Save our bookshops
Friday, April 28, 2006
Two unrelated items in today's Guardian Online's books section caught my attention.
The first is a short profile of Tim Waterstone, the founder of the UK bookshop chain that bears his name. When I returned from a year of living in Crete in the early 80s, Tim was just about to open his second shop. My friend Jonathan had been working in the first shop on the Old Brompton Road and Tim asked him to help set things up in Charing Cross Road. At that stage Tim interviewed all new staff personally and I had a short and remarkably easy chat with him one morning in his office at the top of the new building. (The building had been the old paperback section of Foyles - a fact that resulted in much confusion for many old shoppers. Three years later people were still making out cheques to 'Foyles' when paying for books.) I enjoyed my time at Waterstone's very much and I thought Tim's ideas of what was important for a bookshop excellent. In only a few years waterstone's were quite simply the best book chain in the country. No small part of this was down to Tim's insistence that all the staff knew and loved books and the department heads were allowed to buy the books that they knew would sell locally.
Go into a Waterstone's today and it is no longer obviously a place where books are loved. The only remaining connection with Tim and what he planned is the name above the door.
The Guardian article ends with a brief CV of Tim, which includes this short line:
The first is a short profile of Tim Waterstone, the founder of the UK bookshop chain that bears his name. When I returned from a year of living in Crete in the early 80s, Tim was just about to open his second shop. My friend Jonathan had been working in the first shop on the Old Brompton Road and Tim asked him to help set things up in Charing Cross Road. At that stage Tim interviewed all new staff personally and I had a short and remarkably easy chat with him one morning in his office at the top of the new building. (The building had been the old paperback section of Foyles - a fact that resulted in much confusion for many old shoppers. Three years later people were still making out cheques to 'Foyles' when paying for books.) I enjoyed my time at Waterstone's very much and I thought Tim's ideas of what was important for a bookshop excellent. In only a few years waterstone's were quite simply the best book chain in the country. No small part of this was down to Tim's insistence that all the staff knew and loved books and the department heads were allowed to buy the books that they knew would sell locally.
Go into a Waterstone's today and it is no longer obviously a place where books are loved. The only remaining connection with Tim and what he planned is the name above the door.
The Guardian article ends with a brief CV of Tim, which includes this short line:
between 2001 and 2006 has been trying to buy back Waterstone'sI can vouch for the truth of this. I bumped into Tim in Kensington about three years ago and I asked him what was happening about the shops. He told me, simply, to watch the news. It's obviously taken him a bit longer than he hoped but for the sake of quality books, I hope he wins.
