The bookshop, based in Fitzroy Street, London, will close in April, with all of its bookselling activity moved online. The company said it currently sells four out of every five books online.
Managing director Douglas Schatz told The Stage that the rent on the premises, which also houses the company’s offices, had increased by about 200-300% over the last five years.
2 comments:
I certainly hope Carnegie Mellon School of Drama is trying to get in on that 'book donation' that is to occur after the shop closes in April because obviously we could always use more books and more scripts that cost far less money. I say this because I hate spending money and this school sure the hell makes us spend a LOT of it. Which is ironic because at the rate of our salary after we graduate, we'll maybe be able to re-pay student loads in, what, 40 years? It is really disappointing to hear that the shop is closing after being open for this long. I do hope that it leads to some realization that they need to start selling digital PDF copies of their scripts because that is what I'm after. And editable word documents please! Does go to show you that we're moving into a very digital era and digitized everything is what we're moving towards. Personally, this scares me because I really like paper copies of books so I'm not staring at a screen forever... oh well.
This is extremely sad but not surprising as much anymore. Living in NYC, the equivalent of the U.S., east coast's London, I've seen so many local bookstores close down in the past decade. It's extremely sad to see them go but it's what buying books online or through large companies like Barnes and Nobles is doing to these little cultural hubs. Sometimes I see a glimmer of hope when I see kids reading there with their friends since there's still something that's keeping them alive. But in a digital age, physical books might not go completely but they'll definitely be suppressed just like Kodak locations have. Personally, I try to buy as many of my books from local places as much as I can to support their store but it's not enough for them to get even close to competing. Plus, nothing can get close to a nice quiet afternoon reading in a cute, empty bookstore in the wintertime. In terms of John's comment, it would be pretty damn nice to get access to some of those readings offered but it's unlikely given the geography. In conclusion, SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL COMPANIES TO HALT GENTRIFICATION.
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