To ban idiots who come into my shop

[nickelbabe]

and tell their children at full volume in front of other customers that "you can get that cheaper in Costco"?

I'm fucking fed up the back teeth of people doing that!!

Why don't you just fuck off to Costco then, and stop trying to lose me the precious very few customers I get????

beggars belief.

I'm picturing you as Meg Ryan in You've Got Mail (with a happier ending for the shop though obviously!). It sounds lovely! I do always try and get my books in a book shop rather than online, but there are hardly any indies left are there! Fight the good fight!

Definitely going to take advantage of free postage!

thankfully, sittingbourne is too small a town for a big chain to open up here

Jazz - there are some fab forever boosk at the moment.
I love Dog loves Books (judith yates)
or any of the Kipper stories (mick inkpen, not ORT!)
one night in the zoo (judith kerr)
fungus the bogeyman
Princess smartypants or Prince Cinders (babette cole)

there are some new Moomin picture books (based on the proper stories)
and Mrs Pepperpot in picture book too.

I have to admit to buying a lot of books from Amazon for my degree because it was cheaper.

We do have an independent bookshop but it doesn't offer tea/coffee and cakes though, or free bars of chocolate It's only small so doesn't have a lot of room for a wide selection but they will order anything in for you and I have had good service whenever I've been in there.

I've just taken a look at your website, loved the Peter Rabbit stacking blocks :)

YANBU btw those customers would annoy me too.

ooh, i've got a facebook page too

I don't actually buy a lot of books, other than for the kids as I use the library. I tend to buy non-fiction from Amazon which wouldn't be stocked in my local shops anyway. When I buy from Amazon 9 times out of 10 it's from a small retailer via Marketplace as they are quicker to deliver than Amazon themselves. I do like having a browse in second hand bookshops though. The local bookshops aren't very inviting though, the independent one looks like a pile it high, sell it cheap.

mine's small too - but it's okay cos of specializing.
it's also the wrong end of the high street, which is annoying
i want a bigger shop floor up the other end of town - was persuaded down here when i opened because the big toy shop was down here.
then he retired (he could have given me a heads-up on that!), so i'm left odwn here on my own.
at least i've only got 2 years left on my lease, so i can move up.

that's a shame insomnia.
I have found with academic books, I can order them for customers for the same price, or less, than they are on amazon.
my special customers get discount though - like one lady bought some academic boosk from me - she normally gets 10%, but that took the price of the books to about £105, so I sold them to her for £100 (and she got 2 free cloth bags )

nickel, I didn't know that about stamps being legal tender! I'd have insisted on my change if I'd known.

I pressed the like button on your homepage

My DC are 17 & 18 so have outgrown your books I'm afraid but I was thinking about the blocks for my cousins DS, who will be one in November, for christmas. We don't tend to buy each other presents but I've bought for other cousins DC for the first christmas and my aunt (cousin's mum) has bought for my two and me over the years.

didn't realise it meant you didn't get your change

thanks

. He was a pretty miserable character.

I do sympathise. I would love to have a shop but am going to wait until I am rich enough to choose the customers. Books must be especially hard because you might have to sell books you don't like. I would be out of business in my Harry Potter free bookshop. Tell them to piss off, those kind of people are bad for the books.

i do try not to stock books I hate - like i didn't stock artemis fowl.
then people kept asking for it, so now i have the first and the last.
if anyone wants any of the others, they have to order it

I also try to avoid the hideous pink girly ones too.
But i do have a small range of those types, just so people don't leave without

Thanks Nickel - will take a look and see :)

must be very annoying

i do buy from an independent book shop in crystal palace but often from amazon too as they do such good offers. it is sad that big companies can do this as they make so much profit. many of us moan about larger companies taking over but we can all support independent shops even if it is in a small way, i do try

i also buy many of my books second hand, do you sell second hand books?

i don't sell second-hand.

it just doesn't make any money :(

Plus, i have this thing, if books are second-hand (or more) then if i buy it, it's mine forever, and i couldn't sell it. I don't have that same worry over new books. (until i take it as my own, then the rule starts)

Our local bookshop just closed down a few months ago, it just couldn't afford to keep going anymore. It was such a nice place to spend a hour, they did story-times for kids and always had some sort of treasure hunt going on.

:(

Glackley come to Bath!

Mr Bs

Toppings

Nickel I hope you're not going to ban me from your thread for encouraging people to visit rival bookshops

I second your Moomin picturebook recommendation. I absolutely love The Book of Moomin, Mymble and Little My (I think that's the title)

i really really want to go to Mr B's - he's got a little listening room, a real fire and a dgo, iirc.

not sure what a dgo is - i meant dog.

no i guess it doesn't :(

i love browsing around book shops and libraries, i hope one day soon you will be able to pay yourself a wage. there was last year a lot of support in the media highlighting the need to support independent shops i hope they do this again. the local waterstones used to have a cafe costa in there and i am sure was busier then but i wonder how many customers took a book to read while having coffee then put it back