All it will take is one movement in price point from Easons to put the few remaining independent book shops out of business in Ireland. Maybe they feel that having a scattering of weak competitors is better that having no competition at all?

Yeah, I went in just once and the woman at the till was just plain ignorant. At least the people in Waterstones would actually help you find a book in the shop. Hand-selling? You need to put down the mug of tea and get out from behind the counter to hand-sell. Put two customers in that shop and customer service isn't possible as there only seems to be one person working in it from what I see walking past, tied to the counter, with a disposition like a long wet day.

As an ex-employee of both independent and chain booksellers, I have to agree. The customer service on offer in the large chains tends to be more readily available. Whether this is due to the fact that we generally had more staff in at any time, or a lack of 'book snobbery' in the large chain, I would say it was maybe 50/50. Independents don't carry the range, they can't afford to. Yet at the same time the 'book snobs' berate chains like Waterstones for focusing on best-sellers and say their range offer went out the window. I have never seen an independent bookseller with anywhere near the range of even a compact Waterstones, let alone a Borders. Range is more available online now, and no independent can compete with that. Independents look to sales of alternative products like stationery and gifts, but at the same time chains started doing it, the chain stores were run down on The Bookseller by people saying they were no longer serious bookstores. Who said bookstores have to be serious? Show me a shop that sells only books and I will show you a shop that won't be around in 12 months. When I worked in the two independent bookstores I had very little time to spend with customers because I had a lot of ordering and returns and just daily jobs to do that are needed to keep any shop running. The owners ran the costs tightly, and if we couldn't get to 'hand sell' as this blogger calls it, so be it. I have been in The Gutter maybe two or three times, there is nothing in it that excited me as a 'serious' book-buyer, and the titles that might have been of interest were more expensive than in the Waterstones that closed down, so I picked them up online and in some of the bigger stores in Dublin the next time I was up. Certainly the shop was no better or no worse than any other independent, but I fear the days of little operators like that are over. Only a few of the mega-bookstores will remain, but even they will look very different in 12 months.

I'm a huge fan of The Gutter Bookshop and delighted that such good quality independent bookshops still exist. The range stocked is thoughtfully selected and suits my tastes very well - I rarely (actually never) walk away empty handed. We have taken to ordering our books through the shop also and the lengths to which the staff are prepared to go to track down rare books is astonishing. Recently when my husband wanted a rare and out of print book The Gutter Bookshop trawled the internet on his behalf until they found a new copy for him.

The events and launches held in the evenings are wonderful and Bob has created a fledgling book loving community around his lovely shop. We have stayed friendly with many of the people we have met at his excellent launches & often bump into them when browsing in the shop. I realise that times are tough but I certainly believe that in return for the one or two euro extra that I might pay for a book I get so much pleasure - a much richer experience than pressing the purchase button on a website. Long may independent booksellers last. This city and every other city will lose a great richness if they go.

I think the blog is pretentious. I think the comment to say it is pretentious is pretentious. I think the comment to say you think it is pretentious to think the blog that is pretentious is pretentious. Hell... I think my own comment here is pretentious. Having recently lost my job in one of the Waterstones that was closed in Dublin, I can say that we certainly never chased customers around and foisted recommendations on them, we spoke to people and helped them find both the books they were looking for and the books they didn't know they were looking for (aka here as 'hand-selling'). It is typical of a small bookshop mentality to refer to 'hand-selling' in their own shop, but think that when it is done in a large bookshop that it annoys the customers. People browse, of course. People who spend hours in a book shop - that's spending time, not money. Anyone I served in my shop was very happy for the assistance at best, or said they were just browsing or didn't need help at worst. I certainly never made anyone uncomfortable I hope, but I said hello, helped them out. I think the comment that says you do tend to get more readily available service in a large store is fair enough, because there does tend to be more staff. Being familiar with The Gutter and the two people who own it, I can understand that people come in and the person on duty may be busy, as it needs to keep costs down so at most there is two people on duty. This is how things start out though. I am sure if it survives it will slowly take on more staff.

Thank you all for taking the time to comment. This is the first time I have been asked to write a blog and I was asked to write something on selling books in Ireland in the current economic climate. It’s not the best blog ever but, as with all things, I gave it my best shot.

Both positive and negative feedback is important in helping us to improve The Gutter Bookshop and we will continue to work at making the shop an enjoyable place to shop and a strong addition to Dublin’s literary community. Best, Bob.

Did you mean to say 'not doing anything that other independents haven't tried?

: ) Very funny Kells

Where is the begrudgery, and what is there to begrudge? It is just people commenting with their thoughts on the blog, and on the shop that is mentioned in the blog. It is a bit rich to suggest that one person's barely getting looked at is alright because some people like to browse under their own steam. If a customer likes to be acknowledged, fair enough, and if they aren't they don't come back. Likewise, if a customer likes to be left alone they will hang about in shops where they are left alone. It is a point well made though to raise the fact that independents are no better or worse that multiple-site booksellers at interacting (or not) with customers. What is good for the goose must be good for the gander. Also, on The Bookseller in general there does tend to be a lot if disparaging posts about the likes of Waterstones selling non-book product. Every independent does the same, but for them it is seen as a good thing. It doesn't matter if it is in a small independent or a multi-site shop. By and large, the comments are all fair enough.