I was lucky enough to spend some time in San Francisco last year. Beautiful city but it came as a shock that there were no books. I had really been looking forward to spending some time in a big American bookstore. I’d done so on previous visits and had brought back some real gems. Only I couldn’t find a bookstore in San Francisco. Not one. The one in the central square which everyone directed me towards had closed down twelve months earlier. Tourist Information directed me – with some pride I might add – to a Stationery store which sold novelty books; mostly Humour and Cookery.
To be fair, when I returned home it was pointed out to me that there was an excellent independent bookstore, City Lights, on the outskirts of the city, albeit one which the residents of the city seemed totally unaware of. The idea of a future without bookshops seemed all too real then and still does now with the emphasis shifting towards on-line book-buying. My strongest feeling at the time was one of frustration, with the idea of there being all these different books, editions, covers out there and me just not being able to access them. It’s not a million miles away from the feeling I get when I walk into my local WH Smith and Waterstones.
My local WH Smith’s had, up until recently, given over their first floor to selling books but, for some reason, they’ve closed that off and a much reduced volume of stock – about a third - is squeezed off into a poorly lit ghetto downstairs, just opposite the Moleskin notebooks. But, unless you’re looking for the latest Mary Berry or Lee Child you can forget it. There’s very little chance of finding a book you might actually want to buy. They have recommendations from The Richard and Judy Club on their website along with a few other fluff pieces but otherwise there’s little attempt to connect with the average reader.
My local Waterstones fares a little better. It’s got a half decent range of books but the emphasis is still on getting you to buy multiples of books from the front of the store. In the past, I’ve used their Click and Collect service (only one book at a time) and gotten decent reductions as a result. But, it’s a fairly passive experience. The one positive note is that they have a number of hand-written recommendations littered around the store, so it looks as though the staff actually do read. Granted, in the larger stores you do have the option of visiting a coffee shop with that all important sense of interaction. You’ve also got the opportunity to take part in a book-signing or an event but, in reality, this hasn’t been my experience. When I searched Events on their website in my three nearest stores: Kettering, Market Harborough and Northampton, I came up with no results for the months of March, April or May. Nada. Nothing.
Contrast this with the Games Workshop experience. Sure, it’s aimed at table-top gamers but there are things to learn here. They organise several events a week – even in the smaller branches - the staff are only too keen to work with the customer and you get to meet up with a wide variety of people who share your interests. They organise enviably big events, largely around their city branches admittedly, but it’s very accessible and allows you to interact with both artists and writers. It should come as no surprise then that their Black Library imprint is extremely well supported and, as a result, sells shedloads of books. It’s a completely different business model and is as interactive as the bookshop experience is passive.
Interestingly, Amazon have revealed their plans to open 300 bookshops and already have one in Seattle. It will be interesting to see what dynamic they bring to the table. The size of their company will allow them to absorb their initial set-up costs and give them the ability to experiment with new initiatives. And, who knows, they might be able to re-invigorate what has become a tired old retail model.
What I’d like to see in a bookshop:
A seating area where I can read whatever I like. Bring back browsing.
Coffee. If you can’t have a proper café then why not install one of those Costa machines they have in Service Stations?
Access to a laptop / tablet with a permanent link to GoodReads. Why doesn’t this already exist?
Also, the seating area can double as a meeting area for Book Groups.
As well as author talks we could have Recommendations. People come along, say on a Sunday, and recommend their favourite book. Have three people each doing five minutes with copies available to buy or down-load.
After school there could be a Jackanory session. Parents can bring their children to have a story read to them while they get a chance to browse the shelves.
Follow that with a session for adults early evening. I’d love to sit down while someone read me a Neil Gaiman short story. Absolutely love it.
Set up a Non-Readers Anonymous group. My friend Frank had only read one book in his life, Tarka the Otter, and absolutely hated it. He might never have read another if ‘The Da Vinci Code’ hadn’t caught his eye aged 50. He says now that he really wanted to read but had no idea where to start.
I really do love book-shops, I spent most of my adolescence in various Second Hand bookshops around the North West, and I really can’t envisage a time when there isn’t at least one gracing our High Streets. I just hope that it’s not too late to turn the tide.