The writing is on the wall for the traditional bookshop (From Bucks Free Press)
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The writing is on the wall for the traditional bookshop
8:10pm Thursday 9th February 2012
All too often the wind of change turns out to be more of an icy blast than a warm summer breeze.
Travel back in time to the 1970's and the typical High Street was made up of independent retailers all specialising in a particular line of goods.
Look at the town centre shops today and the retail landscape is very different however there are still a few independent retailers out there but they are few and far between.
I don't travel to Beaconsfield very often but on the few occasions that I have the range and diversity of shops in the town has always impressed me.
You can imagine how dismayed I was to read the article that appeared on the news section of this site yesterday about a family run bookshop in Beaconsfield closing after thirty years of trading.
Family run businesses are exactly what we need rather than the dreadful chain stores that have sprung up like clones in every high street.
When yours truly was a youngster paperback books were common place but the relentless march of technology has come up with electrical book readers that have made them obsolete.
I guess the newfangled internet has also played a large part in killing off the market for traditional paper books.
Do the youngsters of today ever get their hands on a traditional book?
Sometimes I think not indeed several young people that I know have difficulty reading, writing and speling but they have no difficulty playing computer games.
Ten years ago Wycombe used to have many book shops but now there are only two places that I can think of that sell a wide range of books.
If the bookshops are on the way out then what does this say for the future of our libraries?
Could this be why the powers the be are busy closing libraries and they end up being run by volunteers?
It's not just books that have been affected.
How many shops are there in Wycombe selling new records, CD's and cassette tapes?
Even shops selling televisions, shoes, children’s toys and sweets are slowly becoming extinct.
Is this really progress? I think not.
Day by day our town centre is slowly turning into a sea of coffee shops, restaurants and charity shops and there seems very little that anyone can do to stop it.
I would give anything to travel back in time to the Wycombe of the 1970's and enjoy a stroll through the town centre to visit Murray's department store, Keen's the photographers, Hull Loosely and Pearce or go in the WA Woods men’s outfitters.
What do you think?
*Don't forget to read my regular column in this Friday's edition of the printed version of the Bucks Free Press!
LINK: "Family bookshop in Beaconsfield closes after 30 years" : http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/9519822.Family_bookshop_closes_after_30_years/
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Comments(38)
usvelt
says...
2:38pm Fri 10 Feb 12
The buildings of Wycombe: 13 Queens Square
gotanybiscuits?
says...
7:40pm Fri 10 Feb 12
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Your style of punctuation has changed.
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I can't recall there being "many" bookshops in HW ten years ago.
It's 2012 now, are you sure you can count?
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Bookshops can acceptably be written as one word.
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Commonplace is also one word, in popular usage.
.
Shall we blame the hamster-wheel powered spellchecker again?
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Ivors blog has killed Ivors column.
The march of progress!
ivor
says...
9:20pm Fri 10 Feb 12
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If books are not on the way out why are the book shops closing down?
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An electrical book reading machine is not like a proper book indeed you can't feel the paper of the pages with a machine.
~
Do you end up with print on your hands with a reader like with a proper book?
ivor
says...
9:21pm Fri 10 Feb 12
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I don't think there is anything that needs correcting is there?
ivor
says...
9:21pm Fri 10 Feb 12
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I can assure you that both my column and blog and alive and well.
~
The internet has its place but I fear there is a whole generation growing up without even touching a proper paper book.
Lawrence Linehan
says...
1:17am Sat 11 Feb 12
Lawrence Linehan
says...
1:18am Sat 11 Feb 12
Lawrence Linehan
says...
1:28am Sat 11 Feb 12
ivor wrote:But you can't feel the machine when you're reading a book.
Re the comments of u5r23 at 2:14pm
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If books are not on the way out why are the book shops closing down?
~
An electrical book reading machine is not like a proper book indeed you can't feel the paper of the pages with a machine.
~
Do you end up with print on your hands with a reader like with a proper book?
/
Doesn't the butler at Bigun Hall IRON the books to dry out the print? I would have thought that the printer's ink on the older books in the library there - say anything over 300 years old - would have dried by now.
