THIS WEEK
A number of children’s bookshops up and down the country have spoken of their joy at being able to welcome children and parents back into their premises, with many reporting excellent trading
Children's News Booksellers on reopening
Booksellers across the UK report solid sales after reopening to customers
Charlotte Eyre @charlotteleyre
T
he first week of bookshops reopening aſter lockdown- was like “Christmas with
bells on” for children’s booksellers, as young readers flocked to inde- pendents to restock their shelves. Octavia Karavia opened the doors of Octavia’s Bookshop in Cirencester to customers on 12th April, and said the first week of business was “amazing”. “People had saved their orders from lock- down, because they had refused to go online and use Amazon, so when they came to us they bought in bulk! The schools that have accounts with us could have gone online but they wanted to come and use us, too.” Many of the customers coming through the doors still had Christmas book vouchers, or money they had been given to spend on books, meaning trading was incredibly busy. “I would describe it as mega,” said Karavia. “Like Christmas with bells on.”
10 7th May 2021 Dan Ross, co-owner of
Storysmith Books in Bristol, noticed that his customers, too, had saved their book tokens for their first in-person visit, and realised that people were coming to the bookshop for the first time aſter discovering his shop’s website during lockdown. The Edinburgh Bookshop’s
Mari Moser said children and their parents have been really keen (and more so than usual) for recommendations about great books to read, pointing out that spreading word of children’s books was one of the biggest chal- lenges during lockdown. “Adult books are covered in the media but children’s books aren’t in the same way, so when people can’t browse, it’s hard for them to know what they want to buy. People just want new books. It is so joyful being back in.”
Sanchita Basu De Sarkar, who owns The Children’s Bookshop in Muswell Hill, said: “Seeing the
communit enjoying browsing has been wonderful for me. The conversations, the chating… physically interacting with the books is so important for the young ones.”
The books that are flying off the shelves differed depending on the shop. Nic Botomley of Mr B’s Emporium in Bath said graphic novels for both children and teenagers are popular, as is Nicola
Children’s books aren’t [reviewed] in the same way, so when people can’t browse, it’s hard for them to know what they want to buy
Marie Moser, The Edinburgh Bookshop
RETAILERS SAY PARENTS ARE PROVING STAUNCH SUPPORTERS OF LOCAL SHOPS
Skinner’s Starboard. Karavia is hand-selling Circus Maximus by Annalise Grey and The Last Bear by Hannah Gold, while De Sarkar is championing the shortlist for the recent Jhalak Prize, along with books by Zadie Smith and Jonathan Stroud. At Chicken and Frog in Essex,
customers want books about starting school but also books that offer complete escapism: they want to be transported elsewhere, said owner Natasha Radford. At Moon Lane Books in south London, books about school are also in demand, as are funny books, said staffer Nikki Rosengarten. “We’re also going back to titles that came out between January and April, such as [B B Alston’s] Amari and the Night Brothers, to make sure kids are excited about those as well,” she said. “There is a lot of awakening around Earth maters and Black Lives Mater, and people are looking for books
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