Life in the old dog yet

It seems to be my habit to talk about the state of Waterstones from time to time and I'm sure I've made my feelings about kindle's plain in the past (good in there way but not for me). It's a habit I'm not alone in, fellow bloggers, newspapers, and plenty of the people I work with all give versions of these things an airing - this very week in a chat with the company chairman (I say chat, but it was all very corporate...) he held forth on the death of the high street.

Having worked for a few retailers now (not many of whom are still in business - a coincidence I'm sure) I have my own opinions about this. I don't think the high street is on it's last legs, I don't think the book is in any particular danger from e-readers; books are more than just something to read, equally owning books and reading books are, alas, not quite the same thing and I think Waterstones might just have a bright future.

Admittedly I loathe shopping on-line; I don't care to share my card details farther than is strictly necessary, know too many people who have had pay-pal accounts hacked, and more than anything else hate the hassle of waiting for deliveries, missing deliveries, tracking down deliveries, missing the delivery again (why courier companies are only prepared to deliver during my work hours is a source of never ending frustration, and don't get me started on being ransomed to get my own goods at a time I might be at home) . I like going into a shop, finding something I want, paying for it, going home. 

When I do order on-line I feel a lifting of the heart when I see it's Royal Mail delivery - the Post Office has at least a pick up office in town (and not somewhere in the hinterland of Coalville or similar and unreachable by any form of public transport) that's open at reasonable hours and they don't often want to see my passport or non existent driving licence. Better yet I adore John Lewis' Click and Collect - order and pick up from the shop. Problem with your goods - that's okay they'll deal with it there and then and no nonsense about re posting and any questions can be given to a real live helpful person. It works for me.

Still an actual shop is better and Waterstones is a good example of a company that feels like it's finding it's way again. Leicester has two branches, neither of them large, both developing a distinct personality, and both full of helpful, knowledgeable, staff. It is my deep held conviction that if a business has a decent proposition (like selling books) and is confidant enough to stick with it, it should do okay. You can't always compete but it isn't always necessary, or even desirable to try. If amazon and the supermarkets can undercut on best-selling titles that's fine, let them - they can't be making a lot of money and I think there are enough people out there (like me) who find the physical bookshop offer things that amazon can't - the unlimited choice might not be there but the chance of finding something tempting by chance is (also they will let you use their sellotape in an emergency) and I'm prepared to pay a pound or two more for that.

More importantly shops are somewhere to go too, to meet people in, to look at things in. How we do business is evolving, I just don't believe it's changing as much as some pundits would have us believe. From what I can see my Waterstones' are doing a lot better than they were eighteen months ago (I'd love to ask but doubt they'd tell) there seem to be more customers, the range is better, and the staff seem more upbeat. In the current economic conditions all of that's heartening. I hope it lasts and I hope they go on to be one of the great success stories coming out of the recession. 

This is what bookshops are for.

I have in the past complained about my local Waterstone’s – the staff are pretty good (excellent even) but the overall selection has been up and down. It doesn’t help that it used to be an admirable branch of Dillon’s with three floors of books and elegant sweeping staircases. The staircases and floors remain but are now befouled with paperchase, a costa coffee, and until recently a travel agent. The later has gone and the books are creeping back but even so the selling space is only half what it once was and it’s been hard in the last year to find anything tempting in there.

It got so bad at one time that I thought the branch was probably slated for closure and blew all my loyalty points on a book I didn’t especially want (‘The Morville Hours’ which is probably as good as everyone says it is but has somehow so far resisted being read by me) because I was afraid it was a case of use them or lose them. However things are looking up – something that I sincerely hope is a result of new ownership and here to stay. I really truly believe there is a place for big high street bookshops but I also believe that they need to play to their strengths and not get hung up with trying to compete with internet suppliers and supermarkets.

Deep discounting has its place; heaven knows price is more of a consideration than ever for most of us at the moment and who doesn’t like a market but there are other considerations too. I’ve bought a few books recently, some online and some in person, both transactions have reminded me why I love real life shops. Amazon were responsible for delivering my sisters birthday present, happily I ordered in plenty of time because it arrived a week later than there estimated delivery time – which is just about as long as I was prepared to wait before trying to get hold of them to complain.

