‘Books are getting better’, woman reflects on 40 years of working at beloved Waterford bookshop
The staff at the Book Centre celebrated Paula's 40 years at one of Waterford's most iconic shops.
Paula Flynn started working in The Book Centre in February 1986.
Her start at The Book Centre was rather unorthodox, she told the Waterford News & Star. In her interview on a Wednesday, she was told she would find out if she got the job or not by that Friday.
Friday came and went and Paula assumed that she hadn’t been successful. At 9.30 the following Monday morning, she received a letter telling her that she should start work in The Book Centre at 9am Monday morning.
“It was a funny way of starting my first job,” she said.
“For my first few weeks, all I did was the hoovering.”
But Paula has also worked in the stationery, magazines, and card departments. She has been working in the children’s department for the past 10 years.
The Book Centre has hosted some world-class writers over the past 40 years, but Paula’s favourite guests have been the sporting legends who’ve come down to launch their books at the historic bookshop.
Jack Charleton and Paul McGrath, in particular, stick out to her.
“Jack Charleton wasn’t like what he was like on the TV. When reporters were talking to him, he was very brash but he wasn’t like that at all, he was lovely. He even stayed longer than he was supposed to.
“I’ve met lifetime friends here,” she added.
One of her friends used to work in the music department and now is married and living in the US.
“It's like a second family here.”
“I love listening to the kids when they come in, they know what they want. It's nice when you recommend a book and the parent will come in a couple of weeks later saying they loved it, they want to get the next in the series.”
Paula reckons that people are reading more now than ever. Especially during the pandemic, “it brought a lot of kids back to reading.”
When The Book Centre was offering its online services during Covid, Paula was amazed at how many children’s books were being sold.
“We were also selling writing pads and envelopes; people were writing letters again.”
“Especially coming up to Christmas, the illustrations are lovely and the kids' books are spectacular. But across all genres, books are getting better,” she concluded.
