Watkins Esoteric bookshop, Cecil Court

lostinrates

vivatifosi wrote: »

I use the function in Amazon that tells you what books other people who have bought that book have also bought.

Do you know, I HATE that feature. However useful it maybe I find something....repellent about it.

lostinrates

Sir_Humphrey wrote: »

I fairly regularly head down Cecil Court, so I'll take a look for myself....s.

tell us how its looking. It looked so sorry round there even when times were booming IMO.


Anyway, I'm missing Lodnond desperately at the moment, I'm really keen to find some reason I HAVE to go down...

and I wanted to go clubbing last night, which surprised me. I think I'm well enough to, but not sure where a chubby old bird who might need to sit down could get in, not where it would be my ...cup of tea. I'm not sure I ''do'' queues either....maybe I'll just stick the radio on in the kitchen with all the lights except the cooker hood off. How the mighty have fallen.....

anamenottaken

I remember Watkins from the 1970s. A niche retailer - and not all "cranky". Surprised in a way that it has lasted so long - and "In Administration" at least means there's a chance it can survive.

lemonjelly

Cleaver wrote: »

I don't know the bookshop you refer to, but do you think it's a case of 90 years of profit making, then Amazon comes along, and... oh dear.

Sad really, but I reckon this must be the case for a lot of bookshops. I find myself in a quandry as I love buying books and love browsing bookshops. Especially the older, traditional ones with bendy shelves and books from floor to celing. But then Amazon is just normally so much cheaper, easier and stocks everything so I tend to end up using it most of the time.

Not a personal thing or anything Cleaver, & it may be just how I am reading it, but it seems that your post on this thread is quite inconsistent in comparison with the posts you've made on the GAME thread.

It appears that you accept that indie bookstores can have merits, & there are additional benefits to being able to go into a bookshop, & have that tactile relationship both with the goods & the seller, whereas that doesn't appear to be your view on GAME stores. I'd have thought that the common identity thing would be transferrable?

As an alternative, though they are closing regularly, there are still many defiant protectors of independent record shops, & there is arguably something "cool" about knowing a good indie record shop.

vivatifosi wrote: »

I'd say that the writing on the wall for bookshops started with the end of the Net Book Agreement rather than mass ordering from Amazon. The ending of the Net Book Agreement not only opened the doors for Amazon, but also other stores to sell books at significantly below RRP. So now bookstores compete with the likes of Tesco as well as Amazon.

If a bookshop can come up with a good value prop then there's no reason that they shouldn't stay on the high street. In the case of Watkins Esoteric Bookshop, I'd argue that its target market may not be a geographic one and therefore the right place for it to be could well be cyberspace rather than a physical location.

One of the interesting questions regarding this business will be whether or not they own their freehold, as many older established businesses will, or whether at some point they've sold it back, which may also indicate that they've traded through difficulties in the past. If they have a low cost-base in terms of premises already and still went into administration, then that imo could make it harder to continue to trade in the future than a company with very high overheads escaping the shackles of West End rents.

Spot on!

lostinrates wrote: »

Do you know, I HATE that feature. However useful it maybe I find something....repellent about it.

I agree with this, it seems almost like a form of herding to me. Kind of like "everyone else who likes this book also likes that one, so you out to too!"

Sir_Humphrey

lostinrates wrote: »

tell us how its looking. It looked so sorry round there even when times were booming IMO.

I was heading down there yesterday anyway, so I had a look. The "Colin Baker" shop unit was still empty. Watkins was closed, but no administration notice was there and the lights were on. Otherwise, it looked the same as it ever did.

I personally think there will be always be a niche for specialised bookshops in the cities at least. It is record shops that have really be creamed over the last five years, yet the very best still survive.

StevieJ

drc wrote: »

Noooooo! :eek:

I absolutely love Watkins. Spent many a time in my youth with Aleister Crowley .

You and Jimmy Page

Mr.Brown_4

It's been a long time since JR Hartley and Fly Fishing. The guy using Yellow Pages to phone various bookshops to see if they have a copy. Eventually they do, and a lovely ending.

Fast forward to 2010, and we Google it or go direct to Amazon, who can print on demand any one of millions of traditionally out of print titles. Maybe even download it direct to a Kindle.

I know it's more convenient, I know it's cheaper, I know there's more choice, and yet.

If you want something, and click it, and it's delivered - does that something mean so much as when you searched for it, took a trip to make the purchase, and held the tangible something safely in your hands. Maybe wrote your name inside the cover.

Am I being senselessly nostalgic?

Sapphire

Cleaver wrote: »

I don't know the bookshop you refer to, but do you think it's a case of 90 years of profit making, then Amazon comes along, and... oh dear.

Sad really, but I reckon this must be the case for a lot of bookshops. I find myself in a quandry as I love buying books and love browsing bookshops. Especially the older, traditional ones with bendy shelves and books from floor to celing. But then Amazon is just normally so much cheaper, easier and stocks everything so I tend to end up using it most of the time.

Unfortunately, if people cannot browse in bookshops to see what is available, many very good books will just not be noticed. You can't really tell from Amazon what a book's contents are going to be like.

This may result in a massive decline in book publishing, leaving mainly memoirs from celebrity nobodys, books by TV chefs and other TV 'personalities', and massively and very expensively promoted other books (not many publishers can afford to do the latter).

Very sad. I used to love browsing for hours in good, well-stocked bookshops of all sorts.

lostinrates

Sir_Humphrey wrote: »

I personally think there will be always be a niche for specialised bookshops in the cities at least. It is record shops that have really be creamed over the last five years, yet the very best still survive.

RIP Mole Jazz. RIP (independent) Ray's. (still in foyles?)

edit: denmark street is funny: designed to look like independents, so deceptive.

Sir_Humphrey

lostinrates wrote: »

RIP Mole Jazz. RIP (independent) Ray's. (still in foyles?)

edit: denmark street is funny: designed to look like independents, so deceptive.

Ray's Jazz was still there last time I looked a couple of months ago (it moved floors about 18 months ago).

Sounds of the Universe and Honest Jon's are still going AFAIK.

Beano's in Croydon has finally succumbed.

I did notice that the Opera shop further down towards Trafalgar Square is falling victim to pr****ty de*****ers.