Book stores work harder than ever to survive
I DO not understand how one can buy clothes without trying them on, and as for books, the individual book should seduce and inspire you to buy it.
When Charles Rosen wrote those words — for the New York Review of Books, fittingly — he articulated many people’s view of a bookshop as a haven. An oasis. A tranquil alternative to the hustle and bustle.
But they’re also commercial entities. Vinny Browne of Charlie’s Bookshop in Galway puts it plainly: “Anybody who’s been in the retail sector has found the last few years difficult, no matter what you’re selling. We’re the same. That said, we have a lot of regular customers, a lot of people who come to Galway to visit us. They come from all over the country to us a couple of times a year to visit us, and in Galway we’re lucky to have that kind of loyal customer.”
In Cork, Joan Lucey of Vibes and Scribes agrees on the challenges.
“We’re in the book business 21 years and in the last six to eight years it’s been challenging. You have the supermarkets, Amazon, ebooks, and when we saw that coming we decided to diversify, first into arts and crafts, and then into wool, fabric, dress-making, jewellery-making, small gift items — you name it, we have it.”
Maeve Ryan, MD of the Book Centre, with branches in Waterford, Kilkenny, Naas, and Wexford, agrees on the need to diversify. They offer gifts, coffee, and maps in their stores.
“Years ago there might have been a sense in some bookshops that you’d get a tap on the shoulder if you picked up a book to read it, but we try to provide the opposite experience, to make people feel comfortable coming in for a look around and a coffee.
“They mightn’t buy something today, but hopefully they’ll come back and become a loyal customer.
“Our toy section is in the same place as our kids’ books, so it’s an enjoyable experience for people to go in there if they want something for the kids.”
It’s still a haven, though. Ryan sees the rhythm of the bookshop’s day unfold up close: “First thing in the mornings we have people in for the newspaper and coffee, particularly local businesses getting their daily papers for their customers.
“We’d be happy with how busy we get in the morning, people dropping in for their coffee at 11, but you’d see then from 3pm onwards, collecting the kids and coming in. There’s definitely a rhythm to it.”
Browne sees a different beat: “The mornings would be quieter, though we have customers who drop in early, certainly, particularly on Saturday mornings. We have people who come to town for the market, drop in here, visit the wine shop across the street — that kind of cycle.”
There’s a rhythm to the year as a whole, too. Publishers focus on the lead-in to Christmas as peak sale time, and Ryan concurs.
“The book is the Christmas present for the people you don’t know what to buy for, definitely.
“We find women tend to buy books for the men in their lives a couple of weeks out from Christmas Day, but then, say two days before Christmas, you’d have men coming in for something for wives, girlfriends, mothers, and they’re desperate. They want a good quality product and to make sure she’s happy ... they’re keen on a recommendation.”
That’s where the bookshop comes into its own, a personal touch you don’t get online.
Browne says: “Amazon is difficult to compete with on price, but in every other way I think we can match them, and offer an experience that can’t be replicated online. A lot of people who come in don’t know what they want until they ask, which is obviously not something that happens when you’re sitting at home ordering on line.
“For me, the way for the bookshop to continue is to make the experience of being in the bookshop as interesting and unique as it can be — having events, for instance, which is something we try to do all the time to provide a unique angle on the experience.”
The Book Centre has an online sales branch, but Ryan says it tries hard to maintain standards: “The staff on the shop floor are the same people who work on the site, and we drill it in that if there’s any sort of issue they pick up the phone to the customer; we’re trying to offer the same level of customer service on the site you get on the shop floor.”
For Lucey, the challenge to go “above and beyond” has always existed. “We offer a search facility for out-of-print books, because you have to offer more. Specialist areas help: We have strong graphic novel and science fiction/fantasy sections in our secondhand shop, and we’d be strong on art as well, mind body spirit, stuff you wouldn’t find in a supermarket.”
There are other ways to carve a niche. The Book Centre tries to maintain local connections. “We’d certainly try to be different — to stay in touch with small publishers, and with local publishers as well,” says Ryan. “The local connection’s very strong — in Wexford in particular — and that ties in with the Christmas sales, when people want gifts for relatives abroad.”
Lucey signs off with a simple message to bookshop lovers.
“The new thinking in retail is that people are researching online before going to purchase in a shop, but a good percentage of people have forgotten about that in terms of books. A lot of small bookshops have gone out of business, which is terrible, but people need to realise if they don’t shop in a bookshop it won’t be there.
“I have a sister in London who discovered Amazon and did a lot of shopping online until she realised that if she didn’t shop in her local bookshop it would disappear. You’d hope people would like the shopping experience enough to keep their bookshops alive.”
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