22 Jun 2012 09:56:51
The crisis for independent bookshops shows no signs of abating as the inexorable rise of ebooks continues to cause problems for the beleaguered sector.
New figures from the Booksellers Association show that the number of independent booksellers fell to 1,094 by the end of 2011, down from 1,159 in 2010 and 1,289 in 2009. The 65 casualties last year range from Dartmouth's famous Harbour Bookshop, founded 60 years ago by Christopher Robin Milne, to The Travel Bookshop in Notting Hill, made famous by the Hugh Grant film.
The Booksellers Association chief executive Tim Godfray called the decline "a cause for very real concern" and said that "competition from the internet and the arrival of ebooks are putting pressures on high-street and campus bookshops never before experienced".
In related news, print book sales hit a nine-year low this month, according to The Bookseller, while ebook sales continue to rise. Recently released statistics from the Publishers Association show that in the UK, consumer ebook sales were up 366% last year to £92m, while just-published figures from the Association of American Publishers reveal that adult ebook sales topped adult hardback sales by over $50m in the first quarter of 2012.
"It's always a concern when independent bookshops close – fewer bookshops on the high street means that fewer books are sold. We have seen that reduction in shop windows impacts particularly on new writers and quirky titles," said Meryl Halls, head of membership services at the Booksellers Association.
"Bookshops are also centres of cultural activity, so having a bookshop in a town has a positive impact on literacy, community and book ownership. Bookshops provide far more than just books – so often they are also a cafe, a place to buy gifts, a meeting place, a box office for local events, a venue for fascinating events of their own, a collection point, a gathering place and a source of rich new reading and community experiences. They are social hubs in increasingly compromised high-street communities and, as such, deserve and require strong action to preserve their unique role in British life."
