The Yorkshire Post: Growing support for Yorkshire's independent bookshops

It had seemed like a good idea: a bookshop that would deliver almost any title, whether in print or not, directly to your front door and at less than the usual price.
The Grove Bookshop, IlkleyThe Grove Bookshop, Ilkley
The Grove Bookshop, Ilkley

But customers, it appears, are discovering that big is not necessarily better, and certainly not better than the personal service afforded by local bookstores.

As we approach Independent Bookshop Week, a countrywide celebration of the traditional bookseller, we take some comfort from the news that many readers are now choosing to buy locally as a protest against what they consider the antisocial tax and employment practices of online giants such as Amazon.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

They are taking advantage, too, of hybrid websites that offer discounts but deliver to a bookstore nearby, as a way of driving onward custom there.

Booksellers are among many retailers whose presence brings communities to life, and it is to be hoped that these latest developments begin a profitable new chapter for them.