Well, it's who we are, and it's how we have been known for the past 18 years or so. . .

At least since the radio ads.

How did Reads first make your name?

It was the photocopying business that really started us off. People were coming across the road from the library in Trinity, and using our services, because they were cheaper. When we first started, the students didn't have much money, so being that bit cheaper really made a difference.

So you wouldn't describe yourselves as being primarily a bookshop?

The books have taken off more recently. We wanted to offer them something different, because we felt that people were being overcharged everywhere else. And we wanted to do something about the Harry Potter syndrome, where every Tom, Dick and Harry was selling books . . . although that could be all over, now that the last book has been written. . .

Was the intention always to be cheaper?

That was the idea of the store . . . it was always going to be heavily discounted, a value store. So we offer the lowest stationery prices in Ireland, and discount our magazines up to 10%. And our books by at least 25%.

How can you offer these sorts of prices?

Very good buying, really.

And we always work of really low margins, with lower cost bases. If people want us to be a snobbish bookstore, they should look somewhere else, and if they walk in expecting 10,000 books, they will be disappointed. But we do carry a good stock of discounted bestsellers.

Which should appeal to the students across the road. . .

We're not just for students.

There are 8,500 businesses in Dublin 2, and we see a lot of the people working in these businesses in the store all the time. We also do a huge amount of commercial business in our stationery.

Does anyone famous ever drop in?

A lot of politicians and businesspeople.

Anyone more interesting?

Gay Byrne was in yesterday. And Alan Dukes was here fairly recently.

If there's one thing about Reads, it's that it's fairly crowded most of the time. Does it ever get too hectic?

It can be cluttered, and it can be busy, but that's what trading is all about.

And any plans for the future?

We're looking to develop our commercial stationery business, and we'll be introducing a lightning sale on one book per week, which will be launching in September. We will also be the first to launch a range of foreign language greeting cards, in Polish and Chinese.