|
Books Without Borders |
|
Independent local booksellers established 2005 |
|
Where Would Harry Shop? |
|
“Diagon Alley, once well-beloved in the wizarding community, is now rapidly decaying in its hidden spot in downtown London. Shops that once bustled with students testing wands or shopping their school book lists stand empty but for a few stalwart shoppers, ever since the introduction of the Wizard World Web a few years ago. Now, on-line mega-retailers like Giantess.wom (the wom standing for wizard commerce) are outselling their Diagon Alley counterparts by offering cut-rate Build Your Own Wand kits (as opposed to Ollivander’s carefully crafted and individually selected variety of custom wands) and discounted copies of The Monster Book of Monsters. “Despite some on-line shoppers’ complaints of somewhat-less-enchanted magical items, occasional but severe Build Your Own Wand misfires, and ill-fitting mail order robes, the trend towards buying wizarding gear on the Wizarding World Web doesn’t seem to be slowing. Some of the centuries-old retailers on Diagon Alley’s cobbled streets are saying that the Wizarding World Web in general (and Giantess.wom in specific) is the new Voldemort, just as sinister in its effect on the wizarding community. “’Wizards and witches are getting out in their community less, finding less connection to one another and to magic. If this trend continues, I fear that the wizarding community will fall apart altogether, leaving us vulnerable to the remaining Death Eaters,’ says one anonymous bookseller at Flourish and Blotts. “Death Eaters have been blamed by some for the recent mysterious disappearances of Mr. Ollivander of Ollivander’s Wand Emporium and Florean Fortescue of Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour. Others speculate that a lack of shoppers to Diagon Alley sent these shopkeepers out of business and into seclusion.” --Reported by Mesma Reising for the Daily Spoofer ********************* With the release of the seventh and final Harry Potter volume (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) this July come several uncomfortable questions that we booksellers must face. First and foremost, we find ourselves trying to decide how to compete with the chain bookstores, grocery giants and on-line retailers who are, in some cases, selling the $35 book for less than it costs wholesale for smaller stores. Price-matching is an impossible request for a struggling store, so impossible, in fact, that many independent booksellers in England, home of bibliophile and Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling, are deciding not to carry the book at all rather than compete with the U.K.’s mega-retailers, according to a recent article in Publisher’s Weekly. For those of us who are 1) Harry Potter fans, 2) dedicated to providing our customers with at least the opportunity to buy the book at their independent bookseller of choice, 3) willing to accept a considerably smaller profit margin in exchange for providing a service, the idea of not carrying Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is not a real possibility. At the same time, the world that the readers of the series are so in love with, a world of a small faction of quirky bookish types with outlandish names and a fascinatingly original string of independent shops, is very like the world so many are willing to forsake if it means saving a couple of bucks. To these people I ask just one question: “Where Would Harry Shop?” You know the answer. Harry would never order his books on-line, or go to Borders. Neither would any other witch or wizard worth his or her salt. If Diagon Alley wasn’t at hand, if Flourish and Blotts was too far to apparate into, they’d search out their nearest independent bookseller, a place where the quirky can feel at home. A bookstore can be a truly magical experience, one that can’t, and shouldn’t, be replaced by box stores or a wholly digital world. If is is, Voldemort wins and we’re all a bunch of muggles. Amelia Reising Bookseller Books Without Borders
|
Embracing the Magic of Real Places |
|
Wizarding Community Losing Out |
