You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
Bookshop Spotlight: The Gutter Bookshop, Dalkey
Cow’s Lane, Temple Bar, 20 Railway Road, Dalkey
Like many independent booksellers, since the first Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020 Bob Johnston was working seven days a week to keep his business afloat. Twelve months down the road, the owner of two Gutter Bookshops—the original outpost in Temple Bar, Dublin and the branch in the seaside village of Dalkey—was “completely burnt out”. He said so in the statement he released two years later, announcing that he had sold the shops to mini-chain Dubray Books, which, in turn, is owned by Eason.
One year on from the sale, some aspects of the Gutter bookshops have remained the same: the booksellers still run the stores with a “customer-focused” approach, while the name of the shops continues to remind us of the famous Wildean quote of where we are and where we should be looking. “Certain things take longer, as the admin of certain tasks has increased and we are still streamlining certain processes to make them smoother for both sides,” says Marta Starosta, the Gutter’s manager. “But apart from the admin changes and paperwork adjustments, we are free to work as before. We decide on which books to stock and which titles to promote, what events we do, which festivals to take part in, what we read in and when we run our book clubs.”
There are advantages of coming into a bigger group: booksellers can now afford to stock a wider variety of products and explore the possibility of growing and renovating the shops. “We are lucky enough that the Dubray team is incredibly supportive of the ethos and individuality of the Gutter shops and are helping us grow without wanting us to change,” Starosta tells me. Gutter is run by six full and part-time booksellers, and managed by Starosta, who joined in 2013 to set up the Dalkey branch. Johnston stepped down from the business after the acquisition. Dalkey started as a Christmas pop-up that “never ‘popped-down’” and will be marking its 10-year anniversary in November. “The Gutter in Dalkey is a small village shop located between the DART [suburban train] and the main street of Dalkey, opposite Finnegan’s—a local well-known pub frequented by Bono and once visited by the Obamas,” Starosta says. Its position on what is known as Ireland’s damper and colder Amalfi Coast makes the seaside village a prime living-location for celebrities. Despite its star status, the manager describes Dalkey’s flow of tourists as “gentle” and says the shop’s regular customers are mainly “incredibly supportive” locals.
Meanwhile, located between Christchurch in the Old Temple Bar area and Dublin’s main pub district, the original shop in Temple Bar sees many tourists and customers visit yearround. “We are unofficially known as Dublin’s gay bookshop, as we stock a decent selection of queer literature and some of us are queer, out and proud,” Starosta explains. Weekends, and sometimes Mondays, are the busiest days for booksellers at both locations, while the Dalkey shop also sees a good number of customers on Wednesdays. “We stock a little bit of everything in both shops, we run themed promotions independently chosen by the Gutter staff throughout the year, and we do try to support local writers when possible,” the manager adds.
Book clubs are popular with the customers of the Temple Bar branch, where the booksellers run five groups, and will be introducing a new one for horror readers this month. The Dalkey shop also runs a book club—and the manager says these events help boost sales, but adds that “there is no pressure” on customers to make a purchase, with some opting to borrow the books from the library. “We offer a safe space for any conversation, any opinion. For chatty people and for the quiet ones. We do try to engage everybody and make sure the meetings are enjoyable for all,” Starosta says. The booksellers are also involved with five festivals, running bookstalls at the likes of Dalkey Book Festival, Dublin Festival of History and Dublin Book Festival. The bookshops host book launches throughout the year, too. Developing strong relationships with publishers over the years has enabled the team to get the support it needs with events and festivals.
The online aspect of the business is an area that Starosta wants to grow in the future. “People’s shopping habits changed and they are unlikely to change back,” the manager says. “I would love to have a bigger online offering, and we are working on it behind the scenes, but as we have a pretty basic website with a lot of manual work involved in its upkeep, things do take time.” Rising backlist prices and increased shipping costs continue to be hurdles, but Starosta explains that the acquisition has boosted The Gutter’s “negotiation power” with shipping partners.
While the cost-of-living crisis impacts spending, Gutter is trying to find ways to cater to customers with different budgets. “We do recommend a lot of books every day and we do try to include a selection of small paperbacks, as people love to show their support, but their situation might have changed recently,” the manager says. Gutter is looking optimistically to the future despite the challenges it faces, particularly in the digital space. “We have our autumn book festivals lined up, a good few book launches, our book clubs are growing and, would you believe, The Gutter [in Temple Bar] is turning 15 this November!”
