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charlottestar
Busy babbling when should be reading
Joined: 08 May 2007
Posts: 404
Birthday: 27th February
Location: Oxfordshire
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wonderlake
An Addicted Babbler
Joined: 27 Jun 2008
Posts: 510
Birthday: 23rd April
Location: Manchester UK
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 Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 12:47 pm Post subject: |
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We have a few charity shops on the high street here - Oxfam is good, but dare I say it - the books in there sometimes can be on the expensive side (!). They do always have something I or OH wants, but it can be a dead do sometimes. I think they have more 'literary' fiction than the others.
The others are cheaper, but more likely to have just titles along the lines of ex-Tesco Top 10 paperbacks ...
We also have an independent 2nd hand bookshop - again 'expensive' for what they are, sometimes the quality can be a bit off... maybe I should consider haggling ? 
On balance if the 2nd hand bookshop and Oxfam had identical books, then I'd obviously get it from the charity shop...
When the local 'General Store' closed down (couldn't afford the rent anymore), a Charity shop replaced it...
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blueflower
Babbling for Britain
Joined: 29 Jul 2006
Posts: 4137
Birthday: 12th December
Location: Cumbria
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| Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 7:16 pm Post subject: |
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All the charity shops in Kendal are expensive when it comes to books. I read on here about the bargain buys at charity shops and think I wish.  As far as I am aware there is only one second hand book shop and that has more rare books etc.
I think the spokesperson in the article is right and there has been a downturn in people buying books either new or secondhand so I think the secondhand would still be feeling the pinch even with competition from charity shops. |
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eightlegs
Babbling for Britain
Joined: 11 Feb 2007
Posts: 2509
Birthday: 19th July
Location: Dorset, UK
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| Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 8:44 pm Post subject: |
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I agree Gwen, I think the secondhand book shops would still be feeling the pinch without Oxfam bookshops, just as the independent book shops are with their new books trying to compete with the likes of supermarkets and even WHSmiths/Waterstones 3 for 2 deals etc.
But I can see the a place like Salibury having a large Oxfam specialist bookshop will take trade directly from 2nd hand bookshops. And I bet they do target towns with healthy book trades already. I wonder whether they are subject to the same planning restrictions as regular shops, ie are they just seen as a charity shop or as a book shop in direct competition with retail and specialist 2nd hand book shops? |
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charlottestar
Busy babbling when should be reading
Joined: 08 May 2007
Posts: 404
Birthday: 27th February
Location: Oxfordshire
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| Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 7:31 am Post subject: |
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I think they get charity shop status which means they get special rent rates and they're not subject to the same restrictions as other shops which must be slightly annoying for independent shops because Oxfam can open up shops on high streets and get more business I suppose where independents can't afford the rents.
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