Bookshops
I'm really saddened by the demise of Borders. For a long time Borders was my third place, my bolt hole, somewhere I'd go when I just needed to stop thinking and feeling for a while.
Of course for me Borders started dying the day when their coffee shop was turned over to Starbucks. Instead of the nice coffee we used to buy now we had to pay through the nose for hot coffee-flavoured milkshakes.
Well I didn't buy that stuff.
I didn't often buy books either. Maybe that's the problem. Too many people like me who would browse but not buy.
Anyway, it's gone.
When I worked in computing many moons ago when dinosaurs ruled the earth I used to have to sometimes visit London where I loved scouring Tower Records for obscure flute recordings. I have some beauties on vinyl in the loft somewhere. Wonderful Bach obbligato arias played by a decent flutist and sung by dodgy singers. .. Is Tower records still going ? I certainly can't find anything like it here in Bordeaux.
Instead we buy our books on Amazon and download our music from Amazon and that's all very convenient.
but you can't browse Amazon. Not like you could Tower Records or Borders ! It's the physical aspects - the touch, the smell, the funky automatic doors, the sheer sight of all those records, the joy of finding something weird and wonderful.
Oh Alan, you sound like a boring old codger... (Speaking of which...)
In Toulouse we popped into the CLC bookshop. In Bordeaux we have Maison de la Bible.
However, like many Christian bookshops in my native Wales and all bookshops everywhere (witness Borders), the Maison de la Bible is struggling. We've all discussed it a lot.
It seems to me that if Christian Bookshops are to survive - well OK we can diversify and have some armchairs and sell Rich Tea and Traidcraft coffee and those nice wooden frogs that croak when you rub them with a stick (so do I, as it happens...), but it's not enough. Starbucks alone couldn't save Borders. Christian Bookshops have to be seen as a ministry, as a form of mission.
That means we have to think differently about everything - deco, stock, staff, welcome, everything - and about funding. Someone somewhere has to foot the bills. Because book sales won't cover it.
Of course for me Borders started dying the day when their coffee shop was turned over to Starbucks. Instead of the nice coffee we used to buy now we had to pay through the nose for hot coffee-flavoured milkshakes.
Well I didn't buy that stuff.
I didn't often buy books either. Maybe that's the problem. Too many people like me who would browse but not buy.
Anyway, it's gone.
When I worked in computing many moons ago when dinosaurs ruled the earth I used to have to sometimes visit London where I loved scouring Tower Records for obscure flute recordings. I have some beauties on vinyl in the loft somewhere. Wonderful Bach obbligato arias played by a decent flutist and sung by dodgy singers. .. Is Tower records still going ? I certainly can't find anything like it here in Bordeaux.
Instead we buy our books on Amazon and download our music from Amazon and that's all very convenient.
but you can't browse Amazon. Not like you could Tower Records or Borders ! It's the physical aspects - the touch, the smell, the funky automatic doors, the sheer sight of all those records, the joy of finding something weird and wonderful.
Oh Alan, you sound like a boring old codger... (Speaking of which...)
In Toulouse we popped into the CLC bookshop. In Bordeaux we have Maison de la Bible.
However, like many Christian bookshops in my native Wales and all bookshops everywhere (witness Borders), the Maison de la Bible is struggling. We've all discussed it a lot.
It seems to me that if Christian Bookshops are to survive - well OK we can diversify and have some armchairs and sell Rich Tea and Traidcraft coffee and those nice wooden frogs that croak when you rub them with a stick (so do I, as it happens...), but it's not enough. Starbucks alone couldn't save Borders. Christian Bookshops have to be seen as a ministry, as a form of mission.
That means we have to think differently about everything - deco, stock, staff, welcome, everything - and about funding. Someone somewhere has to foot the bills. Because book sales won't cover it.
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