We Sell Books: Why the personal touch makes all the difference
John Butler owns the Bookworm Bookshop, Parnell St, Thurles, Co Tipperary. The shop sells books, music accessories and crafts and also has a café.
We opened in 1993, so 26 years. The time has flown.
We started in a small premises around the corner which was less than 500 sq ft and we were there for three years. We then moved to a shop just 50 yards away, which allowed us to grow a bit and we were there for another three years and then a bigger premises became available, a couple of doors down, where we are now. We moved three times in a short space of time which probably isn’t hugely advisable but it allowed us to grow into a decent-size shop.
I finished college in 1988, I did a business degree and I worked in various businesses. The economy wasn’t great at the time, so in 1993, I found myself looking at different things. My family background was in retail, and one of the things that came up was that there wasn’t a bookshop locally.
My family would have had a grocery and bakery. My dad died when we were quite small and my mum, who was a teacher and had to give up when she got married, she ran a fabric shop and haberdashery. The shop was part of the house, so it was always full of noise and people coming and going.
There was two shops under the one house, and then a bakery and a bit of a farmyard out the back, all in the middle of town. It was very busy when we were growing up and but then things changed when supermarkets took hold. And, as happened in every town, lots and lots of small shops and independent shops were dying out, especially groceries and bakeries and that, which was unfortunate.
Yes, when we opened in 1993 you know, bookselling was still quite traditional and old-fashioned, it was a sedate kind of trade. It went from that to being absolutely cut-throat, with the arrival of the internet, supermarkets selling books, and pricing became a huge thing, with discounting becoming such a part of bookselling.
Previously we had the net book agreement, when you went by the publisher’s price and didn’t sell below that. Those things are gone and that’s no bad thing but unfortunately, discounting became the main marketing tool for the book chains and then the online booksellers. It’s not the right way to market books, it cheapens them.
Like any independent business, we had to build up our customer base. Just because we’re open doesn’t mean we have any right to a customer coming in the door.
We have to work for them and look after them and try and give them an experience that they don’t get in a chain store or online, whether it’s knowing their name or knowing what they like.
I think that’s where independent book shops and retailers make a difference. In fairness to our community, they do support local shops.
We sell musical accessories and certain instruments, like tin whistles, banjos, guitars and ukeleles, which have become very popular. In 2009 or 2010, we added a coffee area because the recession was really hitting hard and people were pulling back on what they were spending on everything, including books.
Our Tipperary Food Tour Book is now for sale @thebookworm #Thurles .. a gorgeous book shop and cafe to browse and chat and read 📚 on the Square In the centre of Thurles town! @ThurlesHour @thurles_ie @shoplocaltipperary #SupportYourLocal #ShopLocal #foodisfun #foodeducation pic.twitter.com/JZnkdIGP3C
— Tipperary Food Producers (@tippfood) December 9, 2019
We had the space so the coffee area was a natural fit. It helps with the other events we run in the shop, whether that’s book launches or signings. We also have different groups that come in — every Tuesday morning we have caint agus comhrá as Gaeilge. You could have 20 or 25 people chatting and it adds a great buzz to the place. We also have a craft and knitting circle on a Friday morning. We do a little line in haberdashery as well, which goes back to my own mother’s job, wools and yarns and all that.
I have been really enjoying John le Carré’s new one, Agent Running in the Field. He is still one of the best writers around, not just in the spy and thriller genre — it’s how he crafts the story.
Bill Bryson’s new book The Body: A Guide for Occupants, is so entertaining and he has such a lovely turn of phrase, he makes even the more obscure topics so interesting.
Also, an author I have been reading this year is Mick Herron, his stuff is really good, gritty and atmospheric. I just read This is What Happened, one of his more recent books.
There are also so many great children’s books. They are so important to independent bookshops, I’d say a quarter of our shop is given over to children’s books. The range and quality of Irish written and published children’s books is brilliant, we are spoiled for choice.
