The Bookseller.com

2nd December 2008

Indies hail local bestsellers

19.12.07 Victoria Gallagher

Local books have been bringing festive cheer to independent booksellers, with indies largely positive about performance so far this Christmas.

"We've had a W H Smith open up just down the road from us, but so far we are up 8% in December and we were 11% up in November. There is a lot of local loyalty around here," said Martin Whitaker of Browsers Bookshop, Woodbridge.

Anna Dreda of Wenlock Books added: "It was a slow start, but now it's really picking up.  It's really vibrant.  People are making a conscious effort to come to independents." Keith Smith of Warwick Books said: "The year as a whole has been a bit flat, but Christmas has really cheered us up."

Vivian Archer of Newham Books said: "Local books are phenomenal, we've got seven books on West Ham FC because it's just around the corner, and they're flying out." The Little Book of Suffolk is a top seller in Browsers, while Hungerford Bookshop has seen Hungerford: A Pictorial History flying off the shelves.

Other strong sellers at indies this Christmas include I before E, Alan Bennett's The Uncommon Reader and Mapping London: Making Sense of the City. Indies also said that with limited stocks of titles such as Guinness World Records at the bigger players, they are hoping shoppers will be prepared to pay full price at independents. "When the big retailers sell out, people will come to us and pay full price, and will still be coming in January," said Stephen Poulter of Books at Hoddesdon.

Some indies were less upbeat about Christmas trading. "We were doing fine until just over a week ago when there was a lot of bad weather," said Poulter. "We are quite noticeably down on sales from last year. Elizabeth Howard of the Curiosity Bookshop, Cheshire said she had not been as busy as last year and that deliveries had been "awful".

Retail Independents Christmas Victoria Gallagher

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