Do you have a favourite?
I am lucky. In this neck of the woods there are quite a few independent bookshops, each doing a wonderful job and something slightly different. I guess to keep going as a bookshop these days there has to be something ‘extra’ that is not available from the on-line alternatives.
I visit Chipping Norton regularly, and greatly admire the book shop there, ‘Jaffe and Neale,’ which has a prime location, a coffee shop with marvellous cakes… and of course a wonderful selection of books. They regularly hold events of one type or another… reading, signings and workshops.
In Woodstock, a few miles from here there is now a bookshop, when there should have been one for years. (Second hand doesn’t count in this review.) It is suitably called ‘The Woodstock Bookshop’ which has a certain ring to it and is pretty memorable. It took over the premises of a long standing electrical shop which we were all very sad to see go, but the bookshop has been a success from day one, despite its rather tiny size. Rachel who runs the shop arranges many readings and open evenings, often having to use an alternative location as there is not enough room in the shop. The last event I attended was a joint effort with the university: a poetry reading with Jo Shapcott and Daljit Nagra in The Woodstock Arms, which was filled to bursting point. She also offers a 10% discount of reading group books. Marvellous! A book request is just an email away.
In Bicester ‘Coles Book Store’ has been going for years and has always offered a very good range of books, with many signed copies available. Everyone is very friendly and helpful and will get a book in very quickly, with a phone call to let you know when it’s in. Fairly recently the shop was taken over by new managers. I met them for the first time last week at a poetry reading which they had organised. A glass of wine and nibbles were offered in a relaxed atmosphere where a selection of the audience read poetry, either their own, or favourite published pieces. I even stood up and read… well I sat down in fact, as my knees were a bit wobbly.
Having said all this I do find Amazon a useful browsing tool and a good place to keep a wish list.
Boadicea's Chariot 
We have a house full of books, and have no more shelf room for any more. BUT I have a Sony Reader and she has an iPad, so we are into eBook territory now. The last independent bookshop in our area closed when the owner retired and sold up, and it is now a HiFi shop.
I forgot the who-must-be-obeyed after she!
😦
Woodstock Arms! I’m overcome by nostalgia……….. 🙂
Tell me more, Janus….
Evening Pseu,
The West end of the city has lots of excellent second hand bookshops. Two in close proximity to one another are Alba Books and Voltaire & Rousseau. I prefer Alba as the quality is better and it’s cleaner (no cat knocking about for a start). Both have reasonably priced books. No official websites but here’s a few links anyway.
http://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/alba-books-and-second-hand-music-glasgow
http://www.nothingtoseehere.net/2008/07/voltaire_and_rousseau_glasgow.html
Your Jaffe and Neale, all the works and an excellent cafe is duplicated here in the best non chain bookshop in Bellingham. Bit bleeding heart liberal PC for me but their NW gardening section is sufficient to lure me in! (Plus the cakes!)I very rarely buy books these days, had to sell/give a couple of thousand away before I left the UK, I have no novels left! We are up to the gunnels here with books. No more room for anything! So I tend to keep away in case of temptation.
I rarely go into bookshops. Instead I go to libraries and thrift shops. Libraries often sell extra stock or unwanted donations for a fraction of the price of new, or for that matter, used and it supports a good cause. Thrift shops, especially charity thrift shops, often have a decent selection of used books which they get as donations and any money they get goes to support a good cause. In San Francisco there a scores of places to find books. The problem is that many people who live there seem either to only look at books in order to look more intelligent or can’t read beyond their own dogmas.