Bookshops on the endangered list?

[DaisyDragonfly]

I'm feeling sad right now: I've just heard the news that Watkins Bookshop here in London has gone into administration and will be closing down.



It's on this little street called Cecil Court, and the whole thing looks like it's right out of Harry Potter... Watkins has been around for ages and is one of the best sources for Tarot cards here in London. It's been a happy haunt of mine for many a weekend browse; I've always ended up buying something new and exciting there.

It's not the only casualty of the credit crunch. High street bookshop numbers seem to have been decimated over the last few years. Independents, chains, coffee shop/bookshops... there's just so few left.

I know the internet can provide us with pretty much any title (and usually quicker and cheaper) and I know that's just a fact of economics nowadays. But even so, nothing compares to the atmosphere of discovery that a bookshop provides. And those high streets just seem strange without a bookshop somewhere on them...

 

[Greywoolfe]

Aw, no. I'll miss that place- I've bought loads of books from there, as well as my first deck.

 

[HearthCricket]

I know how you feel. It seems like every other week we learn of some store, be it large or a small, independent one, closes down. It is heartbreaking. We have lost independent bookstores, used bookstores, antique shops, gift shops, and even large chain stores to get basics like sheets, blankets, pillows and kitchenware. If this keeps up we will are be running around bare naked. Yikes! There was an article a while back about picking five. Five independently owned stores that you like and being sure you shop regularly in them to keep them alive. Of course, the economy is hitting everyone so that isn't always easy, but it does make one think about what 5 stores would you definitely be lost without. We picked ours and frequent them as best as we can, but everyone is on budget until the economy turns around. I hope, at that point, maybe some stores will come back. Rent is super high, too, which is why many of our stores are closing down. Very depressing...

 

[avalonian]

That's devastating news, it's been around for over a hundred years. It's not just a bookshop, either, they sell crystals and flower essences and all sorts of other things. Let's all hope that someone buys it as a going concern.

Maybe if we send some positive energy their way things may turn around for them.

 

[gregory]

That is a real tragedy. There is NOWHERE like it. CRAP. How can I get down there fast enough to make a last homage..... It is a real piece of history.

I shall now go away and weep. Really.

 

[Briar Rose]

From what I am learning, the bookstores online have several hundreds of little guys under them. These huge stores online sell 10 to 20+ thousand books a month. Big papa, the huge store and the little guy gets a cut.

In my opinion, I feel that people are feeling they can keep all their inventory in a spare room, basement, garage, attic...do business at home with no overhead costs.

There's a cute used bookshop in one of the little towns here, but the cost is still much more than I can find online. It's good for, "I want it now" vs I can save another $10.00 this week, plus the cost of gas if I buy it online and wait a week.

There are more and more vintage and used shops opening up here, but not carrying books for that reason alone. The shops are still selling for much more than you can find online.

And with all the vintage/used shops opening up here, women aren't giving their designer clothing to the 2 big chain stores for free.

6 one way, half a dozen the other.

 

[MsRubyRain]

Except for a couple of Christian bookstores, we have no bookstores left in our town, they are all closed. Honestly, no great loss. They were small, no selection and full price.

I buy at Costco or online. The closest B&N is 30 minutes away and I don't want to pay the gas or the price to go there.

Your bookstore sounds lovely, we had nothing like that here. Sorry you are losing it. I would be upset too.

 

[DaisyDragonfly]

Oh, I understand the economics of it. Really, I do. I worked five years in the book trade, and I understand the costs of a bricks and mortar place. I also understand the knock-on effect of the closure of bricks and mortar stores...

... the small publishing presses are closing down (Watkins, incidentally, had their own imprint). Niche publishers, in some cases, but mostly just small publishers who dealt with small print runs. They would never get rich of the material they published: but they would publish it. And real-life bookshops would stock them, and place these next to the bestseller and fastseller titles. People come in to get the big names, and when they did they picked up intriguing small titles they didn't know they wanted. To some extent, the publishing industry depended on that: bestsellers are inevitably sold as loss-leaders and very little profit was ever made off them.

That's not happening now. Small presses are closing; large publishers are going for safe titles - the bestseller/fastseller lists - and narrowing down less safe bets. Range is disappearing.

There's other options - epublishing offers some potential - but something else is dying. That wonder of finding a literary gem you didn't know existed? That slender novel which becomes the most important thing you've read? Well, you won't be able to stumble across them anymore. They'll be harder to find. They might not even ever get published.

I'm sorry, but that just makes me sad.

Gregory, I'm with you. Watkins survived two World Wars, a Depression, the Blitz and Thatcher. I can't imagine it not being there.

Avalonian, I'm with you too. All I know at the moment is that they're in administration. With any luck somebody somewhere will step in and buy their stock and keep them going. Fingers crossed, anyway!

 

[Briar Rose]

and then there is Kindle....

 

[karenquilter]

With Kindle, you buy a license to download an e-book onto a fancy device & Amazon can erase it if they have copyright issues & you are stuck with nothing. No thanks.

Besides, try to imagine shuffling a Tarot deck on Kindle...
K