of 50 spinners without a home.
We don't want these spinners to just simply go to waste - so are launching a campaign to unite some Osprey fans with a free spinner. If you would like to give a home to a second-hand Osprey spinner, get in touch with us on blog@ospreypublishing.com, and we will pass your details on to your local Borders store. You will then be able to go and pick up the spinner yourself - for free.
Below is a list of the Borders stores that we know have received spinners from us over the last couple of years - but many other stores will probably have an older spinner out there. In fact - virtually all of the Borders stores in the UK will have a spinner and we want to get as many of them into new homes as possible.
Birmingham
Birstall
Bournemouth
Brent Cross
Bristol
Cambridge
Carlisle
Coventry
Dublin 15
Dundee
Edinburgh
Ellesmere Port
Gateshead
Glasgow (Buchanan Street)
Glasgow (Glasgow Fort)
Greenville
Inverness
Kingston-upon-Thames
Leeds
London
Manchester
Milton Keynes
Newbury
Norwich
Oxford
Preston
Southampton
Speke
Stockport
Swansea
Thornaby
Wallsend
Warrington
Watford
York
Remember - you do need to get in touch with us to clear the removal of a spinner - you will not be able to just walk in and walk out with a spinner, we don't want anyone getting arrested for shoplifting! So email us first at
blog@ospreypublishing.com.
Last, but certainly not least, it would be remiss of us not to thank all of the fabulous Borders staff and to wish them the best for the future. I personally will miss Borders a great deal, and the Borders booksellers have been fantastic ambassadors for Osprey and Shire over the years - so many of them were passionate about books and had a fantastic knowledge of the Osprey and Shire lists. Hopefully that enthusiasm will not be lost forever.
COMMENTS
It has been rumored that Borders is on the verge of going out of business here in the US for quite some time now (I have been hearing it for the last 2 years). This is a sad thing really as the average Borders stocks far more Osprey titles then the average Barnes & Noble. Most Borders will usually stock at least 20 or so Osprey titles at a time while most Barnes & Noble will barely stock 5 or 6 and even then they are usually all Campaign or New Vanguard.
Report this comment
The first Border's bookstore opened in my home town, Ann Arbor, Michigan. I was in my early teens at the time, and it was like a piece of heaven had opened up.
The store was on State Street, in the Campus area., just south of the old State Theater and north of North University Ave. It had two whole stories of books, with the top floor being a giant remainder area which was one of my favorite after school and weekend haunts. I picked up many books that went into what is now my reference library a give-away prices.
Good memories.
Report this comment
Just to re-iterate a couple of points about this everyone - this only applies to Borders stores in the United Kingdom, and you will have to arrange to go into the store to collect the spinner yourself - we can't have these mailed or shipped to you as they are all already fully assembled.
Report this comment
Are the spinners ever available for purchase by the public or just booksellers? Having almost 600 Osprey titles they'd be a great space saver (not to mention less stress on my IKEA bookshelves!)
Report this comment
Morning Michael, we are actually hoping to offer spinners for sale to the public on this site within the next month or so - it is something that we have been asked for so many times, it has just taken a while to make sure that our suppliers can produce enough to meet demand. I know what you mean though - those Ikea shelves can only hold so many NVGs!
Report this comment