Facebook-inspired twist to the story of bookshop that took just £7.50 in a day

WITH its stone facade blackened by soot around the edges and its tall, arched windows, Saltaire Bookshop is just how you imagine a bookshop should be.

Inside this cosy former doctor’s surgery is a bibliophile’s dream with the shelves bulging under the weight of all manner of books, from well-thumbed copies of The Observer’s Book of Weather and The Diaries of Evelyn Waugh, to obscure poetry and the latest works by Scandinavian crime-writing maestro Jo Nesbo.

But it’s not just high-minded literary tastes that are catered for here; the shop sells new and second-hand books and you’re as likely to find someone buying The Further Adventures of the Owl and the Pussy-cat as you are Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past.

It’s mid-afternoon and a couple of people are having a browse around as traffic on the busy A657, which bisects Saltaire and neighbouring Shipley, crawls along outside. “My washing machine’s broken so I’m taking a couple of things to the laundrette and I thought I’d bring my daughter along to have a look at some books,” says Matthew Cooper.

He comes here from time to time, although today his two- year-old daughter, Lara, seems more interested in the cuddly Tigger and box of plastic farmyard animals than the colourful array of children books. He’s popped in, too, for a quick chat with the shop’s owner, David Ford, who’s caused a bit of a stir in recent days.

It all started when he turned to Facebook recently after the shop took just £7.50 in a single day and sold just two books, one about ponies and a French dictionary. “That’s about minus £50 after the cost of books and heating”, he wrote. The previous day’s takings were £13.20 before they hit £20 at the end of the week.

It’s little wonder that so many bookshops are going to the wall and the latest figures certainly don’t make good reading, with around a third of independent bookshops having closed in the last seven years. In Yorkshire the picture is similarly bleak, the number of bookshops has fallen sharply and their ranks continue to shrink in the face of growing online competition and the rise of e-readers. Earlier this month the Barbican bookshop in York closed after more than half a century and a shop in Garforth, Leeds, ceased trading recently after 25 years, citing online competition.

These are undoubtedly hard times for bookshops but after posting details of his takings on the shop’s Facebook page Andrew enjoyed a bumper Saturday taking £300, as locals rallied round. The story was picked up by the Yorkshire Post last Tuesday and since then the likes of the Daily Mail, The Independent and the Guardian have all followed it up.

Matthew, who lives nearby, says the Press coverage has been a welcome PR boost. “It’s been difficult with the roadworks going on and people probably haven’t felt inclined to pop in. But hopefully this will encourage people to use the shop more.”

He says that supporting local shops and businesses isn’t just about being more ethical, it can actually be a rewarding experience. “Supermarkets and the internet are fine if you know exactly what you want and you can probably get mass fiction books a bit cheaper. But there’s nothing like coming into an old-fashioned bookshop, having a look around and picking something up that you perhaps hadn’t thought about, it’s an experience.”

He says one of the big advantages of David’s shop is the fact it’s child-friendly. “I’ve got three kids who like their books and they go through them quite quickly, so it’s a great place to stop off with them and have a little play and a bit of a look around.”

Adam Hargreaves has also called in, but unlike Matthew it’s his first time in the shop. “I pass here a lot and I always think ‘I must pop in there’ and today I finally did.” He hadn’t actually read any of the stories in the Press but says he’ll definitely be coming back. “It’s great, you just can’t beat a second-hand book with a bookmark in it – you can’t do that with a tablet.”

Bridget Waldron also lives locally and heard about what was happening through Facebook and wanted to show her support. “The amount of people on my Facebook page who’ve shared the link is incredible,” she says.

David himself admits he had no idea he would get such an overwhelming response. “It’s gone crackers,” he says, just as the phone rings – it’s The Times wanting to have a chat with him.

“It’s about using social media to fight the impact that both it and the internet have had,” he says, picking up where he left off a couple of minutes later. He used to run a bookshop in Keighley back in the early 1990s and accepts that the world has moved on. “Bookshops like mine need to use social networking sites and the internet to our advantage, so if people buy books on the internet then we have to sell on the internet, too.

“Part of me would be more than happy to sit here in the shop and wait for customers to come in, but it doesn’t work like that now. You have to be cleverer than that because we’re fighting to stay alive. When I was a kid there used to be lots of record shops and you would buy the latest LPs on vinyl and now they’ve gone and I don’t want bookshops to go that way.”

David opened Saltaire Bookshop six-and-a-half years ago and lives upstairs with his wife Vanessa, who works in a hospice in Pontefract, and their two teenage children.

He’s passionate about books and plans to keep the business going, although being a one-man band isn’t easy.

He doesn’t have a company pension and if he and his family want to go on holiday they have to close the shop, which means they’re not making any money. “I’d love to employ somebody but I can’t afford it.”

The trick now, he says, is making sure more people become regular customers. “At the moment there’s a great enthusiasm because of all the media coverage in the last few days and what we need to do now is make sure that people who do come in like 
what they see and keep coming back.”

The fact he only took £7.50 in one day shocked a lot of people, but as he points out there have been occasions when it’s been even less. “There was one day where I took nothing at all and another one when I took £1. It’s a bad day to be in single figures but it does happen perhaps once every nine, or 10 days throughout the year. But then you get highs like the other Saturday, which was the best day I’ve had in a long time.”

But even though he took £300, he says his actual wage will be around £100 once you deduct all the bills and outgoings. “To me that’s heaven, but it’s what a lot of people earn in a day, every day. But this isn’t unique to me, it’s the same for most shopkeepers.”

It’s something he wanted to get across in his Facebook message. “People always assume that shopkeepers are wealthy. They see money going into the till so they assume we’ve got sacks full of money that we take to the bank. But it’s simply not true for any shopkeeper.”

He says people often talk about the need to support local, independent shops, but don’t always live up to the maxim. “It’s a bit like old churches; people like them but if they don’t use them they’ll fall into decay and it’s the same with shops. People like having them there but they then go to the supermarket or they shop online.”

Most of us lead hectic lives and when it comes to buying books it can be easier, and sometimes cheaper, to do it all online. But this means we risk missing out on the unique sights and unmistakable smells a bookshop offers, that contain within them a multitude of memories.

As David points out, it doesn’t take much to make a difference to a local business, whether it’s a bookshop, a butchers or an ironmongers. “Someone coming in and spending a fiver, or a tenner in a shop is a great boost to that shopkeeper.

“But I don’t want people to feel guilty about not coming to the shop and think ‘we must go and support David’.

“I’d much rather they came here because they think it’s a good place to buy interesting books and to bring their kids.”

Retailers with the write stuff

Here are three more great Yorkshire bookshops worth a visit.

Grove Bookshop, Ilkley. Located on the impressive tree-lined Grove, this bay-fronted corner bookshop is one of the best known in the north of England, offering books on everything from modern fiction to cookery. Tel 01943 609 335.

Philip Howard Books, Leeds. Big on sport and local interest books this Roundhay-based bookshop is also home to Scratching Shed Publishing. Tel 0113 225 9797.

Rhyme and Reason Bookshop, Sheffield. This cosy shop on Ecclesall Road is packed with children’s books and parenting books that cover pretty much every aspect of childhood. Tel 0114 266 1950.