The Booksellers Association has some great news for British bookworms as they report a second consecutive year of growth for independent bookshops. Fifteen new bookshops joined the trade body in 2018 putting the numbers up to 883 independents last year.
It’s a significant increase, especially as it’s the second year running numbers have increased, as it shows the first increase after years of decline for the book selling industry. The new members include 12 shops that opened during 2018 and three others which had opened previously but have only just joined the Booksellers Association in the last year.
While 883 is a healthy number and a big increase, we still have a long way to go to get back to the heyday of the indie bookshop. Back in 1995 the BA numbers stood at 1,894, showing we still have a long way to go to help the bookshop.
New members in 2018 include Books@One in County Cork, Brook’s in Middlesex, Category is Books, based in Glasgow, Eaves and Lord Books in Powys, Lost in Books in Cornwall, and two Bristol bookshops Max Minerva’s Marvellous Books, and Storymith. While we don’t have any of the new bookshops listed in our bookshop section, we do have a stack of UK indie bookshops you can support, all listed here.
The Booksellers Association says that “Bookshops (especially our larger members) continue to experience unequal business rates, and struggle alongside wider retail with unfair competition from online retailers, as well as post-Brexit uncertainty. In light of this, we ask the Government to take the steps needed to protect the future of bookshops and their high streets, considering the concerns of retailers and booksellers so they can both flourish.”
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