|
|
|
|
Britain's only gay bookshop faces threat of closure
By Louise Jury, Arts Correspondent
http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/news/article2387818.ece
Its fans claim it is far more than just a bookshop. Since Gay's the Word - the UK's only dedicated lesbian and gay bookshop - opened in 1979, it has acted as a social centre, information service and advice shop.
But the store on Marchmont Street, central London, is having to rally supporters, led by the literary heavyweights Sarah Waters, Edmund White and Ali Smith, after fewer visitors and falling revenue put its future at risk. Jim MacSweeney, the manager who has worked there since 1989, said: "We're an institution so people assume we're there forever. But if people don't use us, we won't be."
With reserves depleted, a board meeting heard last month that, if the shop carried on making losses at the current level, it would have to close within two months. A decision had to be taken on whether to shut down or go public and hope that saviours would ride to the rescue. They chose the latter route.
The valiant determination to press on is already seeing results - though with a long way to go to secure the £20,000 needed to stay open. "We've only just started writing to big names but already we have raised £3,500 by people sponsoring shelves. And people who haven't been here in ages have been coming in and buying books," said Mr MacSweeney. "Sales have doubled - and yesterday they were three times what they had been."
Turnover was running at around £160,000 a year until the bombings of 7 July 2005 when the shop's proximity to Tavistock Square, where a bus was blown up, hit takings by 14 per cent. "We only just cover our costs and make a small profit, so this had a huge effect on the business," said Mr MacSweeney. "Never mind that independent bookshops are struggling generally."
Its stock normally covers books that the mainstream stores do not cover, including imports from America. But when income fell, it became harder to maintain the kind of new and interesting stock which encouraged people to come back.
Yet the social function always remained. A lesbian discussion group meets every Wednesday evening and Mr MacSweeney spent part of yesterday talking to the mother of a 14-year-old boy who wanted advice.
Jake Arnott, 45, the author of The Long Firm and Johnny Come Home, said it was the advisory function as much as the literary one that would be missed if the shop were to close. "It would be terrible if Gay's the Word goes," he said. "It's a fantastic bookshop and it belongs there. Marchmont Street would lose something without it. Given the current circumstances for independent bookshops, it might be gone forever and there aren't any other solely lesbian and gay bookshops in the country.
"But it's so much more important than just a retail outlet in terms of people having somewhere they can go to find out [about lesbian and gay matters]. Sometimes going into a bar isn't a very warm and friendly experience. The social act of going into a bookshop and finding a book about oneself can be important."
For Mr Arnott's generation, Gay's the Word acted as an important political focus given that they grew up in a time when gay rights were under attack from measures such as the Section 28 legislation.
"If you see London now, people forget there was ever any kind of trouble. They forget that, if it hadn't been for Gay's the Word, they wouldn't be going to clubs and having such a good time," he said. "I think it should be subsidised by the Government."
Three other London bookshops under threat
* BOOKMARKS
Britain's leading independent socialist bookshop is struggling to compete with the large supermarkets, chain bookstores and high rent fees. It set up a fund-raising appeal to help keep it running and has received donations from customers and trade unions. Tony Benn describes the store, in Bloomsbury, London, as a "university for activists".
* HOUSMANS
This shop, which specialises in books and periodicals of radical interest and progressive politics, is also struggling, partly because of chainstore competition.
But it hopes that the regeneration of King's Cross, London, where it is based will cause an increase in customers. It is considering starting an appeal to help keep afloat.
* CALDER BOOKSHOP
John Calder, 80, who founded his legendary bookshop in Waterloo, London, in 1949, is now looking for a new owner in the face of a rent increase he cannot afford and a decline in interest in the type of controversial or avant-garde authors in which he has specialised.
© 2007 Independent News and Media Limited
(\\__/) And if you don't believe The sun will rise
(='.'=) Stand alone and greet The coming night
(")_(") In the last remaining light. (C. Cornell)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
timmy
|
 |
Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
|
|
|
I do, but my last purchases have been online, primarily because I can find the books I want online more easily than by trying loads of bookshops.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ditto.
While I appreciate the atmosphere of bookshops, it's generally much easier to find books online, and they are also cheaper. For me, £7 or £8 (or £9 or £14) is too much for an impulse purchase. But if a book is available online, new, for only £2 or £3 then I'm much more likely to buy it, even if it means waiting a couple of days for it to arrive.
David
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
If I want a specific book, I order on line. If I'm browsing, I prefer to do so in a bookshop (sometimes new books, often second-hand) - I've yet to find a website that really hits the spot for random purchases for me.
As regards "Gay's the Word", I have very mixed feelings about it. I've used it, on and off, for the past 20 years. I cannot say that I have ever found it to be particularly friendly or welcoming, and (much though I've tried to like it) it has always struck me as cliquey and having an overt "gay community" agenda that I don't subscribe to. For me, reading, browsing and buying books are essentially personal and solitary activities: I don't want to have to engage the social part of my brain in bookshops. I admit that when I was last in there (just before Christmas) I ended up not buying anything, and just ended up in a coffee bar with nothing to read wasting time before meeting a friend down the road. I'd rather have felt comfortable spending the time browsing & buying books! Unfortunately, the second-hand bookshop "Skoob" http://www.skoob.com a hundred yards down the road was at that time waiting to re-open after relocating to another part of the Brunswick Centre ...
However, it would be a great shame if "Gay's the Word" were to disappear - they have undoubtedly been a major landmark in London Gay History. The area they are in has recently been moving upmarket, with a major refurbishment of the landmark Brunswick Centre at the bottom of the road ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunswick_Centre ), and if rents don't go up too much, they should be well-placed to benefit from the increased footfall.
And there's a lot that GTW could do to help themselves - their resolute failure to have a decent website (which is now being addressed as part of their survival plan) has undoubtedly contributed to them being seen as stiff-necked, out-of-date, and irrelevant. Most charities learned the lessons of needing to use basic business tools (rather than just resting on moral superiority) long ago ... I hope that GTW can catch up with the field on this! If they get themselves sorted with decent on-line sales (even if through a portal like Abebooks http://www.abebooks.co.uk ) I would certainly use them for stuff I buy on line, even if they were slightly more expensive than Amazon.
"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. ... Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night devoid of stars." Martin Luther King
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
likewise... amazon.co.uk...
i occasionally wander round bookstores, but usually its simply easier to buy online. the exception is textbooks, because the campus branch of waterstones stock all course texts, but i've never bought anything but textbooks there
Odi et amo: quare id faciam, fortasse requiris.
Nescio, set fieri sentio et excrucior
|
|
|
|
|
Goto Forum:
|
] 
A Place of Safety
Search
Help
Register
Login
Home
