Happy Pear help boost Dubray book sales in 2016

Family-owned bookseller Dubray Books last year posted its “best trading performance since the recession” as it recorded profits of €495,589.

Managing director at Dubray, Maria Dickenson, said a number of its shops traded exceptionally well.

The accounts filed by Dubray Books Ltd show that its accumulated profits increased by €495,589 from €824,228 to €1.3m in the 12 months to the end of August. Dubray currently operates eight stores at Blackrock, Dun Laoghaire, Grafton Street, Rathmines, Stillorgan, Galway City, Kilkenny, and Bray.

Huge demand for 1916-related titles, as well as two books from the Happy Pear cooks and Anne Enright’s The Gathering and Liz Nugent’s Lying in Wait sold very well, she said. However, the business “is more challenging” this year, at the end of the 1916 “publishing boom”.

She said: “Stronger titles will surface mid-year with new titles from The Girl on the Train author Paula Hawkins and Irish literary giant Colm Tóibín. Our sources tell us that the Christmas 2017 publishing schedule is strong.”

Consumer confidence has been knocked by Brexit but its promotion of “dystopian fiction” titles have generated interest. The accounts show that staff numbers fell from 98 to 95 last year. Staff costs increased from €1.89m to €1.95m.

The firm’s cash pile increased from €444,999 to €676,819. Ms Dickenson said: “I am certainly optimistic about the future of bookshops and the physical books, after what has been a long period of uncertainty.”