About The Guide

Hello! We are Sonja and Ivan. And this is our Bookstore Guide - an amateur guide to book shopping throughout Europe. We hope this Guide will help you find the book(stores) you are looking for. Unfortunately, the bookstores are no longer uploaded and may be out of date

Top 5: Travel Bookstores


Putting together Europe's best travel bookstores and limiting them by a certain number (in our case: 5) was certainly a difficult challenge. For one, bookstores specializing in travel literature are certainly not a rarity and - although our wish to have more of these remains - it was definitely effortful to pick the best ones - and still, some may argue with our choice as there probably are bigger and/or better travel specialized bookstores somewhere out there, in Europe, of course. Thus, we welcome you to counterargument if you know of any bookstores we were yet not aware of and we'll do our part of adding the additional readers' picks.

Before we move on to the very Top5, perhaps we should say a word or two about travel bookstores per se. What makes them stand out among your ordinary bookstores is the fact that many of them carry very little Sci-Fi novels, no school textbooks, nor chicklit. As a matter of fact, they carry very little fiction altogether - apart from some travel related novels which may be useful as they depict a certain area - although these themselves usually border with non-fiction (perhaps it's also important to note that these represent a special genre in English literature). What travel bookstores have is literature related to countries, peoples, cultures, histories, customs: maps, travel guides, stories recording travelers' experiences and travel journals (together known as travelogues), various phrase books, dictionaries, encyclopedias, anthologies, etc.

And while many people today prefer to find all the information about the place they're going to online, there are, thankfully, still those who prefer to have a more comprehensive and binded paper edition of their favorite Lonely Planet, Frommer's, Fodor's, DK Eyewitness, Rough Guide or whichever they fancy.


Daunt Books LondonAs always, the most difficult task when compiling a Top5 is to pick the number one. No matter how excellent nr.1 is, there are always those who could argue or dispute its lead. Nontheless, guided by our previous experience, we've decided to remain a tad subjective and thus award the title of 'the best' to Daunt Books of London. Oh, needless to add, most of our travel specialized bookstores are located in the capital of the United Kingdom, which is sort of natural considering that most of the books are even printed there and that English is the official language of the country. However, we have tried to include other (continental) travel bookstores in the Top5.

Daunt Books TravelDaunt Books in Marylebone High St. is often given the attribute of being THE travel bookstore or even London's finest bookshop and judging by the number of positive comments on the web, these might well not be overstatements by any means. The enormous stock is organized in a rather interesting way: by countries and thus it makes it easier for browsing. What about the stock's quality? Well, you certainly won't feel like something is missing since Daunt Books indeed has it all: travel guides, hotel guides, maps, phrase books, travel writing, hist ory, biographies, various recipes and books on cooking, books on flora and fauna, coffee table books, photography books and even fiction, poetry, holiday reading, books for children. Besides the new stock, Daunt also holds a considerable amount of second-hand books. What more could you ask for from a travel bookstore?

Stanfords LondonAlthough in the second position in this highly subjective Top5, Stanford's is definitely worth all the praise. Established in 1853 by Edward Stanford, it is one of the oldest travel bookstores in Europe. With such a top location (Stanford's is located in the center of the kingdom's capital) this bookstore is easily located by millions of tourists who come to London daily. The visitors to Stanford's have a unique bookbrowsing experience - you can browse through their stock while literally walking on maps - from the map of London to the huge National Geographic world map on various floors.

Stanfords Maps Globes
As for the bookstore's stock, Stanford's probably has everything you need: maps and books on Western Europe occupy one whole floor, while the rest of Europe resides above it. Furthermore, there are various globes of all sizes, travel lit, world music and film accompanied by travel accessories. The whole deal is organized by countries and thus easy to locate. However, if you have trouble finding the book you want or want to see if Stanford's has it in advance, their fabulous and easy-to-use online catalog will help you find the book you're looking for. Also, remember to check their fantastic monthly offers, such as 3 for 2 or the book of the month at 10 pounds off and many more.

