You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
Murder One, the specialist crime bookshop in Charing Cross Road, WC2, is to close at the end of January after nearly 21 years. Seven staff at the bookshop will lose their jobs.
Co-owner Maxim Jakubowski said the shop would be going into voluntary liquidation, and that all bills to publishers would be paid. He said: "Over the past few years our sales have deterioriated. I was planning to retire this year, but this is earlier than expected. For the benefit of staff, publishers and suppliers, I would rather close the shop now and go out voluntarily with my head held high and no debts."
He added: "It’s tough for a specialist bookshop now: you are fighting the internet and the chains, discounting almost at a loss sometimes. Publishers are not particularly sympathetic at improving their discounts or making authors available. We’ve had loyalty from authors, but it’s been an uphill struggle."
Jakubowski said that there had been earlier interest in buying the shop but that the credit crunch had made it "the worst possible climate" for a sale.
Murder One is the second Charing Cross Road bookshop to close in a week. Shipley, which sold new, old, rare and scholarly art books, shut on New Year’s Eve.
The demise of Murder One leaves the UK without a specialist crime bookshop and reduces further the number of independents on Charing Cross Road, once renowned for its cluster of specialist booksellers. Sportspages, the sports book independent, closed in 2006, while women’s bookshop Silver Moon was incorporated into Foyle’s in 2001.