In with the bricks

    Reading various interviews with Ann Patchett around the time her latest novel State of Wonder* was published, I noted that she had plans to open a bookshop in her home town, Nashville. Along with her business partner Karen Hayes, a former Random House rep., her idea was for a not-too-big, not-too-small independent shop that would be a focus for the community and sell the books its owners love and want to recommend.

    Parnassus Books is now taking shape, and to help with start-up costs and to build customer loyalty right from the off, they have come up with a scheme by which a 7-tiered founders' club gives members various privileges from single book discounts to a '20% off' shoppping spree, after hours buying and more. All very enterprising, and if I lived anywhere near, I'd join (I have signed up for emails as I'm interested to follow their progress).

    What makes a good bookshop, one that you want to return to again and again? The following are obvious attributes/elements, but not always present, in my experience at least, and are surely all the more crucial in these tough economic times:

- a pleasant place: light and airy, or cosy but well-lit, with places to sit down and space to browse comfortably,

- stock which looks as though it's been carefully chosen by book lovers, rather than lifted from a retail outlet which doesn't purport to be a bookshop per se,

- knowledgeable staff: people who know books and are passionate about them - and are good with customers!

    Optional extras:

- author events,

- book groups,

- coffee shop (like this one, or this).

    Anything else? What, apart from the above, might draw you in to our fantasy bookshop? Financial incentives such as a customer loyalty scheme or privileges like the Parnassus Books founders' ones? Well-chosen non-book items like stationery, 'gifts', homewares, etc.? Art exhibitions or musical evenings? Writers' groups? London's Big Green Bookshop branches out in other innovative ways, too. Food for thought ...

See also: All pace slackened to a page's turn - a post on 18 Bookshops by Anne Scott.

 

*Stop Press! Many thanks to Linda for alerting me to the fact that the Kindle version of State of Wonder is available for today only at the bargain price of £1.29.

Comments

[Susan Campbell]

Comfy chairs, and enough of them, definitely enhance a bookshop. A leather sofa is the deluxe version ;-)

[Deirdre]

Good books, people who know what they are selling, somewhere to perch, good light ... somewhere that draws you in and makes it hard to leave ... somewhere you feel comfortable staying a while, even if you are only looking ... and if you are a regular visitor, staff who recognize you! The other day I was offered coffee! That was really nice!

[Vivienne]

Thank you for the heads up re 'State of Wonder' went straight in and its now on my kindle, ready for my next read.

[Mr Cornflower]

Staff who tolerate impecunious young browsers (I was one once)who will one day become book buyers.

[Heather]

'State of Wonder' has now moved from my Wish List to my Kindle. Thanks!

[Dark Puss]

I'm not a great fan of coffee shops within bookshops for a whole variety of reasons but perhaps because I saw how in the large Waterstones which took over from Dillons outside UCL, a significant part of the science/computing section was what was axed to provide it. Secondly I don't like overhearing people chatting (even about books) while I'm trying to browse. Your other items I'd go along with, although I'd always sacrifice chairs & sofas for more books on shelves. Perhaps what I like most are specialist bookshops (or indeed music shops etc.)

[m]

My favourite bookshop no longer has its very comfy leather armchair tucked in a corner upstairs. (I did come clattering down the stairs one quiet afternoon, fearing I was locked in for the night ... so maybe that's why.)
I'm not a fan of coffee shops, either - and can't see much point as you're never more than three yards from one these days.
But could I have a solemn guarantee that our fantasy bookshop will never, ever have background music (and certainly not muzak) of any description. I have often stomped out of local Waterstones because I'd sooner browse Amazon in peace and quiet.

[Dark Puss]

I couldn't agree more with your comment about music! I too have walked into and then straight out of branches of Waterstones because of music.

[Ruth M]

Amen and amen. How do people focus on their own thoughts, much less the words on the page (or even the titles on the covers) with remorseless injection of outside noise? Music, singing, chatter... Agh! I need solitude and silence in large doses to flourish.

[Ruth M]

Our local independent Prince Books, housed downtown on the first floor of Norfolk's 110-year-old first skyscraper (7 floors), is always a haven. Every book has merit, it's a quiet place with a subliminal hum of intelligence, the owner and staff greet regulars by name. There is an adjacent cafe but it's not intrusive -- nor is it open on weekends, making the booths an excellent place to meet writing friends for companionable writing practice.

PS I'm not opposed to e-books but does anyone else see the irony in buying them while singing the praise of bookstores?

[adele geras]

A bit late to t his but so agree about the music. The ubiquity of this sort of low level noise is horrendous. I wish they'd not have it in restaurants as well. Walked out of Jamie Oliver's in Cambridge because it was deafening....
Coffee I can easily do without but nice chairs to sit on are good and I don't MIND a coffee shop being there at all. Works very well at the lovely Simply Books in Bramhall Cheshire if anyone's in the area.
I also like bookshops that support their local writers!

[Dark Puss]

Probably! I buy neither physical books (for myself anyway) nor e-books (for myself or anyone else) and I don't sing the praises of purchasing methods in my occasional book reviews. I don't buy sheet music over the internet I go down in person to the appropriate shop and purchase it directly and that costs me in both time and travel. Keeping these places going is much more important than 40 minutes of my time (I can think en route) or the excess on my travel card. However, in respect of music, I'm lucky to live in the centre of London and not in most of the towns/cities in the UK. We have three flute specialists in London and there are none (to my knowledge) in the rest of the UK.

[Vasilly]

A good bookstore will be in a great location! Some bookstores in my area are in remote locations that can be hard to get to if you don't have a car.

[yvonne]

Hi Karen,

I agree with your last commenter, that a good bookshop does need to be loacted somewhere centrally in its chosen location, so as to be accesssible without the need to drive out of town to reach it.

Perhaps next door to a coffee shop might be a good idea, where you can actually go to enjoy your coffee, without having the hubble and bubble of the inherent noise that coffee shops make and also the smell, which can become quite pervasive if you are seriously browsing the shelves for books.

I don't mind music if it is very low volume and gentle background music, however most staff don't understand the meaning of either of those concepts and the ensuing row then becomes unbearable.

Comfy chairs sound okay, but there will obviously never be enough of them to go around, so just a few simple seating benches may be sufficient, it just needs somewhere to be able to park ones 'derriere' whilst you peruse the books.

Don't go down the route of special offers on books, although maybe one SMALL area where older or slightly damaged stock can be purchased at an advantageous price.

However, a good loyalty scheme to keep your regular customers coming back for more would be a good move.

[Cornflower]

Indeed that irony had not escaped me, Ruth! However, the juxtaposition is not as mad as it seems because according to this interview ( http://www.chapter16.org/content/its-gift-i-want-give-city-i-love ) Ann Patchett's shop will be selling books in digital as well as printed format.