Altair BarcelonaA travel, anthropology and nature bookstore - as stated on their website - Altair, with their two locations (one in Madrid and the other in Barcelona) is Spain's foremost travel literature paradise. The Barcelona based store is by far larger than the Madrid one, more known and better stocked (still, the one in Madrid is not that far behind any of the bookstores present in this Top5). Altair's amazing stock surpasses 60.000 publications - the most extensive selection of travel guides, maps of almost any imaginable place in the world - and all that not just in Spanish and Catalan but also in over a dozen different languages. What's more, Altair specializes in Europe as a region so it is not a surprise that most of their stock comprises of European related travel lit. The Barcelona bookstore itself was opened long ago, in 1979 and it has built a reputation of being a cultural place for idea exchange, a meeting spot for all the travelers in the world and for people of ubiquitous interests.


Stanley and Livingstone, The HagueIt's not very common to open English bookstores which are specialized in one specific field of the book market in continental Europe. For this simple reason, this Top 5 is quite understandably dominated by bookstores from the British capital. The amazing Altair in Madrid managed to squeeze in the top three however and although this may come as a surprise, one more place was snatched by bookstore in a smaller (compared to the likes of London or Madrid) Dutch city of Den Haag - Stanley & Livingstone. And it's not only the original name, although we like it very much, that has earned this bookstore a spot among the selected few. The satisfaction of the multinational and multilingual clientele of this bookstore is the best evidence that Stanley & Livingstone deserves to be noticed by all those who have a passion for discovery and new destinations.


Travel Bookshop London
If someone gave the guys (and/or gals) of the Travel Bookshop a penny every time they mentioned the infamous bookshop with regards to Hugh Grant (playing the sales assistant opposite a movie star, played by Julia Roberts, in Notting Hill), they'd be billionaires (or at least full of pennies in jars). But however it may seem, the Travel Bookshop has (unconsciously perhaps) built its fame on it. Still, the bookstore is well worth all the praise and deserves a firm spot in our Top5. Founded in 1979 (the same year as nr. 3 on this list), the Travel Bookshop had nested itself among various galleries and affluent and fashionable stores and restaurants of one of London's most cosmopolitan areas. Still, they have persevered and retained their independent feel to carry on distributing various travel related literature to their readers. Within the bookstore you'll find an immense offer of guide books, travelogues, travel literature, photographic titles, maps, atlases, biographies, histories - all arranged by countries. Furthermore, you'll find a (more than a) neat range of rare, second-hand and antiquarian books definitely worth paying attention to.

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Check out our other Top5s:

Top 5: Oldest Bookstores on the Continent
(with an Additional Reader's Pick)

Top 5: Central Europe

Top 5: Impressive Appearance

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Back to the list of all Top5 categories

An Interview with an Antiquarian Bookseller: The Caretaker



By guest blogger
Sheila Markham

Sheila MarkhamThe article you are about to read is a great treat for anyone with a passion for books and an interest in the art of bookselling. The UK based author Sheila Markham has undertaken a demanding but rewarding project of offering a deeper insight into the lives of people behind the counter of selected second-hand and antiquarian bookstores. A series of her interviews with these booksellers started appearing in a booktrade magazine The Bookdealer in 1991 and in 2004 a selection of 50 among them was published in a book entitled A Book of Booksellers: conversations with the antiquarian book trade. This collection presents an exclusive behind-the-scenes testimonial of the dramatic transformations the booktrade has undergone since the early 1990s. Through their ambitions, successes, struggles, dreams and tons of experience in bookselling, we get to know a whole assemblage of unique and peculiar individuals with a shared love of books as a common link.The piece she has selected for our series of articles on independent bookselling is with Sabrina Izzard of Hall's Bookshop in Tunbridge Wells, a long-established independent bookshop selling antiquarian and secondhand books.

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Nobody grows up saying that they want to be an antiquarian bookseller. It is not one of the established career options. My father was a journalist and my mother was Molly Izzard, whose books included A Private Life, in which she recounts her experiences as the wife of a foreign correspondent, trying to raise a family of four children in some of the trouble spots of the world. My oldest brother was born in Delhi when my father was reporting on the partition of India, and I was born in Egypt just before the Suez Crisis. In 1958, we returned to this country and settled in Tunbridge Wells.