Lawrence Linehan
says...
1:32am Sat 11 Feb 12
ivor wrote:Acording to Word spell and grammar checker - yes - (the spelling of the word 'speling' is incorrect for a start.)
Re the comments of usvelt at 2:38pm
~
I don't think there is anything that needs correcting is there?
Lawrence Linehan
says...
1:35am Sat 11 Feb 12
Lawrence Linehan
says...
1:38am Sat 11 Feb 12
ivor
says...
3:21am Sat 11 Feb 12
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No, I think that newspapers are more secure than books after all e-readers for papers are not that common and the broadsheets became smaller a few years ago to make them more compact and easier to read on trains, etc....
ivor
says...
3:23am Sat 11 Feb 12
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We must never forget the magnificent library gardens....
ivor
says...
3:23am Sat 11 Feb 12
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Yes, the older books in my library are quite safe to read without danger of the ink coming off.
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I am sure you know what I was trying to say about the print on books....
ivor
says...
3:23am Sat 11 Feb 12
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Well spotted, I am surprised it took so long for someone to notice my deliberate mistake.
~
Maybe this shows the decline in speling standards due to people ceasing to read books?
ivor
says...
3:24am Sat 11 Feb 12
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There is nothing wrong with my blogs....
ivor
says...
3:24am Sat 11 Feb 12
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That's not a very nice thing to say....
A VOTER
says...
9:50am Sat 11 Feb 12
ivor wrote:EVERYTHING is wrong with both YOU and your blogs.
Re the comments of Lawrence Linehan at 1:35am
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There is nothing wrong with my blogs....
I second the motion to end the life of the fictional Ivor and his fictional blogs.
Edna_Welthorpe_
says...
5:23pm Sat 11 Feb 12
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I will personally be glad to see the back of Waterstone's - too much price-fixing, too much sway over what gets published and what it looks like when it does.
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Amazon will be a publisher before long. Rumour has it they are recruiting editors. This will change the face of how books are sold, and in what format.
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The Kindle made tremendous sales this Christmas, and continues to do so. I have one, wanted to not like it, found that I do. It complements the reading experience. They will get more sophisticated and authors will respond to the format, just like 19th Century authors wrote their books for serialization, authors will write for the kindle. I find this exciting. Printed books may become extinct, but the book content will flourish.
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I have a theory that printed books will become festishized collector items, much like vinyl records are now. Big name authors will have delux, pretty versions of their book produced in hardback.
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I do like bookshops but it is sink or swim.
usvelt
says...
6:32pm Sat 11 Feb 12
ivor wrote:You state its 18 century yet lawrence proved by photos that is not the case - or do you not bother reading peoples coments if they dont suit you?
Re the comments of usvelt at 2:38pm
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I don't think there is anything that needs correcting is there?
ivor
says...
11:13pm Sat 11 Feb 12
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Only in your eyes, there are a lot of people who enjoy my blogs and look forward to them....
ivor
says...
11:14pm Sat 11 Feb 12
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Hello Edna, its nice to hear from you again indeed is has been a while since we heard from you.
~
I disagree about the newspapers and magazines indeed with the demise of the books they are the only form of reading available on the streets these days. The biggest worry is that people stop being able to read through lack of practice if there are no books about. Looking at some of today youngsters I fear that prediction may well come true.
~
There is nothing wrong with vinyl records indeed I have a large collection of them together with ancient tapes and gramophone records.
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It would be a terrible shame if the bookshops become victims to the internet.
ivor
says...
11:14pm Sat 11 Feb 12
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I believe I put sufficient warnings and alerts in the blog to which you refer so there is no need for me to return and correct anything.
Lawrence Linehan
says...
11:14am Sun 12 Feb 12
ivor wrote:Yes - you were apparently trying to say that you got ' ... print on your hands with ... with a proper book?'
Re the comments of Lawrence Linehan at 1:28am
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Yes, the older books in my library are quite safe to read without danger of the ink coming off.
~
I am sure you know what I was trying to say about the print on books....
