We Sell Books: Turning over a new leaf from bank to bookshop in Bandon

Gerry Fitzgerald runs Bandon Books Plus in Riverview Shopping Centre, Bandon, Co Cork.

How long are you in business?

I took over the shop in 2009.

How did you get into bookselling?

I never read as much as I should have but I was always interested in books. Whenever I go anywhere, my wife will go one way and I will find the nearest bookshop.

I was a boring old bank manager. I arrived in Bandon 21 years ago and I retired from the bank 10 years ago.

I’m originally from Fossa near Killarney. I ended up in Bandon having worked in Clare, Limerick and Tipperary.

I was amazed to arrive here and discover there was no bookshop. About three years before I finished in the bank, Matthew Geden opened a bookshop called Bandon Books.

I wished him the best of luck and said ‘you beat me to it’ because I intended when I finished up in the bank to open a bookshop in Bandon.

Fast forward a few years and I called into his shop and he asked me was I still interested in opening a bookshop. So I took it over from him.

That was a smaller shop in Howard Court and six years ago, we moved to a much bigger premises in Riverview Shopping Centre, where we are at present. We do stationery, cards,confectionery, all of that.

The opportunity to move to a bigger location made a huge difference, even though it’s only a few hundred yards. Being in a shopping centre is a huge advantage.

How does being a bookseller compare to being a bank manager?

I’m dealing with people, which is the part I absolutely love. I’m 67 years of age. I was five weeks on holiday in America — I have two sons and three grandchildren there — and I loved it but I was really looking forwardto coming home and back to the bookshop.

I won’t say work because I don’t call it work. It’s a lovely business. I love talking about books and recommending books. Lots of people say to me that they would love a job selling books. One hundred per cent of the time, it’s a happy experience for the customer; even if they get a bad book, they don’t blame you.

Does online retail impact on the business?

Look, it’s inevitable. My three children, when they think of buying anything, the first thing they do is go online.

I’m at the age where I don’t really do that but that’s the way it is. But having said that, an awful lot of book people are loyal to their local bookshop and they want to keep it open.

We have a lot of people coming in with their phones and showing us the picture and ISBN of a book they’ve seen on Amazon and they’ll ask us to order it.

We can’t have every book but we pride ourselves on our ordering service and we’ll send out a text when the book comes in. Nine times out of ten we are successful in tracking down books.

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Is Bandon a town of book-lovers?

Yes, we’re delighted to say we have a great band of loyal customers.

We have a lot of book clubs in the locality who favour us with their business and discuss books with us. I did have a book club when I opened the shop first and it was very successful, I might go back to it again.

There is a great interest in history, and in local books. We love chatting about books and recommending books. And there’s nothing better than someone coming in and thanking you for are commendation.

Any particular books that you would recommend?

I’ll mention one book that I have been boring people with all summer. It’s Where the Crawdad Sings by Celia Owens. It’s set in North Carolina, where my son lives. It’s a fantastic read.

I recommended it to about 25 or 30 people, and to a person, they came back and said thanks, they loved it.

What do you enjoy most about being a bookseller?

There’s a great feeling when you make the sale as well. I’m interested in history and it has been great to sell a lot of very good local books on history.

There is one by Maurice O’Callaghan called In their Dreams of Fire, a story based in Bandon at the time of the War of Independence and the Civil War. We sold an awful lot, because it was topical and a great way of learning what went on around Bandon.

Alice Taylor is another great supporter of the shop and has been from day one. She is a lovely person and will be here shortly signing her new book. Her books are still hugely popular.

We have great staff here and we pride ourselves on our friendly service and the personal touch. A fella came in this morning and he says to me, knowing I’m a Kerryman, ‘Have you that book that a Kerryman will never have?’.

I said ‘What book are you talking about?’ And he says ‘The Double’ [a book about Cork’s historic GAA double by Adrian Russell]. I love that kind of thing, I get a great kick out of it.