It Doesn't Have to be Amazon

 Although I'm not judging if it is. Amazon are successful because of all the things they do well, which includes the customer service and convenience. On the other hand they're not the only option (or even always the cheapest) so on the principle that it's good to have things to look forward to I'm sharing a few links for people and places I really like.

Given that we've most of us probably got a bit more time on our hands it's worth checking around. Buying books 3 at a time from Persephone for example gives you enough of a discount to negate the delivery charge - not that it's always easy to find the titles you want from major online retailers. they also do gift subscriptions and you can send presents.

Handheld Press are a brilliant small press, the postage and packing is free within the UK and the books come beautifully wrapped in brown paper. They will send books as gifts for you including a message and with fancier gift wrap (I love the brown paper). It's a really interesting list that's well worth a look. Little Toller who were just in the process of opening a bookshop when this lockdown hit are brilliant as well - beautifully produced nature books are always a good thing.

It's also worth having a good nose around smaller publishers websites. Birlinn had some amazing book bundles in the summer which were particularly good value. There's nothing at the moment but when I was checking for offers I saw a couple of titles I now badly want and might not otherwise have noticed. A look at Pushkin Press is next on my list. 

Etsy is a wonderland of the good, bad, and everything in-between, but it's a great place to search out prints at reasonable prices - I really like both Matt Underwood and Deborah Vass, and the advantage of prints is that they're easy to send to people for a Christmas where face to face deliveries might be tricky.

East End Press do wonderful garlands, decorations, and more. They're another thing that's easy to post. There's no delivery charge if you spend more that £25 and the decorations are the sort of thing that it's really nice to include in a card as a small gesture.

I've taken to ordering coffee from Monmouth Coffee, the choice is excellent, postage is only £2.50 up to a kilo, and whenever I've ordered I've had my coffee within a couple of days. Coffee beans are what I've asked my sister to get me for my birthday. My mother is getting me Cupsmith hot chocolate. They're all good, but the salted caramel is a family favourite. Much as I love wine and spirits, I prefer not to drink alcohol without company. On the other hand I don't want to share that salted caramel hot chocolate so no company is ideal.

Waterstones shops are still doing click and collect as well as a delivery service. Their loyalty card scheme is generous, especially when there are double points weekends (such as this weekend). They are my local bookshop - there are no independents left in Leicester - and part of the community so I'm always keen to support my local branch just as much as I would an independent bookshop.

Something that I hadn't quite realised until early this week when I was getting bits from local independents was how lock down ready they were compared to March. Everyone I spoke to has moved online, a lot were willing to do local deliveries or click and collect, it's something I'll be checking whenever I need to buy anything.