Booksellers ‘delighted’ with busy first day’s trading

Bookshops across the UK have said they experienced a successful first day back after lockdown, with booksellers reporting queues ahead of trading hours and consistent selling across all areas, and Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet flagged as a particularly hot title for customers.

Rebecca MacAlister, Blackwells' Oxford area manager, said: "We have had an amazing day! From the moment we opened, our customers, both old and new, have been coming through our doors, delighted to be back and we have been delighted to welcome them back. The sheer joy we have seen and the wonderful words that we have received has made this a very special day. The best quote I've heard was from a student group coming in and one of them turned to their friends and said 'This is far better than the pubs being open again!' and they all agreed. Today has really shown what a good bookshop does for its community.”

Among the bestsellers Blackwells reported yesterday were Hamnet (Tinder Press), The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams (Chatto), and The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (Canongate).

Sue Lake, director of White Rose Book Cafe in Thirsk, Yorkshire, was greeted by a line of customers as she opened on Monday morning. "We had customers waiting outside, which was very heartwarming. The sun shone and customers started coming thick and fast into our book-café garden," she told The Bookseller.

"One regular couple told us they had been praying for a sunny day so they could visit for a mocha! Within two hours the garden was at capacity, and we’re finding our feet with new table service guidance but everyone seems happy to go with the flow In the bookshop, a steady stream of familiar faces have enjoyed browsing. Lots of well-wishers are saying they are going round all the shops today ‘because you need us don’t you?’

"So far, we have mainly sold new titles and signed copies which has been the focus of my buying over recent weeks. Everyone leaves wishing us a great day which feels very encouraging. So it certainly is business as usual with a bang!”

Hazel Broadfoot at Village Books in Dulwich, south London, also opened to waiting customers. She said: “It is wonderful to be open again - so many customers with such big smiles. It’s been a really happy day, despite the snow first thing, and we’ve had queues outside most of the day. While it’s still not as normal as we’d like, it is nonetheless brilliant to be able to chat about books and press our favourites into customers’ ready hands.”

The shop reported trading consistently across sections. Broadfoot said: “We’re selling everything across the board - even travel guides. Lots of children’s, lots of fiction, lots of hardbacks. Letters to Camondo by Edmund de Waal (Chatto) and Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny (Fourth Estate) — we are all huge fans of hers — have just arrived and they will definitely be at the top of our bestseller list. We’ve lots of pre-orders for them."

In Wales, Matt Taylor, owner of Chepstow Books, opened two hours early at 8 a.m. to find his first customer already waiting. Ivor Cavill, a regular (pictured below), arrived by bicycle to be the first customer allowed into the shop this year, and purchased two Dominic Sandbrook books after reading another during lockdown.

Taylor said lots of regulars visited yesterday and that the highlight so far had been “a mum coming in with her toddler for the child’s first trip into a bookshop to choose a book - they selected Room on the Broom. [It’s been a] "steady stream and expecting it to be a busy week and beyond — we’ve stayed open behind closed doors throughout the lockdown and have been working very intensely but it so refreshing to be able to let people into the shop to browse and find something they didn’t know they were looking for.”

Claire and Nigel Jones, who own The East Gate Bookshop in Totnes, Devon, were “delighted to report [yesterday was] very busy,” and that copies of Hamnet were "unsurprisingly" flying off the shelves. Nigel Jones, who previously worked in Ottakar's and The Totnes bookshop, opened the shop with his wife in December, but was promptly forced to close due to the third UK lockdown. He said: “We hoped we would be [busy] but it's beaten our expectation and our worry now is about restocking in time for the weekend, which is a lovely worry to have.”

Jane Angel at Gullivers Bookshop in Wimborne, Dorset, said “piles” of children's books had been flying off the shelves since reopening. Alongside the Easter holidays demand from parents, adult fiction, greetings cars, jigsaw puzzles and maps had been selling well. She said: “We're open, it's busy, noisy and our displays have been messed up. It’s perfect.”

Mog and Pauline Harris, co-owners of Warwick Books, admitted they were "a bit nervous last week" but the first day's trading had been "lovely". "We have felt like proper booksellers," said Mog Harris, "and it’s been really lovely having people around us talking books and just being excited to be back inside the bookshop. It’s been a steadily busy day and it’s a good feeling to be passed a stack of books to beep through the till.

"We have sold across the range so no obvious bestseller at this point," she added.

Ross Bradshaw, owner of Five Leaves in Nottingham, said trade had been "steady throughout the day," reporting a stream of webshop and emailed orders for collections later in the week, but wanted to assess the overall success of reopening by the end of the first week back.