ANOTHER BOOKSHOP CLOSES
Monday was a beautiful sunny day, so we drove up the scenic Exe Valley to Tiverton.
While Mrs Crime Scraps went into charity shops I rushed along to Waterstone's for some bibliotherapy. Imagine my surprise and shock to find it closed.
Next door to the defunct Waterstone's is an Alworths replacement for Woolworth with a 70% sale on, and on the other side Edinburgh Wool with a 60% sale, so I should hardly have been surprised that this small market town is suffering so badly from the recession.
But the fact that the shop was shut was not the only annoyance, as the abandoned
bookshop had a notice on the window stating that Waterstone's nearest store was in Barnstaple.
This is of course absolute nonsense, because Exeter [16 miles with two stores] is much closer to Tiverton than Barnstaple [30 miles].
It is sad that an interesting book store has closed, and extremely sad that the Waterstone's management don't know the geography of Devon.
But I was cheered up no end by the display in WH Smith, where as you can see the virulent Stieg Larsson sticker has mutated into a Jo Nesbo and the epidemic has spread to Camilla Lackberg's books.
posted by Uriah Robinson at 6:58 AM
5 Comments:
Norman - I am sorry to hear that the bookstore has closed. That's always sad no matter where it happens. But you're right; the geography thing makes very little sense. Of course, I don't have the "big picture," but still...
Oh, and very funny comment about those stickers, too!
Thanks Margot. There is a reason for their madness. Barnstaple is linked to Tiverton by the North Devon link road A361 where your NASCAR drivers take their European holidays racing with local wannabees. At least it seems that way, and Waterstone's perhaps think there are not enough fast cars [and heavy lorries] on this route so they are misdirecting their customers with the "nearest" sign.
Norman - Thanks - Not being a NASCAR watcher/supporter, I had no idea about that. That at least makes some sense. Still, a real annoyance for you and other Exeter bibliophiles.
Let's hope the sign isn't being prescient. As in the closer store will soon be closing too. That once happened with a local bank which closed its branch close to my office and pointed us to a branch quite some distance away, ignoring the one in-between. But soon the in-between closed too and the sign proved accurate.
Bernadette it is indeed a possibility that one of the two Waterstone's stores at opposite ends of the High Street in Exeter might close at some point. One is opposite Marks and Spencers, subject to an arson attack last week [it is worrying living in what was once a quiet cathedral city] and the other next door a derelict multi-storey building about to be refurbished as a John Lewis.
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