Words Etcetera is owned by Simon Rushbrook, a bookseller since 1992. His illustrious career started at Dillons, the academic booksellers. After a brief stint in goods-in (then goods out, when Pentos went pear shaped…), the bright eyed young hopeful donned a shirt and tie (essential for selling books!?!) and began a journey filled with joy and laughter, tears and beers…

Oh how we laughed as the net book agreement went, what fools!

Dillons were eventually swallowed whole by Waterstone's, and young Simon was coaxed out of a nice warm office where he had eventually ended up, away from the bully boys (and girls) Dillons employed as management. The uberbookseller/manager with the fine name Tim Watson, came and rescued our hero.

So, Waterstone's Cambridge branch benefitted from Tim Watson's great foresight. Rushbrook ran the massive fiction section, sales grew, it was great. Then Simon got a job compiling, listing and maintaining "Core Stock" with the awesome Pete Harvey, Sian Jones, Ted Heslin, Clive Norman and Andy Suttie!!!

Together, they produced and maintained a 25,000 title database using a variety of quantitative internal and external market data as well as measurable qualitative methods, they also ate curry and drank Guinness…a lot.

Simon's main areas: Adult fiction, history, popular science, languages and academic. Also responsible for Implementation and explanation of list to 4,500 staff ranging from bookseller to Managing Director level. Sales from this list were in excess of £1million pounds per week. And, guess what…they weren't all featured on Richard and Judy.

Created an in house document "Read", a tool/resource for booksellers incorporating new and interesting titles, books in the media, most reviewed, zeitgeist related titles, suggestions from booksellers, competitions and general sales opportunities.

All during the good ole days of store autonomy, when, guess what…booksellers were able to use their skills to choose books for their shop. I know, crazy days …

Simon Rushbrook had a brief stint as a TEFL English teacher (enough to come to the conclusion that it wasn't his true vocation…) and he has always played the bass with a wide variety of musicians. A little independent shop in Hungerford got the bookseller back on his feet, and gave him a taste for having his own shop…

And so to Words Etcetera on 3 floors featuring Thomas Hardy, T.E.Lawrence, Powys bros., anything Dorset related, Modern firsts, fine, rare antiquarian, pulp fiction and new books… a classic, traditional browsable bookshop in Hardy's Casterbridge.The bookshop at 2 Cornhill, Dorchester is in the centre of town on the pedestrianised precinct, across the road from the clock tower.