Hall's Bookshop Turnbridge WellsI spent quite a lot of my childhood at home due to ill health, and passed the time reading a huge amount. I was omnivorous in my tastes, though I always had a special interest in travel books. As a family, we were very travel-oriented and my father, who was by that stage working on adventure films, would pack us into his Land Rover and we would go off somewhere. Hall’s Bookshop was an important part of my life from an early age. It was my Saturday afternoon outing to walk down into the town and buy books from Harry Pratley at Hall’s. The shop is in Chapel Place behind the Church of King Charles the Martyr, and is an institution in Tunbridge Wells. Reuben Hall had opened it in 1898 in 18 Chapel Place on the site of Knight’s Lending Library.

In 1919 Harry Pratley began his apprenticeship at Hall’s at the age of fourteen on seven shillings a week. In 1922 he was ‘sold’ with the business to Charles Avery, a friend of Hall’s who had a small bookshop in Maidstone. Harry completed his apprenticeship and, when Mr Avery died in 1936, was able to buy the business on the very generous terms offered to him by the family. An important tradition had begun of passing the shop on to those who had worked in it. In 1938 Hall’s moved to its present location in 20 and 22 Chapel Place, where many devoted customers helped him to put up the shelves. Nothing has been changed in the appearance of the shop since that date. Elizabeth Bateman became Harry’s assistant in 1955, and in turn took over the business in 1967, which she ran until her death in 1983.

My first experience of secondhand bookselling was with John Thornton in the mid-1970s. He was dealing in antiques at the time, and had The Chair Shop in Tunbridge Wells, which also had a room of secondhand books. I worked for John for around seven years, and during that time the book side of his business expanded to fill eight rooms. While John was out buying furniture, and at the same time picking up lots of books, I would spend my time in the shop, where I met all the dealers. Mr Howlett, the famous ‘runner’, was a regular visitor and the most wonderful person. He had had a bookshop in pre-War Bromley, where Richmal Crompton had been one of his customers. When I knew him, he was living nearby in Hildenborough, where his wife was kept busy fostering Nigerian babies for the GLC.

Elizabeth Bateman would visit John Thornton’s shop almost every day. I used to put aside books that I thought would be suitable for Hall’s. It was a very convenient arrangement for her - John found fantastic material on his private calls, and Elizabeth was not a driver. She was also in very poor health. One day she asked if I would come and work at Hall’s. I started in 1981 on a pitiful salary, and I was only able to manage because I was living with my mother. All the books were priced in pounds, shillings and pence – Elizabeth having refused to go decimal. There were piles of books hidden under brown paper, slowly accumulating, because Elizabeth was not well enough to price them. She would rather not sell a book than make a mistake. Failure of any kind was not tolerated, and the power of her personality was such that some of her assistants were terrified of her. But essentially she was a very kind person, and felt a tremendous sense of responsibility toward the shop.

Elizabeth had recruited me with the view of training me to take over the bookshop. She had expected to have another four years of active bookselling instead of which she died within eighteen months of my joining Hall’s. I was given the chance, much sooner than I might have expected, to buy the business. I bought it for £10,000, which I paid off within the first eighteen months. In the early days I deliberately copied Elizabeth’s handwriting when pricing books, so that customers might not notice the change of ownership. However word got around that Elizabeth had died, and the shop was extremely busy – no doubt some people thought that the ‘apprentice’ was bound to make mistakes, but most people came to show their support for the shop.

Turnbridge Wells BookshopWhen Harry Pratley heard that I was taking over Hall’s, he immediately sent me a cheque for £1,000. However the ABA demanded the return of our membership plaque, which upset Harry terribly, as a former President of the Association. Actually it was one of the best things that could have happened – it made me feel determined to make it on my own. Harry used to come in to the shop every week and we would discuss what I had bought since his last visit. He kept bringing in good books for me to put in the window and sell. I resisted doing this because I was afraid that these sales would distort the true picture of how the shop was doing. It was essential for the business to be able to survive on what I was able to buy and sell. I can honestly say that I did not relax for the first ten years.

***

Harry Pratley died on 5 May 1987, and the residue of his fine collection of books – he had given most of them away – was sold by Sotheby’s in a three-day sale in January 1988. I spent £1,000 in each day’s sale, as I felt that I needed to be seen to be there and buying books. The following year the local branch manager of Lloyds Bank, which owned the premises of Hall’s Bookshop, came round in person to deliver some very bad news. The bank owned the entire block in which the shop is situated, and they had plans to redevelop it. We were on very friendly terms – indeed he had lent me the money to buy the business. He explained that the decision had been made by the bank’s property people and that, while he personally was on my side, there was nothing he could do to help. When a local journalist heard that Hall’s Bookshop was under threat, he launched a publicity campaign which quite simply snowballed.

