OT – Guardian: “How did bookshops suddenly become cool?”

Interesting article in the Guardian about rising numbers of Gen Z’s and Millennials preferring physical bookshops:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/oct/11/i-love-the-whole-atmosphere-and-ca...

One can dream about FS capitalizing on this trend and re-opening a physical shop…

>1 BorisG: “I have noticed over the last year gen Z readers visiting the bookshop and using it almost as a studio to take staged photos. They’ll often get their friend or partner to take posed photographs of them browsing the shelves or simply looking wistfully out of our shop window.”

Im sure that if the current FS ever re-opened a shop it probably wouldn't appeal to many existing FS customers - it would have a coffee shop & lots of ‘instagrammable features’ (maybe the staff dressed up as famous literary characters) & be full of those pesky kids photographing everything in sight & posting it on social media. It definitely wouldn’t be as the shops of old.

>2 antinous_in_london: But! It would have (by definition) all current FS books available to browse at leisure, whether or not one takes instagrammable photos thereof. And that would be a big pleasure in itself (and might well result in more spur-of-the-moment purchases, for better and for worse – it’s been an ongoing commentary by FSD members that the books are often more enticing in real life than in the marketing photos).

>3 BorisG: Im sure it would be stocked only with Science fiction & Fantasy & none of that boring stuff that Gen Z wouldn't be interested in

Their catalogue is not so large (less than 300 books), I’m sure they could fit it all in a small-sized shop.

Let’s be positive in our dreams!

Never trust the Guardian. Klick-bait.

This article comes across like wishful thinking. I mean, I'm sure some people visit bookstores, but it's a fringe group.

Most millennials and gen Z don't care about reading at all and certainly don't collect books. And if they did, they'd want to order from the cheapest source online because they are poor and tech savvy, not get fleeced in a physical book store.

The primary market for FS, I imagine, is baby boomers and gen x. I don't know what FS is going to do in 10-20 years when the baby boomers are dying off in earnest and the used market gets flooded with FS books. They are probably going to have to pivot to islamic/asian texts around that time, or shut down.

>7 jsilver2: LOL

Ah yes, Folio who have started making a profit by _targeting gen z and millennial buyers and abandoning boomers and gen x (who have apparently already stopped buying from them) will go out of the business when those people pass on. Wherever will they find customers except with the immortal Asian market.

Bookshops were, are, and always will be, cool.

Nuff said :-)

>10 Cat_of_Ulthar: Correct.

End of Thread.

>11 Ignatius777: Not quite.
>10 Cat_of_Ulthar: Prove it!

For those of us not lucky enough to have visited the Folio brick-and-mortar shop - I wonder if someone could describe it for us, please?

>13 jhicks62: Here are some photos that are linked from this LT post.

There are also a couple of photos on the FSD wiki at https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/Groups:Folio_Society_Devotees#Where_is_t...
It was a cozy, friendly place off a covered lane that was off a quiet street in an unassuming part of London. Quite hard to find.
I visited twice on trips to England and was welcomed by staff like a long lost friend.

The pictures linked in >15 wcarter: are of later date than those in >14 A.Nobody: - taller shelves, more books! A happy place.

Thanks to all three of you!!

>15 wcarter: I too was fortunate to visit the Folio bookshop, shortly before it closed. It was very useful to be able to look at the in-print editions up close – then, as now, many look far more appealing in the hand than in photographs.

>12 mr.philistine: 'Prove it!'

Heh, okay, I was trying to keep it short but, since you ask, book shops are cool in my mind, no proof required: I believe it, therefore it is true :-)

It is a matter of opinion, purely emotional and subjective, not a scientific hypothesis. I love a good bookshop, especially a second-hand one, the more higgledy-piggledy the better.

But, if I ever happen on a time machine, I will pop forward to have a shuftie and I'll get back to you ;-)

>19 Cat_of_Ulthar: ...book shops are cool in my mind, no proof required: I believe it, therefore it is true :-)

Hah! Blind faith! :)

To me, the most important aspects of a good bookshop are the ability to access/ browse books AND knowledgeable staff - the kind who point you to another establishment if need be.

>20 mr.philistine: Blind faith.

Yes! In this particular instance, yes!

I love books.

I love shops full of books. I love beautiful special editions, I love cheap paperbacks, I love them all.

Give me books ;-)

Let me dive amongst them Scrooge McDuck-style, I love them :-)

https://thebaffler.com/latest/bookselling-out-sinykin

Thank you. I think.