Indie bookshops gear up for buzzy Bookshop Day and have 'all hands on deck' for Super Thursday

Indie bookshops are gearing up for a busy second half of the week as bookshops across the country prepare for Super Thursday today (12th October) and Bookshop Day on Saturday 14th. 

This year’s Super Thursday, the industry’s heaviest publication day, represents the smallest release schedule since The Bookseller recognised the phenomenon in 2008, with 1,286 new books — 341 of these hardbacks — due for publication. Yet booksellers are preparing for a buzzy period ahead of the busy Christmas shopping season, with boxes of new titles already arriving at their stores. 

“Super Thursday always seems to creep up on us, or at least it does until the mountain of boxes arrive in the days leading up to it," said Richard Drake, owner of Drake the Bookshop on Stockton-on-Tees. "We are excitedly awaiting Robin Stevens and Brian Bilston books to sell and suspect Alan Partridge may be a big hit." The booksellers at the shop are working to find the right spot for each book, so that readers can easily explore the newly released titles. 

According to Drake, the concern this Super Thursday is whether reprints will happen “quickly enough”, and whether the supply chain can keep up the pace. 

The day can create additional pressures for booksellers, who are already busy with the day-to-day running of their shops. "Super Thursday can’t come (and go!) soon enough," said Jo Coldwell, the shop manager at Red Lion Books in Colchester. "We are inundated with deliveries and chomping at the bit for selling season to begin," she added. "Dealing with deliveries naturally disrupts the day and we are hoping it will slow down after Super Thursday."

For the booksellers of The Portobello Bookshop in the seaside town of Portobello in Edinburgh, Super Thursday is expected to be a particularly busy day this month. The Premonition by Banana Yoshimoto (Faber) and Past Lying by Val McDermid (Sphere) are highly anticipated among the shop’s customers, as are Family Meal by Bryan Washington (Atlantic), Rambling Man by Billy Connolly (Two Roads) and Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri (Picador).  

“Super Thursday is an exciting time where so many great books pass through our doors, and while it does mean it’s all hands on deck to book in the high volume of books that arrive with us that day,” said owner Jack Clark, “it’s lovely to then see so many happy faces of customers visiting to get their hands on long-anticipated books".

Debbie James, bookshop manager of Kibworth Books in Leicestershire, said that “every Thursday is a Super Thursday at the moment, with bumper crops appearing each week”. The booksellers have dedicated a table to “Books Published This Week”, featuring titles from all genres. This has been a success according to James, who said that customers “love to have their finger on the pulse, knowing which titles are hot off the press”.

Booksellers are also getting ready for another full day on Saturday, when the annual celebration of bookshops will see events take place across the UK and Ireland. “We’ve got a busy Bookshop Day planned, with a story-time session with Baboo the Unusual Bee [Rocket Bird Books] for little ones and a signing for older children with Skandar author A F Steadman [S&S Childrens]” said Sanchita Basu De Sarkar, owner of the Children’s Bookshop in Muswell Hill, north London. “We always seem to surprise our customers and families with the happy news it’s Bookshop Day — they love the bookish treats we distribute and enjoy the general celebrations, and I expect this year will be no different!”

The past year has presented a challenging trading climate and many booksellers have had a difficult start to the year. The Bookseller Associations (BA) Bookshop Day marks a welcome moment of celebration leading up to the busier Christmas period.

“Afrori books started 2023 in a terrible situation,” said Carolynn Bain, founder of the Brighton bookshop that stocks books by Black authors. “We really did not think that we would make it to the end of the year as we were losing our premises.” The shop relocated to new premises following a successful crowdfunding campaign and has created a welcoming shop for the community. 

“It is easy for us to spend our time looking down and forgetting how far we have come, despite the current political and racial climate in this country,” Bain said. “But we decided to celebrate Bookshop Day with a party to thank our amazing customers and supporters for standing with us. We are expecting to have a great day and we are optimistic about the future as business in our new space is good.”

“We’ll be opening for a 10-hour day on Bookshop Day, for morning coffee, lunchtime drinks, afternoon tea and evening drinks, depending on when you pop in,” Kibworth Books’ manager James said. “We’ve been putting out our Christmas stock over the past few days and people are already engaging with that.”

Meanwhile, at The Portobello Bookshop, owner Clark explained that the booksellers will be hosting an in-store raffle on Saturday, when the shop will also feature Bookshop Day window displays. And at Red Lion Books, the booksellers will host a Murdle (Souvenir Press) event with 70 guests. 

Customers at Drake the Bookshop will experience being served by author booksellers including Matson Taylor, Andy Ruffell, Amy McCaw, Lisette Auton and Fiona Erskine. “It’s such a great way to start the run up to Christmas,” the shop’s owner said, “and we would like to thank everyone at the BA, as ever, for the work they put in to help make these events a success".

At Griffin Books in Penarth, owner Mel Tuke Griffin said that the day "really feels like autumn is well and truly under way and the build-up to Christmas has begun". She explained that there is a wealth of strong titles being released, and the hope is that this will lead to a strong Christmas shopping season this year. 

Griffin added: “Despite the financial pressures on many people, so far it still seems that books remain an affordable luxury for the most part (or even an essential). Signed copies and indie exclusive editions give us that extra something to offer, which is all-important. We are looking forward to selling the beautiful Poonam Mistry bags on Saturday, as welcoming our Bookshop Day ’author in residence’, Matt Brown who will be meeting families and signing books.”