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The end of the bookshop

23.03.07

The Scotsman wonders if we are witnessing the slow death of the bookshop. "It is valid to wonder what on earth lies ahead," says Lorraine Fannin, director of the Scottish Publishers' Association. "The overall sales of books are not dropping, but these big high street giants are not competing in the same way. I'm slightly optimistic about the future of the bookshop. There is ebb and flow in these things. If the bigger stores do start to disappear, somebody will step into that niche, and it may be that those will be independent bookshops."

Yet we are buying more books than ever. Hugh Andrew, publisher at Edinburgh-based Birlinn, said: "It's a particularly type and model of retail that is in a critical state. The old rule of thumb is that 20 per cent of your customers represent 80 per cent of your income; what's been happening recently is that the chains have been going for the 80 per cent who spend 20 per cent, the mass market. There are a limited number of high-spend customers and if they no longer find bookshops an interesting place to go they will use other methods."

Scotsman

Retail bookshop

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