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An increase in people choosing to stay in the UK for their summer holiday this year has resulted in “tremendous” results for indie booksellers in staycation hotspots.
Retailers are up as much as 70% compared to pre-pandemic takings in the same period and footfall in bricks and mortar independents has dramatically improved, according to stores contacted by The Bookseller, while there is healthy optimism the boom will continue into the autumn.
Among the bestsellers are familiar chart toppers such as Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell (Tinder Press) and Douglas Stuart's Booker Prize-winning Shuggie Bain (Picador) while other summer paperbacks and local authors’ works are also enticing tourists.
The Booksellers Association (BA) applauded the strong results, and is encouraging the public to continue to shop locally as autumn draws in. Meryl Halls, m.d. of the BA, said: “It is absolutely fantastic to hear indie bookshops reporting strong sales and increased footfall over the ‘staycation summer’.
“After a difficult year, marked by lockdowns and shifting government restrictions, it’s so important that we do all we can to support high street booksellers as they continue to trade and recover lost ground. Booksellers have been working hard to create safe and enticing spaces, and to stock great titles. We encourage book buyers to continue to choose bookshops as we head into autumn as we look forward to Bookshop Day on 9th October and the all-important pre-Christmas period.”
Steve Baskerville-Muscutt, director of Fred's Ambleside Bookshop in the Lake District, told The Bookseller footfall and sales had drastically improved. He said: “Trade has been phenomenal. Visitors and regulars have flocked back — numbers have been tremendous, June and July were 35% and 70% up respectively on pre-Covid numbers and August looks like it will follow a similar increase of 50%.
“There is no reason as yet to feel that sales will fall greatly till next year as, or if, holiday destinations open up more, so we will make the most of it now. Bookshop.org is still a new avenue for us of selling to visitors who live away and wish to support an independent bookshop when they return home.”
Marie Moser, manager of The Edinburgh Bookshop, reported “solid” trading, despite the city missing nearly 500,000 visitors this year owing to the limited presence of its annual festivals due to the pandemic
“Staycationers are helping, but replacing the loss of this level of footfall is a big ask,” she said. “We have found that people are just beginning to get comfortable browsing again and are nudging them along with a big display of our bestsellers. This summer we are all very fortunate that there is such a strong range of big titles going into paperback - from Luckenbooth (Cornerstone) and Rodham (Transworld) to More Than a Woman (Ebury) and some such as The Midnight Library (Canongate) and Shuggie Bain which have been selling all year.
“I think the signs are pretty good for the autumn. I was concerned that it would be tricky after publishers delivered a storming range for us last year — but I can happily report that I think they may have managed it again this year," she added.
Mary James, co-owner of The Aldeburgh Bookshop in Suffolk, said: "We’ve been extremely busy in the bookshop and in the town of Aldeburgh generally. Everyone is just pleased to be able to browse and thrilled to be back in a bookshop. There have been some great summer paperbacks out in time for visitors.”
Displayed on the shop’s top sellers table are titles including A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende (Bloomsbury), while local author Craig Brown is selling well in hardback and paperback, and James predicts Anthony Horowitz’s new novel, set in a literary festival on Alderney, will be a “sure-fire winner” for the autumn.
Meanwhile in the Scottish Borders, Rosamund de la Hey, owner of the Mainstreet Trading Company, has seen healthy sales with a double digit increase compared to the same period in 2019. She said: “It feels like a combination of pent-up demand, people shopping as they would nearer to Christmas and staycation visitors.
"At the same time, there is always the concern that the bubble will burst, so we’re watching carefully for the autumn. We’ve now hosted our first live event which went really well, and generated good sales, so we’re hoping this continues with our ongoing programme into the autumn.” Among her top sellers for the summer are Hamnet, Shuggie Bain and Wanderers by Kerri Andrews (Reaktion Books).
Patrick Neale, co-owner of Jaffe & Neal in Chipping Norton, has recorded a 10% increase on book sales compared to 2019. “The Cotswolds is definitely benefiting from the staycation,” he said. “We have had the double edged draw of all the traffic caused by Jeremy Clarkson’s Diddly Squat farm shop — it’s driving the locals mad. We have moved the café outside and we think that really is helping the browsing experience in our small shop."
Nicci Rosengarten, manager of children’s bookshop Tales on Moon Lane in Ramsgate, said: "This summer's trade has been up approximately 25% on last year. While we can attribute the increase in part to staycationers and the increase in new residents who have moved to the coast as a result of the pandemic, awareness of our shop as a destination has increased as evidenced in our social media engagement uplift and online ratings.
“Due to our location we naturally see a downturn in sales from tourism entering the autumn. However, we are working increasingly closer with local schools and term time community projects, which keeps us busy outside of peak holiday periods.”
Titles including The Boys by Lauren Ace and Jenny Løvlie (Little Tiger), Nen and the Lonely Fisherman by Ian Eagleton and James Mayhew (Owlet Press) and Stella & The Seagull by Georgina Stevens and Izzy Burton (OUP) are among the shop’s summer bestsellers.