The importance of bookshops according to professionals

Engaging with local organisations

In the survey published in 2019, we concluded that the presence of a bookshop can have a positive impact on other local businesses. Bookshops are a “valued amenity” that attracts visitors, in turn “benefiting other retailers”. An exploration of thirteen case studies – gathered in collaboration with students at the University of Amsterdam’s book science programme – reveals a picture that corroborates this finding. We have also observed that booksellers collaborate with local organisations such as schools, retailer associations and libraries in various ways.

These findings were the springboard for further research: what sort of relationship do local organisations have with their bookshop and what is their perception of the bookshops’ activities?

This survey aims to shed light on the ways in which booksellers slot into community networks in a social, cultural and economic sense. Booksellers not only attract a circle of customers, but may also contribute to the vitality of public spaces. To understand the nature of this contribution, we asked organisations to comment on the importance of their local bookseller’s knowledge, attitude and activities on them.

In this case, ‘importance’ refers to any activity organised by the bookseller within or outside their shop that we come into contact with and which promotes our sense of emotional and material well-being. This could be activities with a direct importance, such as an event at a high street bookshop that generates a buzz. Equally, it could relate to the extent to which booksellers are important within their network in a more general sense, such as by contributing to local reading culture. The importance of the arts and cultural sector on our emotional and material well-being is generally divided into three categories: cultural, social and economic.

This article sets out the possible ways in which booksellers may pursue their business activities. These cases are neither a representative picture of practice among booksellers nor a set of standards prescribing booksellers’ contact and collaboration with the community.

Booksellers as cultural operators, supporters and connectors

To understand the partnerships that booksellers enter into, we engaged with representatives of various local organisations including retailer associations, primary and secondary schools, libraries, publishers and players in the arts and culture sector. Schools and libraries in particular, both being organisations that provide amenities for local residents, function as ‘anchor institutions’ within a community or local area.

Our conversations with the various organisations lead us to two general findings. Firstly, booksellers as businesses pursue a combination of commercial, cultural and social goals. Secondly, booksellers contribute to the diversity of experiences on and off the high street: by being more than just a place to buy books, and by developing activities outside the high street in collaboration with local anchor institutions and other organisations. Below, we have outlined five partnerships between local organisations and bookshops as well as how they differ from one another.

Bookshops boost high street appeal

The vitality and appeal of the high street is a leading concern for retailer associations. The association representatives interviewed indicate that booksellers provide support in this respect, saying the presence of a bookshop helps to draw shoppers to the high street. Akin to visitors interviewed in the consumer survey, the retailer associations describe bookshops as places offering an experience. The activities that booksellers organise in their shop contribute to that effect. Consumers acknowledge this as well, but indicate that they do not see these activities as the primary purpose of bookshops.

Retailers, for their part, see bookshops as a sanctuary – a characteristic that enhances high street appeal, thereby influencing the time that consumers spend there. They share this perspective with consumers, who said they feel a sense of calm in the bookshop and visit bookshops for that reason. 

Teachers appreciate expertise and advice about books

Primary and secondary school teachers state that their main interaction with booksellers is as a customer. Central to this are the bookseller’s stock and expertise as well as their role as a supplier of books for classroom use, the school library or for sale at book markets. Teachers also seek information and advice from booksellers about the titles on sale.

Teachers appreciate having access to booksellers’ knowledge and expertise, as underscored by the fact that interviewees mention having long-standing partnerships with ‘their’ bookseller. They also say that booksellers represent a link in the local reading network outside schools; this network is essential for enhancing the emphasis on reading promotion. As such, booksellers have a social and cultural importance by contributing to literacy, reading for enjoyment and reading culture.

The empowering force of bookshop-library partnerships

Librarians state that their primary collaboration with booksellers involves co-organising events, with booksellers sometimes taking the initiative and sometimes taking on a supporting role. In almost all cases, the bookseller facilitates book sales at the event.

This type of partnership allows booksellers and libraries to organise events that would be impossible to set up on their own. Furthermore, some of the librarians say that partnerships could lead to a mixing of bookshop and library visitors. Partnerships between libraries and booksellers have a cultural and social importance in that they bolster local reading culture. Alongside collaborating with bookshops to organise events, some librarians say they occasionally use their local bookshop to purchase books, such as for special occasions or to benefit from fast delivery.

The bookshop as a platform for authors

Publishers stress the importance of word-of-mouth marketing through booksellers. Bookseller endorsement or advertisement in the bookshop can be beneficial for debut or lesser-known authors in particular, raising their profile and stimulating sales. Publishers also state that booksellers offer a platform for ‘their’ authors by organising book signings, readings or other events, providing authors with a direct connection to their audience and a means to build a rapport.

Booksellers’ activities boost the profile of creators and publishers. The way a bookseller curates their stock, showcases it through appealing in-store presentation and organises events has an economic importance as well as an obvious cultural importance, giving visitors access to culture and creators’ work. This applies both to online stores and bricks-and-mortar bookshops.

Book sales are an indispensable part of book events

Cultural operators who run literary festivals or other events say the primary focus of their partnership with booksellers is to organise events (similar to the experience of libraries). Booksellers facilitate book sales and select the highest-quality titles, something cultural operators value.

Cultural operators say that book sales are an indispensable part of book events, and that their partnership with booksellers enriches events and boosts their appeal to visitors. In this sense, booksellers’ work has a cultural importance: bringing together the entire chain – creator, public and creation – to provide an enriching experience and bolster reading culture in general.

Recommendations

This research offers six recommendations to further develop and strengthen the position of bookshops within the community, as summarised below. The recommendations guide provides a more detailed description of the recommendations and supporting arguments.

1. Promote the image of the bookshop as a specialist business as a way of boosting visibility and customer loyalty.
2. Newsagents: emphasise the local character, accessibility and convenience of the shop.
3. Organise activities in your bookshop and turn it into a community hub and place to do things, not just a destination to buy books.
4. Increase your impact by sharing facilities, knowledge and staff hours with other local organisations.
5. Collaborate with other players in order to appeal to new target audiences.
6. Explore your local network and keep reaching out.