In 2009, two bookshops a week were closing in the UK and the days of physical books seemed numbered. Now, indie stores are booming. What explains the turnaround – and can it be sustained?When Sarah Mullen was asked to set up a children’s book festival in a leafy suburb of Birmingham in 2012, she couldn’t find an independent bookseller to run the bookstall. “So we all rolled up our sleeves and did it ourselves,” she says. Pregnant with her third child, she had recently given up her job as a solicitor to work for the Bournville Village Trust. Mullen’s task was to set up the Bournville BookFest, which ran for 10 years before being brought to a halt by the Covid pandemic. But far from accepting defeat, she rolled up her sleeves once again and “pivoted the whole thing into a bookshop”. Two years on, the Bookshop on the Green is thriving – a living rebuttal to the once widely held idea that the digital era meant certain death for the neighbourhood bookstore.When I visit early on a Friday morning, a turquoise vintage Smith Corona typewriter holds centre stage in the Bookshop on the Green. Beside it stands Bradley Taylor, a poet whose job is to write poems on demand for anyone who asks. He has composed a lot of Batman and football poems for the children who pile in on Saturdays, he says, before sitting down to tap one out for me about the joy of bookshops. In the multitasking tradition of small retailers, Taylor also works in the shop. He made his cosplay debut last month as the... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2023-07-27 09:00:32 UTC ]
The owner of the Independent Bookseller of the Year 2014 is seeking a business partner to help grow her thriving business. Sheila O’Reilly from Dulwich Books in London is looking for a passionate book lover who already knows the publishing and bookselling industry to join her business in the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The deadline has been extended for independent bookshops to apply for one of the industry’s most coveted prizes – Independent Bookseller of the Year at the Bookseller Industry Awards. Indies now have until 5p.m. on Monday 23rd February to submit their entries here to be considered for the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-02-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sue Monk Kidd’s 'The Invention of Wings' was Amazon’s top-selling title in 2014, the e-tailer said Friday morning. 'Gray Mountain' by John Grisham came in second. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Every retail premise with a rateable value of up to £50,000 will receive a discount of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-12-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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An independent bookseller who launched a campaign to encourage more people to shop on their high... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-08-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Bookseller has received a record number of entries for its Independent Bookseller of the Year... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill and Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 21/07/2011 - 15:58 Waterstone's is reintroducing central buying for both new books and replenishment but m.d. James Daunt insisted store staff would be able to order the books they want, when they want. Managing director James... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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