Derbyshire's first public book vending machine to open in Glossop

Derbyshire’s first public book vending machine will be unveiled inside the transformed Glossop Market Hall this month.

The machine, owned by Melanie O’Brien of Dark Peak Books & Gifts on High Street West, will be loaded with 16 publications that will change with the months and seasons. It will give the historic bookshop a new chapter and presence inside the iconic hall, which has undergone a multi-million pound renovation and reopens on Saturday, November 29th. 
 
Melanie, who has run Dark Peak Books & Gifts for four years, said: “The vending machine will be a microcosm of the Dark Peak Books shop to include local guides, local authors, fact, fiction, classics and kids' books. 
 
“I want to give customers a small taste of the unrivalled selection of books we have available in the main shop, which includes exclusives and signed copies.” 
 
Initial titles going into the machine include Day Walks in the Peak District, by Norman Taylor & Barry Pope and Ordnance Survey’s Dark Peak Area map. Seasonal books comprise of The Christmas Clue by Nicola Upson and The Dead of Winter: The Demons, Witches and Ghosts of Christmas by Sarah Clegg. Younger readers aren't forgotten either with Eric Carle’s classic, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Robin Stevens’ The Ministry of Unladylike Activity 3: A Stocking Full of Spies on offer. 
 
It is hoped visitors to the market hall - which will also welcome a new working distillery and food traders - will embrace the convenience of the machine. 
 
Melanie, aged 43 and of Glossop, added: “I wanted the shop to have a presence within the fantastic new Market Hall experience, without moving from the location the bookshop itself has been in for 45 years. 
 
“I’m hopeful that the machine will increase our visibility in the town and encourage people who may not have been to the shop to come and visit, or just to buy a book as a gift or get back into reading.” 
 
While one Derbyshire school has a book vending machine for students, it is understood this will be the first public and independently owned one in the county.