Many readers dream of running a small, cozy bookshop where fellow book lovers can gather. In reality, opening an independent bookstore is risky, so most people never act on that fantasy. A creative alternative exists in Wigtown, Scotland: The Open Book offers a “bookshop holiday” in which guests volunteer to run the shop while staying in the apartment above for one to two weeks.
“I think what draws people here is the dream. The kind of ‘what if’ — ‘what if I did this with my life,'” says Jessica Fox, one of The Open Book’s founders. “It feels like you’re the main character in a movie.”
Fox herself turned a “what if” into reality, leaving a high-stress filmmaking career in Los Angeles where she worked for NASA to become a bookseller in Wigtown. After volunteering at The Bookshop — Scotland’s largest secondhand bookshop — she decided to settle in the village and wrote a memoir about her journey, Three Things You Need to Know About Rockets: A Real-Life Scottish Fairy Tale.
Fox wanted others to taste that fairy-tale life without abandoning their everyday lives. That idea helped launch The Open Book: guests can rearrange window displays, choose opening hours and organize events such as wine tastings, karaoke, tea parties, author talks and music sessions.
Since opening in August 2014, The Open Book went viral and remains hugely popular. Its shop and apartment are typically booked two years ahead — as far as Airbnb allows — and new bookings usually open on the first Monday of each month. “What keeps people here — and we’ve had people come like three times and still wait — is the community that they find,” Fox says. She notes that visitors crave real connection in an age of screens and that Wigtown offers a joyful, analog experience.
Wigtown, a coastal town of about 1,000 people in Galloway, has long been a haven for readers. In 1998 the Scottish Parliament designated it Scotland’s National Book Town, and that year the first Wigtown Book Festival was held. The annual festival (scheduled in 2026 from September 25 to October 4) runs more than 200 events and contributes roughly £14 million to the local economy.
Before the book initiatives, Wigtown faced economic decline: many buildings sat empty and were at risk of demolition. When the festival began there were 83 properties for sale in the village; today there are four. “It is essentially the books that have saved Wigtown. Wigtown has risen from the ashes — like a phoenix rising from the ashes — because of books,” says Joyce Cochrane, owner of The Old Bank Bookshop. “It’s a community that’s built on books. It’s just a wonderful success story.”
Edited by: Cristina Burack