A Bookshop for Christmas

When Simon Key and Tim West heard from Waterstone’s head office earlier this year that cuts were being made because of the success of on online sales, they never imagined their successful little branch on Wood Green’s High Road in north London would fall under the axe completely.

When redundancy was offered unexpectedly in August, the pair simply decided to set up their own bookshop – a few doors away from the old premises.

Simon told Arts Hub they have agreed an offer on premises just off the High Road and are planning to open by the end of November to meet the Christmas demand.

The new shop will be 700 square feet compared with the old shop’s 4,000 square feet, but will aim to meet the needs of the diverse community, just as Waterstone’s did.

Simon has been in bookselling for 23 years, working in and running a wide range of bookshops.

He moved from Oxford Street to Wood Green’s Waterstone’s branch in January this year and understands that in a community bookshop, customers need to be able to talk to staff and request what they want.

“The individual bookshops that can cater for their community are seeing the rewards because they have flexibility,” says Simon.

“High street branches and the Internet – and supermarkets to a point – are challenging each other and knocking all the trade out of each other. Every other bookshop is now a chain,” he says.

The pair have done their homework and found that the demographic of Wood Green is 45 per cent British white, 25 per cent Afro-Caribbean and 20 per cent white non-English.

Simon introduced a successful dedicated black section – the largest in a two-mile radius – in Waterstone’s Wood Green branch and will repeat this in the new shop.

They will also specialise in a huge range of children’s books – and local schools have been approached to help name the shop. The winner of the competition will unveil the sign on the opening day.

Simon and Tim have set up their own blog to chart the progress of the shop – and have already been inundated with messages of support. To check on the progress of the new bookshop, visit woodgreenbookshop.blogspot.com.