The misery of chain bookstores
Borders and Waterstone's sap me of the will to live

Guardian blogger Charlotte Higgins is in despair.............

Yesterday morning the spring was definitively removed from my step, as it always is, after an encounter with my "local" book shop.
In this case, local means Borders. I needed to get hold of one book and two mainstream pop CDs. And I wanted to buy some book plates from Paperchase, which is a concession tucked in there.

Walk in and you are bombarded with the visual cacophony of three-for-two offers, TV chefs and Parky's biography. Of course they have a wide selection of books, but the place is such a jungle – Aldi is surely more of a pleasure to visit, and I don't say much there – that locating what you want is a nightmare, and as for an enjoyable browse, forget it.

I headed upstairs and tried to find the CDs. A staff member, appealed to, said, candidly, "Our music selection is terrible." No go, then. I tried for the book, edging my way towards the relevant section, where the shelves were full of misshelved volumes and a mess. It wasn't there. I talked to the staff member again (who gets full points for being pleasant). He found the book on the computer, where it registered as "in stock", but he couldn't locate it on the shelves. He told me that the system did not necessarily reflect reality. Bookplates - well, forget it. The assisant I spoke to didn't know what the word meant.

Read the rest Charlotte's piece at the Guardian online.

FOOTNOTE FROM THE BOOKMAN ABOUT THE NZ EQUIVALENT

I think it is time that New Zealand publishers had a hard look at how the chain bookstores are failing them.

I was having a coffee this morning out at Kohimarama when a fellow I know slightly came up and, perplexed, told me he had heard a review on Radio New Zealand National recently of a book about the international banana trade.

He liked the sound of it so much he went to a Paper Plus and then Whitcoulls to buy a copy. They did not have it in stock but showed no interest whatsoever in getting it for him. Too expensive for one book, no doubt. So he let it go.

That was the third time this year that has happened to him. He can't understand it.

I told him of course about Unity Books and other independents but he doesn't live in Mt Eden or Ponsonby or Takapuna and doesn't get into the city very often.

One has to wonder how many book sales are lost every year because of this refusal of the chain booksellers, and some independents one would have to say, to give service and act in their own interests.

Of course single copy special orders are expensive to handle but think of how many sales they may engender over the years by giving service and encouraging readers. Years ago when I was a bookseller in Napier I built my business around seeking special orders from our customers. It was expensive at first but before too long it repaid itself may times over.

The really ironic thing is that these inefficient chain booksellers are the very firms who get most favoured treatment by the publishers. They should get lesser terms. not better.

What do readers of my blog think?