Pop-up library, Selfridges London

It already has a bookshop, also in the basement, and there’s an area on the ground floor selling selected books, notebooks and suchlike, but there’s really nowhere where you can relax while getting up close and personal with a tome.

This is a big area and the thing that strikes any visitor who manages to find it, because its location is not obvious, is the sheer amount of empty space. This is a library, but not of the kind that will be familiar to those who have spent years toiling in higher educational establishments.

In place of the serried ranks of high shelves, this library’s central area is predominantly filled with comfy black sofas and well-crafted wooden chairs.

There are shelves, of course, but these are arranged around the perimeter and feature the kind of books that will probably be found rather more on coffee tables than academic institutions. That said, relatively few of those who were in the self-contained area on the day of visiting were doing much more than picking up a book and taking a break.

And that perhaps is the point. This is a productive use of a relatively unproductive space – one that might otherwise act as a supernumerary stockroom or as an area for a generally unloved brand. It is also another example of a retailer handing something to shoppers for no inherent cost – it matters little whether you buy a book or not, this is about providing a haven from the hubbub of Oxford Street. The 3,500 sq ft library has 15,000 books and will be available for use until the end of this month.