Mama36
says...
8:15pm Sun 12 Feb 12
ivor
says...
2:33am Mon 13 Feb 12
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Well you know what I mean, with a proper book you can handle the pages and feel the letters on the paper not to mention smell the dusty and musty aroma that comes with a three hundred year old book....
ivor
says...
2:33am Mon 13 Feb 12
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I fear you are right about those two shops, every time I visit they don't have what I want in stock.
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In the changing face of retail in the UK the internet has done more damage to the High Street shops that we can imagine.
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Give me a proper shop any day rather than the newfangled internet....
usvelt
says...
10:49am Mon 13 Feb 12
ivor wrote:So people once reading the blog have to go through all the comments to get the accurate information. Brilliant!
Re the comments of usvelt at 6:32pm
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I believe I put sufficient warnings and alerts in the blog to which you refer so there is no need for me to return and correct anything.
Lawrence Linehan
says...
8:51pm Mon 13 Feb 12
ivor wrote:If I knew what you meant I wouldn't ask.
Re the comments of Lawrence Linehan at 11:14am
~
Well you know what I mean, with a proper book you can handle the pages and feel the letters on the paper not to mention smell the dusty and musty aroma that comes with a three hundred year old book....
ivor
says...
10:30pm Mon 13 Feb 12
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No, not at all.
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What exactly do you want me to do to the blog in question? What will pacify you? Are any of the other readers concerned over this issue?
ivor
says...
10:30pm Mon 13 Feb 12
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I thought it was obvious what I meant?
Edna_Welthorpe_
says...
7:45pm Thu 16 Feb 12
http://www.bucksfree
press.co.uk/news/951
9822.Family_bookshop
_closes_after_30_yea
rs/?ref=mmpg
ivor
says...
7:48pm Thu 16 Feb 12
~
Well, actually it was that article which spurred me on to write about bookshops closing so unfortunately the news story came before the blog so I did not foresee the future....
Lawrence Linehan
says...
11:48pm Thu 16 Feb 12
ivor wrote:No otherwise I wouldn't have asked!
Re the comments of Lawrence Linehan at 8:51pm
~
I thought it was obvious what I meant?
Lawrence Linehan
says...
11:49pm Thu 16 Feb 12
ivor wrote:What was the TITLE of the last three hundred year old book you handled? (Lawrence looks mystic - a voice is coming through from the other side - I wonder if igor can't remember.)
Re the comments of Lawrence Linehan at 11:14am
~
Well you know what I mean, with a proper book you can handle the pages and feel the letters on the paper not to mention smell the dusty and musty aroma that comes with a three hundred year old book....
Edna_Welthorpe_
says...
12:08pm Fri 17 Feb 12
Lawrence Linehan wrote:I dare say the Biggun family bible is at least 300 years old.
ivor wrote:What was the TITLE of the last three hundred year old book you handled? (Lawrence looks mystic - a voice is coming through from the other side - I wonder if igor can't remember.)
Re the comments of Lawrence Linehan at 11:14am
~
Well you know what I mean, with a proper book you can handle the pages and feel the letters on the paper not to mention smell the dusty and musty aroma that comes with a three hundred year old book....
Edna_Welthorpe_
says...
4:38pm Fri 17 Feb 12
ivor wrote:then I must be reading the BFP back-to-front.
Re the comments of Edna_Welthorpe_ at 7:45pm
~
Well, actually it was that article which spurred me on to write about bookshops closing so unfortunately the news story came before the blog so I did not foresee the future....
.
Oh dear, my main source of local news and opinion is Ivor. When did this happen?
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The perfect wife and mother, Rebecca runs a home, a bad temper and is working on her novel. She enjoys photography, playing the piano and likes almost anything that's out of fashion and uncool. She lives in Amersham with her husband and youngest child (aged ten). Her eldest, now 27, lives and works in Buckinghamshire.
u5r23 says...
2:14pm Fri 10 Feb 12
What rubbish. Printed books are by no means obsolete. E-book readers are, at this stage, an accompaniment to books. You do exaggerate so.