You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
Independents appear set for a respectable 2009, with many reporting flat year-on-year sales amid a declining book market.
Vivian Archer, manager of Newham Bookshop in east London, said: "Indies have to work as hard as they've ever worked. We've held our own but it's been a tough year."
Nic Bottomley, co-owner and general manager of Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights in Bath, said sales were up this year. "Over the summer we did more sales to tourists than we usually do and to tourists from Europe because the pound was weak."
He added: "I had this theory at the beginning of the recession and so far it hasn't been proved wrong—people will be spending less, but if things get tough, the first places people will cut out are the places they hate to shop—they will still want to come to a nice shop."
However, Elizabeth Howard of the Curiosity Bookshop, Cheshire, warned: "There's not much change in turnover, but . . . the overheads are going up and if you're only making the same turnover . . ."
Indies said Christmas shoppers had been out in force over the past week. Gary Kingdon, owner of Badger Books, Burnley, said: "It just seems to have clicked in this week."
Retailers named Aurum's Am I Alone in Thinking . . . ?, Family Britain by David Kynaston and The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg as titles that were selling well.
Bottomley said: "It's a real mixed bag—there's not just one book that is selling. Last year everyone had a copy of Beedle the Bard in their basket, but this year there's a spread of 10 or so titles that are sharing that role."