A TURN - UP For The Books

Or should that be an up-turn? Bookshops are surviving in spite of the internet and big chain stores. Mairead Mahon produced this page turner.

- Mairead Mahon

‘GOSH, you’re brave’ and ‘Are you sure you know what you’re doing?’ These questions, delivered in suitably sombre tones, are the almost universal comments made to anyone opening a bookshop. It may not be the most encouraging response but it is an understandable one. After all, independent bookshops seem to be closing faster than pubs. But Lancashire is bucking the trend, with more opening here than almost anywhere else and, what’s more, they’re doing rather well.

Of course, times have changed. Today’s competition from on-line retailers and even supermarkets is intense. So, who are these brave souls and what have they done to write this new chapter of success?

‘Well, the first thing that any independent bookseller has to realise is that it is sometimes impossible to compete on price with the big chains, but you know there is much more to being a bookseller than piling them high and selling them cheap. We have to ensure that we offer added value,’ says Carolyn Clapham who owns and runs Storytellers Inc. in St Annes with her daughter, Katie.

When they opened in 2010, with absolutely no retail experience at all, a business manager helpfully told them that they were mad but the love of books is a powerful thing. Now they have a clutch of prizes such as regional Independent Bookseller of the Year and Young Bookseller of the Year.