England thankfully still has lots of good indie bookstores, but many have gone to the wall in recent years. It’s not all Amazon’s fault (they do offer one of the few places you can get next-day delivery for a last-minute gift). But overall, the company has not fared well for indie bookshops. One reason is that they can price-cut, while indie bookstores to survive have to sell books at full price. Having said that, a book is a book – so paying a couple of pounds extra is worth it to support your local indie bookstore. Apps like LibroFM (for audio books) both let you support indie shops with each purchase.
Mr B’s Emporium is often voted England’s best indie bookshop. More like a comfy living room with armchairs for browsing, the Reading Spa gifts are legendary. You’re invited for pampering in a bibliotherapy room over tea and cake. The bookseller learns of your tastes, and you leave a happy bookworm complete with voucher, mug, cloth bag and gift card.
If you order books online, Blackwell’s is nice, if you don’t mind waiting a few days for your book (it runs a good affiliate program for bloggers). Bookshop is another option (delivered to you or your local indie shop).
18 (slow) bookshop tours around Britain
Bookhop Tours of Britain is a wonderful slow-travel guide to the bookshops of Britain. Across 18 tours, the reader journeys from the Jurassic Coast of southwest England, over the mountains of Wales, through England’s industrial heartland, up to the Scottish Highlands and back (via Whitby) through the Norfolk Broads, central London, the South Downs and Hardy’s Wessex. Along the way, the tours visit beaches, castles, head down coal mines, go to whisky distilleries, and take in bird-watching, hiking, canoeing, stately homes and the houses of best-loved historic writers.
There’s something magical about a bookshop. A world of enchantment is yours for the taking. From the first shudder of the door and tinkle of the bell to the warm smell of ten thousand books softly waiting, and the bookseller hovering discreetly in the distance.
the inspiring diary of a small community bookshop
Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop is the true inspiring story of a woman who returned to the small village in the Tuscan hills where she was born, and open a tiny but enchanting bookshop on a hill, surrounded by gardens of roses. With less than 200 year-round residents, Alba’s shop seemed unlikely to succeed. But it soon sparked the enthusiasm of book nerds nearby and across Italy. After surving a fire and pandemic restrictions, her ‘Bookshop on the Hill’ soon became a refuge for a community.
Every little girl is unhappy in her own way. And I was too, deeply so. Maybe because it was my only brother got married and left us, all of a sudden, when I was six years old. Since the day I opened the bookshop, I’ve barely had a conversation when I wasn’t asked ‘How did you get the idea to open a bookshop in a village of 180 souls, in the middle of nowhere?’
Alba Donati is an award-winning poet who worked for years in publishing, before returning to her home village in Tuscany, Italy. After opening the ‘Bookshop on the Hill’, it became a refuge for countless readers from all over Italy, and in 2020 was named one of the 20 most beautiful bookshops in Europe.
why indie bookstores worry over Amazon
Danny Caine has taken it upon himself to be the champion of asking people to support indie bookshop owners (like him) over Amazon. Read his book 50 ways to protect bookstores. He recently wrote an open letter to Jeff Bezos, which is included in the book offering to take Jeff round his local area to meet real communities and to ‘treat him’ to a cup of coffee at the local indie bar, to try to make him see what his business is doing to local communities.
Danny explains in an interview that Amazon makes up for losses by selling discounted books on other items (like electronics). If he sold a $26.99 book for $15 (he’s in the US), he would make 43 cents. He writes ‘We have 10,000 books in stock. If we sold every one with a 43-cent markup, we’d make enough money to keep the store open for about 6 days’. He also writes of how indie bookstores do things that Amazon can’t – ‘bringing authors to town, working with writers and creating a safe welcoming place for people to browse books for an hour or three. Or feeding store cats. Or paying taxes’.
There are many people who are vehemently against purchasing anything from Amazon. But as mentioned above, if you suddenly need an important item for a baby, pet or elderly relative – it’s one of the few places these days where you can buy it for next day delivery. But for a book? Nah! Just wait a few days and have it delivered by an indie store. There are many reasons to do this. Just a few:
- Amazon still sells real fur, something that most online shops don’t do. Why buy books from a company that is supporting this barbaric trade? Donate old fur coats to help orphaned wildlife.
- Amazon does not pay fair taxes (in 2021, we lost around half a billion pounds through their clever accounting laws). This could have paid for umpteen nurses, doctors, pension top-ups, environmental clean-ups and much more.
- You only have to look online to read stories of pregnant and bereaved workers who have not been treated well. And considering the founder is one of the richest people on earth, Amazon workers are not the best-paid either.
- Amazon still uses plastic packaging, when by far it’s one of the companies that could afford to invest in non-plastic packaging alternatives like Flexi-Hex. ‘Reducing it substantially’ is not the same as not using it all, especially considering the huge numbers of deliveries sent out each day.
- Amazon is of couse killing off local indie stores, with around a third of the entire online market, and nearly 90% of people buying on a regular basis.
So in a nutshell – use Amazon if you need something urgently for a health reason for you and yours. But other than that – give it a miss and support your local bookstore (and other indie shops) instead!
the surprising story of Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos is the founder of Amazon and at time of writing, the third wealthiest person on earth. Elon Musk is one of the other top 3, showing that the world is now completely run by Internet billionaires. Both now seem to be getting involved in politics, a frightening prospect (especially if being ‘run by media’ contributes to the almost horrifying scenario that Trump could again become the US President).
The really surprising fact about the founder of the company that has sucked all the creativity out of life – is that he attended a Montessori school. These (private) schools have children who don’t use computers until much later on, and are purposely designed to create more creative and free-thinking children (as far away from ‘clone-like superstores’ as you can get. And Jeff apparently is very thankful for his education), and regularly donates to Montessori causes.