The Great Big Book Exchange - sometimes referred to as the Exchange - was a large bookshop located on South Road in Darlington. The Exchange was owned by an alien named Terrance who was familiar with every book in the store. Kelly worked at the cash register.
The Exchange contained the only copy of the Aja'ib, which was stolen from Hyspero by Terrance.
Iris Wildthyme compared the Exchange to Aladdin's cave and the Library of Alexandria. (PROSE: Enter Wildthyme)
History
On a Saturday in the 2000s, Simon and his grandmother came into the Exchange to shelter from rain. From this first event, Simon grew to become closely associated with Kelly and Terrance.
In 2011, Terrance was killed in the crash of the Begins at Home, leaving the Exchange to be inherited by Simon. However, Simon was prevented from taking over the business because he began travelling with Iris Wildthyme. While Simon was gone, Anthony Marvelle broke into the exchange and stole the Aja'ib and the Objet D'Oom. Simon eventually returned to the Exchange with Iris and Panda and they discovered what Marvelle had done. Iris was able to deduce that Marvelle was intending to use the stolen items to open the Ringpull. (PROSE: Enter Wildthyme)
Behind the scenes
The Exchange originates from Paul Magrs' short story The Great Big Book Exchange, which was written for BBC Radio 4's Afternoon Reading. In one scene in the story, the main character gets The Three Doctors from the Exchange and imagines the bookshop as being like Omega's anti-matter universe.
Magrs' 2006 novel Exchange heavily features the Exchange. In one scene in Magrs' 2010 novel The Diary of a Dr Who Addict, the main character David Taylor visits the Exchange during a trip to Darlington.