Something’s been brewing on a busy corner on Stokes Croft. The Haunted Bookshop started life as an idea conjured by Monika Killer, which has now become a reality and is open for business – ready to serve the witchy community of Bristol and beyond. Words by Rosanna Spence
There’s a huge thunder and lightning storm battering the windows next to my desk that started not long after I begin talking to Monika Killer, matching the energy of her new business The Haunted Bookshop which has literally stormed the local independent scene of Stokes Croft in recent weeks.
If the draw of year-round pumpkin-spiced lattes isn’t enough to get you through the door, then perhaps the promise of shelves “filled with a diverse array of eerie, occult, and outlandish items, promising something for every curious soul” will.
Since Monika announced her venture a few months back, she’s been inundated with offers of help, support and product suggestions from people in the witchy and occult communities around the city – many of whom are relieved not to have to schlep to Glastonbury every time they want to stock up on their ritualistic materials or peruse fiction and non-fiction books dedicated to their special interests.
Faced with so many people wanting to help make the shop – located in the former Stokes Croft Shambarber unit – look amazing and open to great success, Monika set up a flurry of volunteering days to help decorate and fill the shelves.
“It was amazing,” she recalls. “Imagine you walk into a room and everyone there has the exact same interests. Everyone became friends straight away – we’ve even created a WhatsApp group to keep in touch and share recommendations. Often you have that one, slightly weird friend in a group who has ‘odd’ interests – that was me in ours! – and it can be quite hard to find others with similar pastimes.
“That’s why it’s so great to be able to create a space where you can meet people that have exactly the same interests. They can share magic tips, favourite books – I was really overwhelmed on the volunteering days, everyone said: ‘Thanks for letting me help’, and wanted to come in again for another session.”
Spellbound
The Haunted Bookshop is Monika’s first foray into business, though she’s following in the footsteps of her grandmother, who once owned a bookshop (“and also a funeral home for a bit – so maybe that’s the connection!” she adds).
Though Monika worked full time at a company she loved, she was feeling unfulfilled. “I wasn’t going to win the lottery. I’m not going to become rich and famous all of a sudden. I have to work, so I wanted to think about what my perfect job would be without focusing on how I’d actually be able to do it.
“I’ve been talking about this bookshop for a while. Every time I’d walk past an old building, I’d say: ‘This could be my haunted bookshop’. But it wasn’t serious. I knew if I had lots of money I’d open the bookshop, but it’d also be a cocktail bar.”
Call it manifesting, call it serendipity, but these thoughts become a reality when she applied for a business loan from Swig Finance (helped by Suzie – who just so happened to be from Bristol originally – who was “so amazing and kept telling me I had a really good idea and should stick with it”) and found the perfect site on the day before her offer was due to expire, thanks to a landlord who looked kindly on her new business venture. Monika also found a piece of the volcanic glass obsidian lying around in the former barbershop – a crystal that is thought to have grounding, protective qualities. Considering she’s selling her own crystals now, it seemed like the universe was winking back at her decision to set up shop there.
The witching hour
Even though the shop is open for business, Monika is taking a slow and steady approach. It’s not her dream cocktail bar just yet, but a three-stage plan is in place.
“I will have a café in the shop, but not just yet. I have to start making some money first! So to start with, it will just be a bookshop and gift shop. And then in stage two, I will have a café where you’ll be able to sit down for a coffee and have takeaway as well – with pumpkin-spiced lattes all year round. Then in stage three. I’m hoping to get an alcohol license, so I can sell mulled wine and cider, that type of thing, so when I have book clubs and workshops and signings, I’ll have a selection of drinks.”
If the excitement surrounding The Haunted Bookshop from the “very big community of witches in Bristol” is anything to go by, then there’s no doubt Monika will be serving this alternative crowd for a deliciously long and fruitful time to come.
And when jokingly asked if anyone reading this might worry about the witches descending onto Bristol, Monika says simply, with a knowing chuckle: “Oh, they’ve always been here.”
43 Stokes Croft, BS1 3PY; thehauntedbookshop.co.uk
