In 2015, Bridge Books founder Griffin Shea was looking for South African books. Books for his young children, and books for his own research and pleasure. He discovered that many titles were impossible to track down, and he ended up ordering many local books from overseas stores – just because those stores had them.
He set out looking for other ways of selling books. He started exploring around Johannesburg’s Park Station, and meeting dozens and dozens of book vendors who faced similar problems. Whether they traded on the pavement, in a hair salon, or in their own bookshops, they all struggled to get new, local books.
So he started delivering books in a rucksack, hiking across the city’s bridges to deliver books to informal traders. When his back started hurting enough, he found a space on Commissioner Street and opened Bridge Books in June 2016.
Bridge Books remains a small indie shop that focuses on African literature, but it also sells books online and runs a wholesale business that continues to supply small booksellers with new books.
In 2018, we started the Underground Booksellers walking tour, which introduces readers to new places to buy books in the city, while explaining to visitors the history of books in the city and the many ways that books are bought and sold in Johannesburg.
We are currently working with a wide array of partners in the city centre and the Johannesburg Development Agency to create a new Literary District, which will act as an umbrella for all the bookish events in the city, while creating a new network of Street Libraries and helping small booksellers with new training programmes.
Company Details
- Employees
- 12
- Founded
- -
- Address
- 59 4th Avenue, Johannesburg,gauteng 2094,south Africa
- Industry
- Book And Periodical Publishing
- NAICS
-
Publishing Industries (except Internet)Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory PublishersDirectory and Mailing List PublishersOther PublishersGreeting Card PublishersAll Other Publishers
- Website
- http://www.bridgebooks.co.za
- HQ
- Johannesburg, Gauteng
Bridge Books Questions
Bridge Books's website is http://www.bridgebooks.co.za
Bridge Books's LinkedIn profile is https://za.linkedin.com/company/bridgebooks
Bridge Books has
12 employees.
View email and phone details for 12
employees at Bridge Books.
Bridge Books's industry is
Book and Periodical Publishing
Bridge Books's top competitors are
Penguin Random House South Africa,
Perdeby Student News,
Enterprises University Of Pretoria,
Pan Macmillan South Africa,
Showmax,
Wits Publishing Studies,
Ivery Arie Inc.,
Publishers' Association Of South Africa (Pasa),
Janine Smit Editorial Services,
Exclusive Books.
Bridge Books's categories are Book and Periodical Publishing
Bridge Books's founding year is 2016
