Indie Bookshops
Is there anything better than a good indie bookshop?
They’re cosy, they’re smaller than the chain bookshops and they’re always full of books I’ve never even considered. Even the bad ones hold a surprise in them.
In this little article I’ll be covering why we need to support indie bookshops and why they are such a pure joy compared to chain shops (which I’m not knocking, but we need to support our independents!).
The inconvenience of it all
There is something lovely about having to actually make the effort to go to a bookshop to find a new book. Everything is so accessible online now it’s almost decadent to confront the inconvenience of it all and take a full morning to waft unceremoniously from one shelf to another.
There is also a more spiritual act in physically going to a bookshop, you have to let the book speak to you as you hold it in your hands. You may not leave with the book you thought you would - because like a blind date you don’t really know what you’re looking for until you realise that the ideal you held isn’t what will cut the mustard at this point in time.
I’ve had it so many times where a book has called to me and I haven’t picked it up, only to give in a month or two later and realise it is full of messages on all of the worries and concerns and miscommunications I seem to be experiencing at that time.
A table top display of titles at Gullivers Bookshop, Wimborne
I love indie bookshops - good indie bookshops. Ones set up by people who love books and want others to love books; not in an annoying ‘let-me-tell you all about this book you’ve just picked up’ way a la Waterstones, (what is it with the staff in these places telling me the story before I’ve even read the blurb???) but in a ‘ask-for-whatever-you-want-there’s-no-judgement-here’ manner similar to libraries.
Bookshops should not have more merch in than books.
Those aren’t bookshops, they’re bric a brac stores and there is NOTHING more depressing than making a significant journey to what you think will be a cosy new favourite nook in this hectic world and you walk in only to find it is either so sparsely stocked you’re done in 5 minutes or - even worse - it’s an Amazon warehouse of plastic with a tiny minuscule selection of books all covered in images from their TV shows. You might as well have gone to The Works.
An indie bookstore should have its own eclectic mix of books, preferably not stacked to the gills with the usual titles I could find in the likes of Waterstones. It should have its own connection to its location, and it should feel like discovering a new friend. One with their own quirks and habits, their own surprises and predictable routines.
My favourite indie bookshops so far
Gullivers Bookshop, Wimborne
P&G Wells, Winchester
Topping & Co, Edinburgh/ Bath
A quick note on second hand bookshops
Second hand bookshops are another joy entirely.
All of these books with lives and loves I’ll never know about. Some have never even had their spine bent they were so evidently not wanted - others have been so thumbed and loved they are yellowed and smell of little woody enzymes breaking down from all of the times they’ve been consulted over the years.
I love a good second hand bookshop, I've found more satisfying ones over the years than I have indie bookstores, perhaps because their trade is a bit different.
As much as I love libraries (and I do love them, because I work in them) there is something endlessly satisfying about a second hand bookshop. The books are cheaper for one thing, and you will find gems in between the stacks if you have the patience and a good eye. There is something more cosy about the complete mess of a second hand bookshop, it is much more how I've always imagined bookshops in novels to be: small, stacked to the ceiling with titles, owned by a knowledgeable and slightly eccentric person who seems to magically make ends meet year in and year out.
The best sight. West Moors second hand bookshop, West Moors.
Second hand bookshops are magical in a totally different way to bookshops and libraries. It’s like the last frontier or some sort of stumbled upon cottage in the middle of the wooly wilds.
My favourite second hand bookshops so far
West Moors Second Hand Bookshop, West Moors
Kim’s Bookshop, Arundel
The Book Cupboard, Plymouth
Kingston Lacey Bookshop, Kingston Lacey
Saltram Bookshop, Saltram