There was a public outcry, at first local, then national and finally international. Local people moved their bank accounts away from Lloyds. Tunbridge Wells Borough Council threatened to do the same. Finally a television crew wanted to come down, and I think it was at that stage that Lloyds Bank took an enlightened attitude and relented. The bookshop is so much part of the life of the town, as the publicity storm had so forcefully demonstrated.

In his time Harry Pratley had done an enormous amount to promote good will in the community. He was a prominent figure in the Rotary Club and a great supporter of local charities. The shop always took and continues to take advertising space in the newsletters and publications of the various local clubs, societies and places of worship, and we also display their announcements in the shop. As another gesture of good will, Harry never charged for valuations, and I have followed his example.

Hall's BookshopI rely almost entirely upon local connections for my stock. When people tell me that the shop is well stocked, I reply that it is thanks to my customers who sell me their books. It surprises me that a lot of book dealers do not like buying from the general public. The nicest part of the job for me is going out on house calls. There is something fascinating about going through someone’s collection of books, and the glimpses that it offers into their life and interests. Buying privately is all about establishing a relationship of trust. I have learnt that it is important to accept the offer of tea or coffee, and to take a little time for everyone to relax. It does not always work. On one occasion I had to deal with an eccentric old lady who wanted her books valued, but would not let me in the house. She kept me standing at the back door, and showed me one book at a time.

It is very rare to go out on a completely wasted house call, although I have been known to suggest that they contact the local dump, which always prompts the response, ‘ we couldn’t possibly throw books away’. I try to explain that there is nothing unique about their books, or indeed most books, and that they will not destroy civilisation by throwing them away – to which they sometimes respond that they would rather give them to me than dump them. I have learnt to say thank you and take them.

***

I depend entirely on part-time assistants to run the shop, because I cannot afford to pay a full-time salary. My best assistants tend to come in, aged fifteen or sixteen, looking for a Saturday job. I have learnt not to employ ex-librarians – they always want to impose order, when the shop requires greater flexibility. I usually hang on to my assistants until they have been through university, and perhaps for a little longer while they are looking for a full-time job. Customers are very indulgent with them if they do not know everything, as long as they show interest in their work. Harry taught me never to be frightened to ask if you do not know something – the customers will teach you, because they are steeped in their subject and like talking about it. Hall’s is a very good training ground and a number of bookmen have begun their careers here. Tony Smith of Heywood Hill worked at Hall’s until John Saumarez Smith spotted his talent and pinched him!

Hall's Bookshop outsideIf customers ask us to look for a specific title, we record it in our book and let them know if a copy comes in. We have never advertised for books wanted. Actually I am more likely nowadays to suggest that they ask a grandchild to look for it on the Internet. I am aware of a small number of people buying books from us in order to put them on the Internet. In many cases I think that they misjudge the effort required in packing and processing an order, when you consider what they can add on to my perfectly good price. Sometimes people offer me a book and show me a list of eBay prices for it, completely unaware of the effect of condition, binding or even edition on the value of a book. There is also the trap of being guided by Internet prices if there is only one copy listed. My mother’s book, A Private Life, turned up at the local Oxfam shop priced at £49.50. It is not disloyal of me to say that it certainly is not worth that much. At the same time there was a single copy on ABE, and it was priced at £55. The Internet has a lot to answer for in some of the mad pricing that one comes across.

In the old days, customers would come in to the shop, and you would acknowledge them and then carry on with what you were doing. Nowadays there are so few secondhand bookshops that you have to assume that it might be their first visit to such an establishment. I will now approach them, if they are new to the shop, and offer my assistance. This pro-active method seems to be working. A lot of young people have no affinity with books, referring to them as ‘so last century’. I am sure that books will survive, but the next few years will be critical.

