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The Portobello Bookshop

An independent bookshop based in Edinburgh’s seaside community of Portobello.

Client Overview

The Portobello Bookshop is an independent bookshop based in the Portobello area of Edinburgh. It’s a physical shop first and foremost, with a strong local presence, regular events, and a large and diverse library of books.

The Mission

The brief was to give the bookshop a website that reflects how the shop actually works. Browsing books, finding events, ordering online when needed, and getting basic information without friction. It also needed to be something the team could update themselves, as stock, events and priorities change regularly. The previous site was based on Squarespace and offered limitations, mostly the size of the product library and stock the shop needed to list for sale.

Design

The Portobello Bookshop already had a strong brand and palette in place, the previous site was well designed so I didn’t reinvent the wheel, I took elements from the old design and improved on them in the new design and ensured more consistent use of the branding and palette.

Development

The site was built on WordPress with custom structures for books, collections and events. These sections needed to be flexible enough to handle featured titles, signed editions and one-off events without becoming complicated.

The backend was set up so staff can make changes quickly, whether that’s adding an event, updating a collection or highlighting a particular book. I created custom functionality and optimised not only the codebase but the database to ensure good performance whilst allowing a large product database.

Outcome

The finished site gives the bookshop a straightforward online presence that supports what they already do well. Visitors can browse, buy, check events and find practical information without getting lost. The focus on performance allowed the shop to offer over ten times the previous amount of products listed which lead to increased sales.

“My website needed more than a refresh, it was a total redesign and relaunch that was needed and Paul delivered precisely that. Working with my logo, brand colours and in keeping with the friendly but professional vibe I wanted to portray Paul listened to my basic ideas, worked them into something that more than met the brief, and was a delight to work with. He didn’t get frustrated when I wanted to make changes (at least it didn’t feel that way) and accommodated my timescales perfectly. The result is a website I love and am proud to signpost people to.”

Heather, Salt Solutions

"Paul was great to work with. He took our ideas and developed them, resulting in a really slick, well functioning website. Also enabling us to now have an online shop and online booking which has been invaluable to our business growing. He's always on hand if we need anything and lovely to work with!"

Rachel, Lifestyle Collective

"I wanted a website that truly represented me, my business, and the services that I provide. From the very beginning, Paul took the time to understand exactly what I was looking for and translated that vision into a website that exceeded my expectations. He delivered not only a beautiful, professional website that met all of my needs, but also one that performs brilliantly day after day. After seven years of working together, I can confidently say that I would recommend Paul's services to anyone looking for a reliable, knowledgeable, and trustworthy web professional."

Sarah-Louise, SLK Digital

“I’m not sure how I found Paul, but I’m so glad I did. My business had a good brand identity but needed a better website to show it off after the premium WordPress theme I’d been using became too much to manage. Paul rebuilt the entire site from scratch with clean, custom code that is super easy for me to update on my end. The site is extremely fast and responsive now, and clients love it. I would enthusiastically recommend Paul to anyone looking for web development or design help.”

Ben, Entelechy

“I run a small dog training business and my website required an update and needed a developer as my original website developer retired. She referred me to Paul and I am so happy she did. He has been so helpful and created a clean, attractive, functional, website for me that has made my life so much easier. He is so pleasant to deal with and very professional and prompt in returning emails and questions too. I am incredibly happy I found him and very happy with the work he has done for me. I would recommend him to anyone happily.”

Dani, Urban K9