An experiment in bookselling is a stunning success in Blaenavon as nine new bookstores open and crowds throng to this formerly blighted industrial town. “The new shopkeepers, many standing behind counters for the first time in their lives, struggled to cope. Visitors were rattling the doors of the new bookshops while they were still closed for the official opening. Once the doors opened change ran out within half an hour, paper bags within an hour, the piles of maps showing the new bookshops by mid-afternoon. By evening yawning gaps were opening up on the brand new shelves.”