Hall’s is a unique shop and it should have a future. It is firmly based in a town which has been extremely loyal to it, and the fundamentals of how the business is run are sound. When we were threatened with closure, I wondered if it would be possible to make a go of it in another location, but there is something about Hall’s that simply can not be reproduced elsewhere. The shop is all-absorbing and intellectually stimulating – a lifestyle rather than an occupation. I think of myself as the caretaker. I did not create it; I just took over the responsibility for running it. The rent review came up recently and I committed myself to another three years, by which time I shall have given thirty years of my life to the shop. It is easy to stay on too long – you start to get stale, your information is out of date, your health deteriorates. Hall’s deserves to be passed on in good shape. It has the potential to be the last bookshop standing.

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Notes:
This article first appeared in the Bookdealer magazine in December 2008, © Sheila Markham

Several other interviews from this collection can be read online at Sheila's website - www.sheila-markham.com
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Images used:
All images in this article belong to Sheila Markham's private collection
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More articles from this series:
An Insight into the Current State of Independent Bookselling – An Introduction

Independent Bookstores in Danger of Extinction – Who is to Blame?

Independent Booksellers and the Fixed Book Price: a Horror Story?

Chain Bookstores: The Rise, Struggle and Downfall?

Independent Booksellers: What Can Be Done to Help?


Literaturhaus: Books, Words and Much Much More
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Back to the full list of Articles

Independent Booksellers: What Can Be Done to Help?


By guest blogger
Abigail Rhodes


Abigail RhodesThe second guest blogger to contribute with an article to our growing series focused on independent bookselling is Abigail Rhodes from the UK. Abi has worked for the publishing imprint of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, Spokesman Books, for six years now. She is involved in selling and marketing their books to independent booksellers throughout the UK and the world, alongside developing their website. She also keeps abreast of developments in the book trade within her job and a keen eye on the progress of eBooks technology. She writes regular book reviews for the journal The Spokesman and also happens to be an avid reader in her spare time. Besides her work at Spokesman Books she works as a freelance proof reader and copy editor for other independent book publishers in the Midlands. Her background in the publishing business has enabled her to approach the topic from a unique perspective and to offer noteworthy insights on the indies situation.
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It is a gloomy time at present as the economic crisis takes its toll on all businesses, but, according to research, independent booksellers have been facing a hard time for the last 10 years, with official figures showing a 22% decrease in independent bookshops open in the UK.[1] Big conglomerates have been squeezing out smaller businesses on the high street for years by discounting their stock at ever decreasing prices and the independent shops have simply been unable to keep up with these reductions. So, it seems, there must be a reduction in their presence.

But we really shouldn’t lose heart. According to Valerie Glencross of Sevenoaks bookshop in an interview with Stephen Moss for The Guardian[2], the big chains are eating each other up. The huge discounts given to the most recent popular piece of fiction by supermarkets and online retailers are undermining big high street chains, such as Waterstone’s. By and large, bigger stores are finding themselves in difficulty as they fail to keep up with low prices offered elsewhere. However, the independent bookshop is still the smallest of the group and so will be eaten by the big shops even if they, in turn, are being eaten by bigger businesses. So what can be done? In this article I discuss my experience of how independents, like me, are staying afloat.

I work for the publishing imprint of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, Spokesman Books, which is predominantly a publisher, but we sell our own products too. Currently we have no high street presence in the form of a bricks and mortar building but we do have a good online retail shop. “Online shop, how shocking!”, I hear you gasp. During my research for this piece I came across many voices citing the internet as one of the causes of the demise of the independent bookshop. Yet the more research I did, the further it became apparent that when the internet is mentioned what people are actually referring to is Amazon.co.uk.

This internet giant, which probably offers some of the biggest discounts in the market, is becoming a by-word for (book) shopping online in the same way Google has for search engines. When the average Joe thinks, “I need to buy a book” they will invariably head for Amazon (online) or Waterstone’s (in the high street). So what can be done about the situation? How can independent booksellers overcome these enormous retail powerhouses?

