It seems the times have caught up with another independent high street bookshop
Dismay as UK’s first specialist black bookshop forced to close
When I read the headline I imagined it would be a relatively new shop, opened to take advantage of the new 'anti racism' bandwagon, that failed before it got off the ground
I was wrong, it's been around for 55 years and two generations of family ownership
New Beacon Books in north London announces it will close and move online only after more than 55 years
So it must have had something to offer for quite a while, although I'm unsure why black authors would need a specific outlet for their talents alone. The cynic in me might think that these authors were not good enough to be taken on by mainstream publishers, so needed someone willing to market their offering to a specialist audience. A bit like the 'unsigned bands' thing that was doing the rounds a decade or so ago
So to say it's high street, independently owned and a specialist market, I'd say it's done well to weather the changes in high street shopping for as long as it has
In Little Town, where I live, there hasn't been a high street book shop for over 20 years. A few opened up and closed again after a couple of years when I was in my 20s and nobody has tried again since
Big Town just down the road is the closest place to go for new books, but you would have to visit a chain. They also don't have any independent book shops and even the Waterstones died years ago
I tend to buy all my books from Ebay for two reasons. I generally prefer to read books that have been around a while and new stuff is so expensive anyway
So well done guys, you've had a good innings, but the high street and the habits of the shopper have changed considerably in recent years and your decision to move your business model to online sales is the correct one, if you want to keep your niche market going
Good Lu....
Oh,
There's more...
Turns out It shouldn't have to close at all, because racism
Speaking about the prospect of the UK’s first black publisher and specialist bookshop closing, Prof Augustine John, chair of the Communities Empowerment Network (CEN) charity, said it was “at the heart of the community” and should be saved.
Seems to me that if it was at the heart of the community, the community would have popped in from time to time and bought something
“New Beacon Books is the only remaining independent black publishing and bookselling entity in the UK,” he said.
I get two things from that. When it moves to online sales, it still will be. If it really is the only one in a country of 65 million people, it's services must really be in low demand
“Throughout its 55 years, it has been pivotal to the growth of the Black Education Movement, the Black Supplementary School Movement and current calls for the decolonisation of the curriculum.
Then maybe it deserves to go. I can't abide by these anti racism activists who simply want to separate black people from everyone else. Makes you wonder why they bothered in South Africa
The announcement of the store’s closure, posted on its website earlier this month, has been met with dismay and disappointment on social media.
The actor Adjoa Andoh tweeted: “I am so sad about this wonderful bookshop and the haven of cultural solidarity and information it provided to the black and extended communities for over half a century.”
I bet he's never even been in
Another social media user, Elliot Ross, commented: “How have we in the UK made this a time of unprecedented ‘visibility’ for works by Black authors, while at the same time producing the conditions in which a radical bulwark like New Beacon Books can’t sustain itself after half a century of vital work?”
Probably just the stuff I said above about the changing high street dynamic
There have been calls for crowdfunding campaigns to help save the shop
Activists really can be daft at times. There's no need for crowdfunding, just go in the shop or go online and buy something
No business will ever survive long term if it's model is 'Send us free money because we are black'
The shop’s director, Michael La Rose, [said] a “sustained movement” was needed to ensure the longevity of specialist black bookshops.
I thought there was only one?
He said last year: “The consciousness-raising of the global [Black Lives Matter] movement has made every country question what is going on in their societies – people want to know what has happened in the past, to get books, to get information, to get facts.”
Heh! BLM, Anti-racists, Activists etc, have no interest in facts and simply want to cancel what happened in the past and re-write it to fit their agenda
I guess modern life has closed your business and also removed your ability to understand why. Oh well, never mind...
2 Comments:
Post a Comment