Topping & Company are preparing to open the largest independent bookshop in the country on Museum Street. Ahead of the opening, Saskia Topping shares the story of how this family run business has grown over the past two decades, and what to expect from their new chapter in York.
A Family Story
We’re family-run independent booksellers, now in our second generation. Robert and Louise Topping opened the first bookshop in Ely in 2002 with their children Hugh and Cornelia, who were just 11 and 8 at the time. The whole family still works in the bookshops – though Hugh and Cornelia have taken on more significant roles since fetching books and making pots of tea as children all those years ago!
The original Ely bookshop gradually expanded to become a three-floor space. From there, the company grew steadily, opening bookshops in Bath in 2007, St Andrews in 2014, and Edinburgh in 2019. Over the years, a number of brilliant booksellers have joined us – including some who worked with Robert decades ago at Waterstones’ flagship Deansgate bookshop in the early days with Tim Waterstone. I joined at the start of 2019 and fell in love with both the job and the philosophy behind the bookshops. I became a managing bookseller in Bath in 2021 – and eventually married Hugh (hence the surname!).
Shaped by Cities
Each bookshop simultaneously shapes and is shaped by the city and the readers who come in. When I travel between our bookshops, it’s striking how each has its own culture and feel. Booksellers run their own sections, have autonomy to order books, and take the lead with events – which gives each space a distinct character. If a bookshop is connected to the readers in each city, it will be making decisions on what to stock for that readership.
Growing in scale has allowed us to expand our range – particularly in areas like Manga and Science Fiction & Fantasy, which have exploded in popularity with younger readers. Edinburgh was a turning point for us in terms of scale, showing how rewarding it could be to open large bookshops in period buildings. It means we can lean further into the experiential side of bookselling: browsing over a pot of tea, listening to authors, and spending time in magnificent buildings filled with books.
The Topping Philosophy
There’s an anecdote my colleague Duncan and I often return to. When he wandered into our St Andrews shop almost a decade ago, he spotted the complete ten-volume set of T.S. Eliot’s letters sitting on the shelf. It struck him as something a corporate chain would never give space to. Those letters became a kind of shorthand for the Topping philosophy: supporting books that readers and booksellers truly believe in, and keeping them on the shelves.
We also believe in bookselling as a valuable and enriching career. Our booksellers are deeply knowledgeable and act as a bridge between authors, publishers and the communities we serve. At its heart, there’s also a belief in hosting – offering a warm welcome, treating everyone who comes through the door as a friend of the bookshop, and creating a space to discuss and discover ideas.
Full of Life
York feels like a perfect fit. It’s a deeply bookish city, with a strong history of bookbinding and bookselling. When we found 1 Museum Street – a beautiful, labyrinthine building – it felt immediately obvious that it should be a bookshop. Duncan and I are joined by colleagues Marie-Gabrielle and May from Bath and Edinburgh, and we’ll be running a year?round programme of events, welcoming authors such as Matt Haig, Natalie Haynes and Sebastian Barry. We’re hoping to host reading groups, children’s events, and summer sessions in our hidden courtyard.
Day to day, people can expect a big bookshop filled to the rafters with books, pots of tea and coffee, and an energetic, passionate team. It can be chaotic at times – boxes piling up, deliveries arriving – but that’s the beautiful reality of a busy bookshop. Full of life.
