Bookshops set for next chapter after challenging year

But both marked the big dates by building for the future and have forecast encouraging business prospects ahead.

Plackitt and Booth of Lytham, which turned 18 in November. and Storytellers Inc of St Annes, 10 years old in December, turned to phone orders and deliveries to maintain trade through the times of enforced closure, while Plackitt and Booth honed its new online service for the recent second lockdown.

But it is personal service on which the two businesses pride themselves and, despite the ever-present rivalry online and supermarket giants, they see a bright future for independent booksellers once pandemic restrictions are behind us.

Both are family run – Plackitt and Booth by husband and wife Pat Booth and Alison Plackitt and Storytellers Inc by mum and daughter Carolyn and Katie Clapham – and all feel demand for hard-copy books is in fine fettle despite many predictions over the years of it being overtaken by the opportunity to read electronically.

“We really believe that books are the stuff of life - you can escape anywhere in the world, or learn how to do anything from building a house to climbing a mountain via a book,” said Alison.

“They are the ultimate resource - they don’t run out of battery, they’ll survive a dunk in the bath, and they greet you like old friends from your shelves.

“We always wanted our bookshop to reflect that - there is a book out there for everyone to love and it’s our job to find it!”

Storytellers Inc started in 2010 as a specialist in children’s’ books but expanded into a general book sales five years later.

“Local shoppers have been supportive from day one,” said Katie.

“We’re hopeful that if anything, 2020 has been a reminder that small business and local shops are worth protecting.

“We continued to trade through two lockdowns with remote ordering and delivery service and we’re hopeful this will continue alongside our normal shop trade as our non-local customers are offering another lifeline in terms of our business.

“I think it’s rare to ‘lose’ a physical book-buyer to an e-reader; lots of people do both.

“Amazon itself still remains the main problem because it devalues books. Like supermarkets they sell them at a loss and it’s damaging to the entire book industry. But we’ve always been in competition with them, so it’s always been about how you can show customers it’s worth the price difference to shop independent and shop locally.

“Our customers come back to us because we can make recommendations and suggest things beyond the bestsellers.

“It’s a shame we weren’t able to celebrate our 10th birthday with a big party – we’d have loved to thank our loyal customers with a real

celebration – but we’ll hold off on that until it feels like the right time.

“Hopefully we’ve got many more birthdays ahead of us."

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