World’s Only ‘Bookstore Airbnb’ Has 2-Year Waitlist for Guests to Run Their Own Shop.
Credit: AirBnB, The Open Book
The Open Book is a totally unique Airbnb experience in Wigtown, Scotland’s National Book Town.
Guests can rent an apartment above the bookshop and run the shop during the day. It is now world-famous and has a two-year waiting list for guests.
The Open Book is in Wigtown, a Scottish town noted for its bookstores and literary culture. In this unique AirBnB experience, guests get to live in a self-catered flat just above the bookshop, and they get to work there during their stay. Guests will be free to run the shop as they see fit, changing displays, pricing books, and helping customers with their choices. The unique opportunity to pay someone to allow you to work for them while you are on holiday is the stuff of dreams or nightmares, depending on who you speak to. Regardless, the experience has drawn paying guests from as far as Hawaii and Beijing. Guests describe the shop as “charming” with a community-focused vibe.
Popularity & Global Appeal:
The concept of the “first-ever bookshop residency experience” has become a global phenomenon since its launch in 2014. It has drawn more than 450 guests since its opening.
Local Impact:
The Wigtown Festival Company, which organises the town’s literary festival, runs the shop as a non-profit venture and profits from the AirBnB experience.
Proceeds from The Open Book’s rentals contribute over £8,000, around €9,000, per year to the Wigtown Festival Company’s charitable work in the area.
Wigtown’s community has come together for this project, including local volunteers who help guests out on a regular basis. The project is the brainchild of Jessica Fox, who is a full-time author and filmmaker. Her aim was to provide book lovers with a chance to live their fantasy of running a bookshop by the sea in Scotland. Needless to say, local volunteers play a crucial role.
An Immersive Experience for Guests
Wigtown’s quaint, picturesque setting includes the sea, highlands, wild forests, and a welcoming community of book lovers. The project has created an opportunity for book lovers and English language enthusiasts to flock to a remote destination and immerse themselves in a completely unique cultural experience. It is also an opportunity for guests to share their own culture with the bookshop’s customers.
The annual Wigtown Festival draws book lovers to the area each year and has become a growing cultural celebration increasingly joined by people from around the world.
The Open Book has a two-year waitlist for guests to run their own shop in Wigtown.
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