Waterstone BrusselsThe first way is to join them, because it’ll be difficult to beat them. As an independent publisher, Spokesman Books is in a position to supply many wholesalers. However, they require big discounts that are only just sustainable. We no longer supply Waterstone’s directly because we are a small publisher and therefore the administration costs they incur far exceed the sales our titles generate. So in order to continue to make our books available to the public we go through Gardner’s to stock them. This does mean, however, that we are unable to determine exactly how many of our titles are adorning the shelves of Waterstone’s, because we simply supply a wholesaler with our titles and not any individual store. Recently we joined The Amazon Advantage programme, which is a good way for us to provide our titles directly to Amazon.co.uk, but once again the discount required is pretty hefty.[3]

However, what I have described above isn’t possible for those who are selling books published by others, so my second suggestion is one that is already underway. Independent booksellers need to find a niche in the market, one that enables them to stand out from the big, indistinctive chain stores. If the average Joe’s mindset is to shop only in the big high street or online bookstores then independent shops need to break this habitual thought process and wake the average consumer up.

Our books here at Spokesman had a rare outing to stall at a local book festival held this June in Lowdham, Nottinghamshire. During the course of the day I spoke with the other stallholders, some of whom were local writers and publishers and some were bookshop owners. I asked these people how they were coping in the economic climate and how they are getting customers into their shops. The majority of replies focussed on similar themes – events and atmosphere. By holding regular book signings, readings, talks by authors and an annual small local festival the independent booksellers, in this small area of the Midlands, are grabbing people’s attention.

During my research for this article I discovered that this is endemic amongst independent booksellers across the UK. Some smaller shops, such as Mr B’s Emporium in Bath, have trading hours that suit their clientele and by opening late for ‘pre-dinner browsing’ on Thursdays and Fridays, they are attracting customers. Housman’s in London have a range of events that continue into the early evening and actively seek suggestions “from authors, artists and campaigners who want to use the shop for evening events.” News from Nowhere has a “free online community notice board”, which encourages local organisers to add their event to the website of Liverpool’s “radical and community bookshop”. I could list many, many more, but I want to consider the inclusive nature of these events.

IndepRed Wheelbarrow Parisendent bookshops want customers to come to the shop, but not simply to buy the books they sell. They are encouraging an active participation by their local communities within their local communities, so the shops themselves become an integral part of the neighbourhood. In today’s individualistic society people look for a place to belong; they enjoy being a part of something alongside those that live around them. The big chains provide a service – they make it possible for people to purchase books – but do they enable the members of a community to interact with each other? My local big chain does have events and a coffee shop for their customers, but I always feel it is an anonymous place. The café is bland, expensive and exactly the same as all the others branches I have been to and, apart from the ‘local history section’, the shop tends not to encapsulate the essence of the place it trades in.

The heart of a shop is its customers – the real people that come in to chat and spend time, as well as money – and the independent booksellers know this. In my experience each small shop is unique because the owner/customer dynamic is unique, but the overarching atmosphere is always homely. The independently owned shops care about their customers in a more obvious and genuine way than their big chain rivals. By providing great customer (not consumer) service a sense of being cared for pervades the high street.

Whilst we at Spokesman Books don’t have a high-street shop in which to provide this atmosphere, we do share the ethos of great customer service and one patron was so happy he left us an amiable message on the wall of our Facebook group. As a publisher supplying books to both big chains and small independent shops I find the latter more accommodating and willing to communicate the ideas generated within the titles we sell.[4] There is always a sense of ‘closed shop’ whenever I’ve approached my local branch of Waterstone’s with our book lists, yet when I contact shops like the London Review Bookshop or Bookmarks I always get an inclusive response.

Village Voice BookshopI believe that the public also get more of a ‘come in and browse at your leisure’ invite from their local bookshop and I get the impression that people really do want to be a part of something stimulating, to belong to something that captures the imagination beyond the books themselves and beyond the banality of the chain. So, by providing an inspiring and caring environment within their bookshops the independents draw people in, and by creating a culture, or identity, independent bookshops are not only becoming a part of everyday life for shoppers, they are also creating a space for people to enjoy books outside of their own homes.

My final answer to the question ‘what can be done?’ is framed by the need to raise awareness of the situation in which small bookshop owners find themselves. In late January this year The Guardian ran the article, “MP calls on government to protect struggling independent booksellers”[5], which outlined the response by Nigel Evans, Conservative MP for the Ribble Valley, to the closing of Kaydee, a local bookshop in his constituency. He tabled early day motion 493 ‘Small Businesses’, which called upon the Government to, ‘ensure that small and medium-sized businesses get the support that they both need and deserve in order that they may survive the recession.’ It received only eight signatures. However, it has renewed the interest of the media and sought to elucidate the plight within Parliament.

