White Horse wins Vintage indie prize

The White Horse Bookshop in Marlborough, Wiltshire, has been named Vintage Independent Bookshop of the Year, with two London shops finishing in second and third place.

Random House Group c.e.o. Gail Rebuck crowned the Wiltshire shop, owned by Michael Pooley, the winner at the Vintage 21 anniversary party last night (22nd September), awarding the booksellers with £1,000 and a crate of champagne, as well as more favourable terms on Vintage titles for the first six months of 2012. The shop will also receive a "special privileges" VIP ticket, including greater access to author readings and signed stock.

Second prize of £500, a bottle of champagne and extra terms went to Riverside Bookshop in Hays Galleria, London, managed by Suzanne Dean, with third prize, of £250, champagne and extra terms, going to Slightly Foxed on Gloucester Road, London, managed by Tony Smith.

The prize rewarded the independent shop that had shown the most innovation and creativity in promoting Vintage titles between January and 30th August 2011, with the judging panel comprising Vintage key account manager for independents Kate Gunning, Booksellers Association head of membership services Meryl Halls, author Evie Wyld and The Bookseller's Lisa Campbell.

After accepting the award, bookseller and buyer Liz Loikkanen, who has worked at The White Horse for four years, said: "It is so exciting to win. We had such great fun doing it. Trade was very hard but we found it picked up over the summer. We're lucky, we have a loyal customer base and they have stuck with us. We've been here for 60 years and we are still going strong."

Riverside Bookshop manager Dean said: "We got really creative. We made our own point of sale and recreated Vintage jackets out of card and paper. We had a dedicated window space to it, and kept rotating the display." Dean said the more favourable terms from Vintage would help the bookshop amid difficult high street trading. She said: "It's tough going into autumn. Publishers know that, everyone is pliable on terms anyway, [but] extra terms always help. Going into Christmas, we are going to have to discount which we don't normally do. We usually have really strong hardback sales but to see sales going down—we just think there is no other way." 

Gunning said the judges found it difficult to pick the winner. She said: "The White Horse was doing things from day one, and we were really looking for a sustained promotion." The shop's efforts included running a competition for their customers, dressing up in vintage clothes and holding a tea party in the shop.

Gunning said Vintage had received about 30 entries for the award, and was "fantastically pleased with the tremendously high standard of entries". She added there was a "distinct possiblity that [Vintage] will run a competition for independent bookshops again at some point in the future".

In her speech at the anniversary party, held at The Polish Club in South Kensington, west London, and attended by about 250 people from across the trade, Rebuck added: "I want to thank all the booksellers, who have always been supportive and enthusiastic about our books, never more so than now when things are difficult and in transition in the industry."