BA describes 'volatile year' for bookshop openings and closures

Fifty-one independent bookshops opened last year, a rise on the 49 of the previous year, though the number of closures has also increased leading to a net loss overall. 

The Booksellers Association (BA) described the 51 new indies as “a continuing vote of confidence in bookselling as a career, and the underlying importance and health of the sector, the number of openings continues to bring new entrants into bookselling across the UK and Ireland”. Last year also saw the openings of several branches of Waterstones, Eason and Dubray.

However, the association described a “more sobering turn of events” in which the number of indie bookshop closures has increased on 2022, leading to a situation where the net number of indies in the UK has fallen by 0.8%. 

The BA released the figures as part of its annual membership survey, which revealed that the number of independent bookshops in BA membership at the end of 2023 was 1,063, down from 1,072 in 2022, though still significantly up from the lowest point on record of 867 in 2016. 

Some of the new independent bookshops which opened in 2023 include Barn Owl Books in Wiltshire, Booka in Shropshire as well as a new branch of Welsh store, Book-ish in Abergavenny, and Oughterard Bookshop in County Galway, Ireland. Rossiter Books also opened a new store in Worcestershire while Scotland indies included The Wedale Bookshop in the Scottish Borders and The Wee Bookshop, Clackmannanshire. 

Meryl Halls, m.d. at the BA, which represents chain and indie bookshops alike, said: “We are sad, but not surprised, to see the numbers of indie bookshops drop this year, for the first time in several years. It’s been a volatile year for openings and closures, with some shops coming to the end of leases, some having opened during Covid and not thrived. Other closures are caused by retirement, rent or rate increases – and in such a low margin business as bookselling, small shifts in the costs of running the business can have catastrophic effects on viability. 

“The BA exists to create a positive landscape for bookselling to thrive, and to equip and encourage booksellers to professionalise, learn from each other, share good practice and run excellent community hubs. Many hundreds of indie bookshops are doing that every day, across the UK and Ireland, in addition to  branches of Waterstones, Foyles, Blackwell’s, Eason, Dubray and W H Smith, and we do not want to see any dilution in the unique and exceptional character that a bookshop brings to the high street or town centre.” 

She said of the pressures facing bookshops and their staff: “While the number of bookshops has grown gradually since 2016, drawn by the cultural relevance of books, reading and bookshops, and inspired by the activism on display amongst current booksellers, we knew that recession, inflation, labour shortages, massive cost increases, tight margins, the cost-of-living crisis and unequal tax burdens such as business rates, would take their toll.”