Brixtons only new-book bookshop is closing on October first. This is a rant from a local who is pissed off about it.
Oh no! Brixton's only local bookshop for new books is closing down on the first of October! After the juicebar, and i don't know how many other local shops, now the bookshop.
Many people were in the shop, when I found out yesterday. One woman with a bunch of anti-war leaflets asked repeatedly: "Can't we do anything about it? Is there any way we can support you?" But there isn't.
Somebody told me about a pregnant woman she had talked to, who was really sad, because she had been looking forward to take her child to the bookshop... sounds cheesy, but i think the story was real.
Two other women, both with shopping bags from the market, discussed what would happen to the place, they agreed that it would be another hair or clothes shop. As if Brixton wouldn't have enough of those anyway!
The people who run index books said that their landlord was selling their building in Electric Lane, and since they have been struggling over the last few years anyway, they decided to close down. Struggling, because they simply can't compete even with the supermarkets! Sainsbury's are selling the Harry Potter book for I don't remember how much but around a fiver, which is less than Index would have to pay to the publishers. "Independent booksellers just can't compete."
Why can't they compete? Because publishers give big discounts to big customers, and small discounts to small customers. The index people also reckon that they lost some business to amazon.
When I was an apprentice in publishing in the mid-eighties, the fixed-price agreement was a big point of debate. Fixed price agreement meant that every book came at a fixed price, so you paid the same for it wether you bought it in a London neighbourhood like Brixton, in a Blackwells near a University, in a city center or in a bookshop in the countryside. It meant that you couldn't get a bargain, but books were accessible to everyone at the same price. Because you could make a living out of running a local bookshop. You could afford to sell books that wre not printed in the 100 thousands like harry potter and other blockbusters. And publishers could afford to publish books with smaller print runs. Actually, there were publishers that were not owned by multinationals. It would be interesting to google a statistic of the number of independent publishers in the UK today and 25 years ago.
Some people might say - who cares, most of these books are copyrighted anyway, and who needs those in the era of creative commons? For one, I found a non-copyrighted eighties cult book (TAZ). Also, I hate reading longer texts on the internet, and can't be bothered to print them cause my printer is 10 years old and very slow. I want books.
Anyway, I am pissed off about loosing my local infrastructure. My local post office closed down a few months ago. In my last neighbourhood, they pulled down the local swimming-pool and replaced it by a brand-new public private partnership affair which of course was much more expensive to use. The only non-pub cafe in Brixton has been turned into a seventies furniture store (let me know if you can recommend another cafe...), the Ritzi cinema has changed from a community cinema to being controlled by a chain (although independent chain), now the bookshop, what's next? There is still the wholefood shop, which to me seems like a weird out-of-time place but at least they sell nice herbal teas and organic food, and the second hand bookshop bookmongers.
Sorry for the long rant. It's just that the closure of index books drives it home to me what corporisation feels like. Isn't it time to re-vive the coop movement?
Many people were in the shop, when I found out yesterday. One woman with a bunch of anti-war leaflets asked repeatedly: "Can't we do anything about it? Is there any way we can support you?" But there isn't.
Somebody told me about a pregnant woman she had talked to, who was really sad, because she had been looking forward to take her child to the bookshop... sounds cheesy, but i think the story was real.
Two other women, both with shopping bags from the market, discussed what would happen to the place, they agreed that it would be another hair or clothes shop. As if Brixton wouldn't have enough of those anyway!
The people who run index books said that their landlord was selling their building in Electric Lane, and since they have been struggling over the last few years anyway, they decided to close down. Struggling, because they simply can't compete even with the supermarkets! Sainsbury's are selling the Harry Potter book for I don't remember how much but around a fiver, which is less than Index would have to pay to the publishers. "Independent booksellers just can't compete."
Why can't they compete? Because publishers give big discounts to big customers, and small discounts to small customers. The index people also reckon that they lost some business to amazon.
When I was an apprentice in publishing in the mid-eighties, the fixed-price agreement was a big point of debate. Fixed price agreement meant that every book came at a fixed price, so you paid the same for it wether you bought it in a London neighbourhood like Brixton, in a Blackwells near a University, in a city center or in a bookshop in the countryside. It meant that you couldn't get a bargain, but books were accessible to everyone at the same price. Because you could make a living out of running a local bookshop. You could afford to sell books that wre not printed in the 100 thousands like harry potter and other blockbusters. And publishers could afford to publish books with smaller print runs. Actually, there were publishers that were not owned by multinationals. It would be interesting to google a statistic of the number of independent publishers in the UK today and 25 years ago.
Some people might say - who cares, most of these books are copyrighted anyway, and who needs those in the era of creative commons? For one, I found a non-copyrighted eighties cult book (TAZ). Also, I hate reading longer texts on the internet, and can't be bothered to print them cause my printer is 10 years old and very slow. I want books.
Anyway, I am pissed off about loosing my local infrastructure. My local post office closed down a few months ago. In my last neighbourhood, they pulled down the local swimming-pool and replaced it by a brand-new public private partnership affair which of course was much more expensive to use. The only non-pub cafe in Brixton has been turned into a seventies furniture store (let me know if you can recommend another cafe...), the Ritzi cinema has changed from a community cinema to being controlled by a chain (although independent chain), now the bookshop, what's next? There is still the wholefood shop, which to me seems like a weird out-of-time place but at least they sell nice herbal teas and organic food, and the second hand bookshop bookmongers.
Sorry for the long rant. It's just that the closure of index books drives it home to me what corporisation feels like. Isn't it time to re-vive the coop movement?
