The Watermill Bookshop in Aberfeldy has won the Independent Bookseller of the Year at this year's prestigious Bookseller Retail Awards.

The Independent Bookseller of the Year was a highly competitive category and The Watermill Bookshop, based in a town of just 2,000 people, saw off competition from bookshops from around the UK.

The winners of this year's Bookseller Retail Awards were announced at a ceremony at The Natural History Museum, in London, on Thursday 18th September.

The judges felt that The Watermill Bookshop had built a brilliant business in the middle of the Scottish Highlands. As well as making the most of being situated in a tourist area, The Watermill Bookshop also reaches out to the local customers with its range of stock and its beautiful shop.

Neill Denny, Editor-in-chief of The Bookseller and Chair of Judges, comments:

"Tucked away in Aberfeldy, on the edge of the Scottish Highlands, the Watermill is a truly outstanding local bookshop. Started less than four years ago by Kevin and Jayne Ramage, they have built up a shop people travel many miles to visit. Combining a bookshop, art gallery and coffee shop, the Watermill won for a number of reasons: authoritative
bookselling, profitable and expanding trading, energetic local PR and marketing, helpful staff and exciting displays. This is a superb, successful store that offers a definitive model of how bookshops can thrive."

Kevin and Jayne Ramage, owners of The Watermill Bookshop, comment:

"This award is well deserved for all the efforts of the whole staff team. We set out to be a destination bookshop and are thrilled to be successful this year at The Bookseller Retail Awards. We are especially proud of our dedication to children literacy and the buzz that our children's reading clubs create. This nurturing of a love of books is reward in itself."