Satiating your book addiction without breaking the bank

First Rural Child Experience

At this stage I’m pretty sure most of you who have stumbled on this page before are aware of my love for books and reading. You also know that I am a student therefore purchasing books and feeding my addiction is a luxury I almost can’t afford. It is thus with much excitement and love in my heart that I introduce you to the best second hand bookstore in all of Cape Town (to my knowledge at least), the Help The Rural Child charity bookshop.

Before I actually went into the store I based my expectations on my previous experiences with second hand bookstores which was not good to say the least! The second hand bookstores I came across had a book selection that usually included extremely old books in the worst of conditions that made even the cheapest price seem like too much to cough up, but after I was directed to the Help The Rural Child bookshop in Mowbray by a fellow student I realised just how wrong I was as I do almost every time. First impressions guys, don’t give them much credibility!

Not only was this store three stories big, but every corner of it was filled with the best looking second hand books imaginable and oh so cheap I nearly had a mini book lover heart attack! This inevitably led to me making myself at home between the shelves during my first visit there. I browsed the different sections for what seemed like no time at all but actually turned out to be two whole hours! The first hour I spent on the first floor where the bulk of the fiction section was located as well as the coffee table area where you can sit down with your book picks and enjoy a lovely cup of coffee for ten rand.

                      

                     

 At this stage I have already picked up so many books and put them right back down as soon as I saw something better that I only realised later on that there was a children’s fantasy section upstairs. This of course is my bread and butter and I browsed these shelves for yet another hour. By the end of the two hours’ time was running out as the shop was about to close and I had to make a quick decision on which books I was actually going to take home with me. I ended up taking three books, two of which were only R35 rand each and the third R25. When I eventually had to pay I got the best surprise because as it were they had a women’s day special where if you were to buy three books, the third book was FREE! So not only do you pay basically nothing for the books but every once in a while there might be the chance of you walking away with more money than you expected… Uhm, YAY!!

As this is a charity Bookstore all of the books are donated by the community and other bookstores in the Cape Town area. The money made by these purchases go directly back into Goedgedacht’s Path Out of Poverty program, helping to support the rural children of Africa. So guys if you are in the neighborhood please check this place out I promise you that you will not be disappointed and that you will find what you are looking for whether it is fiction, Non-fiction, Cook books, Encyclopedias and even books in foreign languages there is a little bit of everything for everyone at the most affordable prices!

Further information:

Sells good quality second hand books, CDs and computer games.

Contact: Vivien and Nathalie
Phone: 021 689 8392
Website: www.ruralchild.org.za

Physical Address: 6 Victoria Road, Mowbray, Cape Town (opposite Shoprite)

Operating days: Monday to Saturday
Operating hours: 09h00 to 17h00 (Saturday 10h00 to 14h00)

This shop accepts items / donations from the public? Yes - All Books, CDs and computer games.

 For more in formation on The Help the Rural Child Trust click here