Books I’ve ordered for myself are on the way but because one of them is bulky (but cheap) they’re coming via courier. I hate this, I will be at work when they try and deliver. I, like everyone else, always am. It will be a good ten days to two weeks before I can be at home on a week day to get my parcel (which makes me lucky because at least I sometimes get week days off), I will be given the option to pay extra to get my goods on a Saturday (which defeats the point of buying cheap in the first place) or I can dig out my passport and try and find a driving friend with a sat nav to take me to whatever labyrinthine industrial estate buried deep in the midlands they choose to incarcerate my books in.

How much nicer was it to walk into a shop and find the very Vintage print on demand Stella Gibbons that have been sitting on my wish list unavailable for the last two months there on the shelf. It hasn’t cost me more to buy like this which is nice (at £9.99 each this was always going to be a mild extravagance) but having held the books I couldn’t let them go (presentation is particularly good for p.o.d). But it got better, the girl behind the till was clearly a Gibbons fan – she may have been responsible for these being on the shelf in the first place – she told me about ‘Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm’ coming soon (which I knew already but shows excellent sales technique as well as being generally helpful).

I’ve debated for weeks about buying these books and probably would have for months more, I’m pleased to have done my bit to persuade Vintage to bring out regular (cheaper and prettier please) editions of their full Gibbons range, and to have spent my money locally. It was altogether everything a shopping experience should be - a timely reminder that service, knowledge, and instant gratification are worth paying a bit extra for especially if all that comes with a well chosen, suitably eclectic choice of stock. 

And finally my Vintage moment arrives

I had planned a very luxurious (if sadly limited) spending moment when I was in London a couple of weeks ago but Waterstone’s let me down – they didn’t have the book I most wanted in all the world on that day, I couldn’t find more than two books on the three for two offers, and after that nothing would do, then it was time to catch the train.

Not prepared to remain thwarted in my book acquiring ambitions for long I spent some quality time on amazon and today all my books turned up, actually to be specific they turned up yesterday but spent the night languishing in the post office collection room until 7am this morning when I was waiting outside to pick them up. The post man in a coy mood left a note to say I had ‘a’ parcel, so picture my excitement when I found they meant four parcels held together by elastic bands, also picture me trying to fit all of these in a quite small bag whilst rushing for the bus and then hauling these things all the way to work where they had to stay locked up until lunch time before I could have a good look at the booty.

The best part of all of this was an unexpected package from Oxford University Press. I love the OUP for many reasons not the least of which is that I’ve got on their mailing list. Now I have no problem with soliciting a publisher for book favours; it gives me a terrific feeling of getting away with something when they send me a book (which I’m not given how long it takes to read, and then comment, but I like the feeling and don’t want to analyse it too much), but it really is like Christmas (only better) when something unexpected turns up. OUP books are beginning to warrant their own little corner – I think Oscar Wilde short stories, ‘Tarzan of the Apes’, and ‘The Private Memoires and Confessions of a Justified Sinner’ sit especially well together.

My amazon spree is responsible for John Cheever’s ‘The Wapshot Scandal’, Compton Mackenzie’s ‘The Monarch of the Glen’ (which sounds a lot funnier than the tv version) Isherwood’s ‘A Single Man’ (slim volume which makes it look very tempting) and A S Byatt’s ‘The Children’s Book’ (not slim, not sure when I’ll read it, but wanted it since last year and very glad they stuck with the same super attractive cover design) and Muriel Spark’s ‘Symposium’ (I can’t have enough Spark).

The other books in the pile arrived late last week courtesy of Bloomsbury and Birlinn respectively, I’ll be talking about them soon, and will also have details of my very first book give away (also courtesy of Birlinn) so shall stop now before I get ahead of myself. The other contents of my post box today were an invitation from the city’s most exclusive jeweller (a mystery why I’m on their list) and a flyer from the socialist trade union party. It’s a combination that appeals to me almost as much as Tarzan and the justified sinner.