Booksellers begin to reopen with caution and excitement

Booksellers across the country are welcoming the public back into their shops for the first time since the lockdown began with a mixture of excitement and trepidation, with Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak making a visit to Waterstones Victoria over the weekend.

Meryl Halls, managing director for the Booksellers Association, said: “As we slowly exit lockdown, there is an understandable sense of caution amongst booksellers who are facing a very different landscape upon reopening, having to adapt to government guidelines and safety measures.

“However, booksellers have dealt with the impact of lockdown with resilience and optimism, and I know that they will forge ahead with this outlook as they gradually reopen. Bookshops are so vital to local communities and the publishing industry, and we are glad to be able to support booksellers as they return to the high street to do what they love most, and do best - selling books."

Sunak, who visited Waterstones' Victoria branch over the weekend as one of the thousands of shops that will be opening their doors this week, said: "From Monday, shops selling books, clothes, and electronics are able to open for business for the first time in more than two months, as part of our plan to gradually and safely reopen the economy. There are nearly 7,000 high streets across the country, each providing a valuable service to their community. They will be vital in helping kickstart the economy as we recover from the virus." So-called "non-essential" retail employs 1.3 million people and contributes £46.6bn to the UK's economy every year.

James Daunt, m.d. of Waterstones, told The Bookseller that the chain would be opening the "vast majority" of its stores in England this week, with personal protective equipment available at the ready, as well as sneeze-guards, hand sanitisers and styluses for those paying by card who have to enter a pin number. Blackwells has said it is opening five of its total 23 shops, in Oxford, Holborn, Manchester, Newcastle and Cambridge, while the rest will be reopening in a phased process. Both chains will have a location for quarantined books that have been browsed but not bought, with Waterstones asking customers to deposit handled books onto trolleys, taking the books back into storage for at least 72 hours.

Kate Skipper, Waterstones’ chief operating officer said: "We are delighted to be reopening on 15th June as we bring our shops safely out of hibernation. We can’t wait to welcome book lovers back to their natural habitat as we return to serving our customers within their communities. Healthy local high streets are vital to communities at all times, providing much-needed services and employment to their neighbourhoods. New measures will be in place to ensure the safety of our customers and our booksellers but our shops will still be bursting full of interesting books to read. We look forward to seeing you there."

Zool Verjee, Blackwells’ head of marketing and publicity said: "This is obviously uncharted territory, but we anticipate that many customers will be delighted to be able to browse in physical bookshops once again and we aim to make their shopping experience as safe and easy as we possibly can. Plenty of fabulous books continued to be published during lockdown and are in our shops waiting to be discovered, and we greatly look forward to welcoming customers so that they can return to the joy of browsing books in bookshops. And for those who are unable to visit, then Blackwells.co.uk is there for them and all their bookish requirements."

Independent booksellers The Bookseller spoke with just before reopening were cautiously excited to get back to their customers, feeling prepared with advice and packs from the BA for social distancing and ready to adapt their chosen approaches as and when necessary.

"I’m looking forward to having people back in,” said Georgia Duffy, owner of Imagined Things in Harrogate. “It’s hard to know what to expect, we don’t know how busy we’re going to be. We don’t know how many people will be busy at work or will be staying away from the shop or if there will be people desperate to get out and get back to normal. I am quite hopeful though - we even have bollards for a queue!”

Addressing concerns around browsing, she said: "We have hand sanitiser so people can touch the books, otherwise there’s not much point in being open … Within the shop we will be limiting it to four people at a time. We will start without a one-way system, because the store layout is a bit awkward, and impress upon people to keep a safe distance from others, although we may change this depending on what we find. We have the pack from the BA and we are hoping to do a social media video explaining what’s changed and what we’re doing to keep the shop clean. It will be lovely for people to browse and to discover books. We have had our website during lockdown but it’s not the same.

"I think Waterstones’ [policy] is ludicrous, to be honest, and it’s giving the impression that the books on shelves are somehow not safe. Nothing you buy can be guaranteed to be virus free. They’re saying paper is quite a low risk for transmission and we are being very careful, but at the end of the day we can’t sterilise the books ... I think most people are going to be very happy to be in the bookshop."

Mog Harris from Warwick Books said it would be building up gradually to fully reopening: “We are going to take a 'slowly slowly' approach to reopening our bookshop for browsing," she said. "We'll start with accepting payments on collection from Monday and a bit of doorway bookselling to test how many people want to be in the shop. We anticipate that it'll be a bit bumpy to negotiate increased contact with customers and keeping up with online enquiries and orders."

Children's bookshop founder Tamara Macfarlane owns three stores which will reopen in close succession. London-based Tales on Moonlane and Moon Lane Books shops will open on the 16th and 17th June respectively, with the Ramsgate branch set to open early next month. She said she was "cautiously excited" about reopening, with screens, signage, personal protective equipment and hand sanitiser "all in place". "We are looking forward to seeing our customers from a safe distance," she said. "We are also continuing to do home delivery for our customers who continue to need to self-isolate. We have reduced our opening hours to make this possible.

"We will be reviewing the situation weekly as a team to see what adjustments may need to be made and keeping our fingers crossed for a safe and steady flow of customers."

Richard Drake, owner of Drake The Bookshop is Stockton, said for all the concerns booksellers may have around reopening it was important to express positivity. “If we hint at nerves then the customers will feel nervous too,” he said.

Regarding how the shop will work, he said his shop will be staffed by two people, so it can have “a welcomer” who is able to give people guidance on entry as well as someone on the tills. The shop has also asked if customers can browse the website in advance, although the owners are realistic in their expectations.

“We can't expect no handling,” said Drake, “it's half of the joy of a bookshop, and we will have hand sanitiser at regular points which should minimise risk.”

He continued: “We are genuinely excited to welcome people back and we know they are looking forward to it too. Potentially the biggest thing we will have to manage is overexcitement and the desire to have a long catch up natter - and that's just me!

“We are looking forward to both of those things and will deal with them delicately as they arise.”

Mike Cherry, Federation of Small Businesses’ national chair, has encouraged the public to back the small businesses opening today on its high streets.

"As our high streets begin to reopen after this period of crisis, small businesses will be at the very heart of that economic recovery," he said. "Making up 99% of all businesses in the country, small firms are the backbone of the economy and at the heart of the economic recovery in their local communities in the weeks and months to come. The general public and communities have been fantastic in supporting their local businesses through this difficult time. The reopening of shops is a landmark day, so please do support your local small businesses this week."