Much more can, and should, be done to keep small, independent bookshops alive and when I saw The Bookstore Guide’s decision to write a series of articles looking into the current predicament of independent book selling I was inspired. Ivan and Sonja have begun an invaluable discussion that in itself is helping to raise awareness, and which might just be the beginning of a positive turn for us independents.

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References:
[1] Information taken from ‘MP calls on Government to protect struggling independent booksellers’ by Alison Ford, The Guardian, 22 January 2009.
[2] Stephen Moss on Independent Bookshops, The Best Sellers, The Guardian, May 22nd 2006.
[3] Please note that we also supply many independent bookshops across the UK and internationally with our titles.
[4] We supply philosophical, political, economic, peace and human rights and nuclear disarmament titles.
[5] Alison Flood in The Guardian, January 22nd 2009.

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Images used:
1: http://adairjones.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/bookshelf.jpg
2: Waterstone's in Brussels (Bookstore Guide archive)
3: The Red Wheelbarrow in Paris (Bookstore Guide archive)
4: Village Voice Bookshop in Paris (Bookstore Guide archive)
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More articles from this series:
An Insight into the Current State of Independent Bookselling – An Introduction

Independent Bookstores in Danger of Extinction – Who is to Blame?

Independent Booksellers and the Fixed Book Price: a Horror Story?

Chain Bookstores: The Rise, Struggle and Downfall?

An Interview with an Antiquarian Bookseller: The Caretaker


Literaturhaus: Books, Words and Much Much More
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Back to the full list of Articles

Boekie Woekie, Amsterdam

Boekie Woekie logo


Where? Amsterdam, The Netherlands



Recommended by:
Cralan Kelder

Cralan said: "Being a poet/writer in Amsterdam, I wanted to draw your attention to Boekie Woekie who carry the only availability to small press and literature in Amsterdam, carrying, for example all the Coracle books, Wild Hawthorn, actually too numerous and microscopic to mention. Boekie Woekie is a store which houses small press books, they have been open for 23 years, many artist books, many of which are works of art themselves. There are journals and literary magazines there from all over the world. There are also many books which are impossible to categorize, increasingly so as visual art and poetry continue to blur (publication) lines."

Amsterdam is one of few European cities where an underground bookstore like this can hope to gain some support and recognition and probably the only city where it could thrive for almost a quarter of a century. Boekie Woekie bookstore was founded by six artists who found their living spaces to be increasingly occupied by books. As the legend goes, the bookstore was born in order to free some space in their apartments but they were also looking to promote their own books (the six of them had around 150 published titles). The shop officially opened on the 1st of January 1986 and for the following five years, the bookstore occupied a tiny room which could hold no more than two people and it only offered books by the six artists who had founded it. The beginning of the 1990s marked big changes in the bookstore's existence as three of the original owners along with one new partner decided to take things to the next level.

This meant moving to a bigger place which enables the owners to stock about 8000 titles and also host small exhibitions. The main mission of this unique bookstore is to provide support and presentation space to self-published authors. The original idea behind the bookstore was to celebrate the love for art shared by the founders and so they decided to sell books only by artists. However, since art is a very subjective and personal matter, the stock of this bookstore reflects all its different forms and variations. In order to give an equal chance to every artist who brings his or her book to the store and also to make up for the lack of financial backing the bookstore uses the consignment sale system.

Another thing that is specific for Boekie Woekie is that it has functioned as a traveling show on several occasions. Within the past 15 years the bookstore has had temporary branches in different cities around Europe. Throughout its whole existence the bookstore's owners held on to their complete independence and their ambition to offer an alternative to the mainstream world of art, which is too often ruled by money. Boekie Woekie is the ultimate proof that an independent bookstore defying all the business trends, market analyses and other managerial tools can survive even in the 21st century, thanks to the passion of the people who stand behind it.

Boekie Woekie AmsterdamBoekie Woekie
Address:
Berenstraat 16
1016 GH Amsterdam
Boekie Woekie outside









Website:
http://www.boekiewoekie.com

Phone and Email:
31-(0)20-6390507
boewoe@xs4all.nl

Working Hours:
Mon-Sun 12-18



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