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Bookshops are readying themselves for the upcoming four-day back-to-back bank holiday weekends created by Easter and the royal wedding, with stores broadly expecting a sales boost.
Looking back at the last notable royal event, the Golden Jubilee bank holiday on 3rd June 2002, book sales fell [2nd to 8th June] by 5% week on week to £18.6m, down 2.1% year on year.
However, Brett Croft, manager of Daunt Books' Marylebone store, said the independent chain is anticipating "busier" shops, and will be deploying additional staff. He said: "We are expecting it to carry on . . . the sense of people being happier and buying books."
Polly Jaffé, co-owner of the Jaffé & Neale Bookshop in Chipping Norton, Oxon, said the shop was "really looking forward to the bank holidays". She anticipated more visitors to the area, and expected self-purchases to increase, along with children's books and "quirky" royal wedding titles.
Among the chains, Sainsbury's online co-ordinator for books, Kearan Ramful, said: "I think it should be a really busy week for sales. Easter is traditionally a really strong time for the books market." A Waterstone's spokesman said stores were "looking forward to having a great time" at planned Easter and royal wedding-themed activities. A W H Smith spokesperson said it was "difficult to predict" the weekends' impact.
However, some indies spoken to were planning to close for the extended weekends, with Paul Sweetman, co-owner of City Books in Hove, anticipating a "very quiet" royal wedding weekend.