Warning over future of independent bookshops

Dozens more bookshops will shut down over the coming years because people are buying low cost titles in big supermarkets and over the internet, it was warned today.

The Booksellers Association (BA) said official figures showing a drop off in sales last year in a bumper year for other sectors was probably a blip but small, independent stores remain under threat.

The Central Statistics Office released estimates pointing to an almost 4% cut in the sales of books during the Christmas shopping frenzy compared to the previous December.

The drop was notably in contrast with strong sales in virtually every other business, showing consumers were continuing to splurge despite gloomy economic forecasts.

But John McNamee, a leading member of BA, the industry representative association, said he believed the decline was down to a bad selection of books last year.

“Is it a slump in interest? I don’t believe it is at all,” he insisted.

“When you take all the factors in, the industry is performing quite well. But obviously it fluctuates. That happens from time to time.

“If I were to be brutally honest, regarding the titles that were on offer which would suit the Irish market, I wouldn’t as a bookseller have been terribly happy.”

Mr McNamee, who runs a bookshop in Portlaoise, said there was little released last year in the favourite genres of Irish readers.

“We are very hot on current affairs, we are very hot on peering into the mire of somebody’s else’s misfortune, we like to read how the murder was committed or how the trial went or how the criminal lives.

“We are very good at literature as well, and we love our cookery. I’m not sure those genres were as strong last year as we had it in previous years.”

The dip also came after several years of what the industry has described as phenomenal growth.

While it doesn’t appear the land of saints and scholars is giving up on its literary heritage just yet, fears remain about the future of the independent bookshop.

Huge supermarket chains, often offering best-sellers at cost or below cost price to lure in customers, and the might of the internet book companies are threatening Ireland’s once strong network of home grown booksellers.

High-profile casualties recently include Greene’s of Clare Street in Dublin and Kenny’s in Galway, both forced to close their doors because of new competition.

Mr McNamee believes up to a tenth of the Republic’s estimated 300 book shops will be under severe pressure to shut down over the next decade.

They need the best-seller sales to allow them to stock and source other less popular, but culturally or historically important works.

“We had a slogan a few years ago that is still relevant: keep your bookshop in business by keeping your business in the bookshop,” he said.

“If you don’t support that local, independent bookseller he’s not going to be there anymore. So choice will diminish enormously.

“You will lose a wealth of people who have huge bibliographic knowledge that can never, ever be replaced again and I think culturally we will be a much worse off place.”