Today is the conclusion of Independent Booksellers Week, which has seen a wide variety of events encouraging people to visit their local bookshop. Helen Brown speaks to Jude Innes of J & G Innes in St Andrews about the unique appeal of the one-off shop.
Over 260 independent bookshops throughout Britain have been taking part in Independent Booksellers’ Week, now in its fifth year. It’s an event designed to showcase and promote “the indies” in their local communities at a time when they face competition from larger conglomerates or the internet and the effects of the economic downturn.
J & G Innes of St Andrews is a long-established family bookselling, stationery and gift business and has been taking part in IBW for the last three years.
Jude Inglis, who now runs the business with her mother Patricia, said, “It’s a means of promoting and keeping independents in the public eye, to show that there still is a local, personal alternative to buying online, for example.
“It’s a way to help and support the High Street, too. People like to get the chance to meet authors, have a glass of wine or cup of coffee, talk to writers and booksellers and ask questions.
“We get wonderful feedback from our customers and that helps us to provide what they want and are interested in. And we can suggest things, too people like personal recommendations from someone who has read the books they are talking about, something a little bit different.”
The bookshop’s distinctive building was home to the St Andrews Citizen newspaper in the late 1890s, which Jude’s great-grandfather founded in 1870s. The Innes family bought the building and W G Innes, a St Andrews graduate, renovated it, with local architect Frank Pride, in the late 1920s.
Neil Innes and a Mr Leng followed in the business and now mother and daughter run it together with a team of colleagues.
Jude, a graphic designer by training, came back into the family business when she realised that, otherwise, it might not be able to continue in the long term.
“I’m the fourth generation of the family to be involved and it was very much my decision to do this, to come back to St Andrews which is a lovely place to live and to have an independent business.”
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“Part of the secret of its longevity, I think, is moving with the times and keeping one step ahead which isn’t always easy! But it also has a long history and I think people appreciate that, something that’s very much at the heart of the town. Apart from our own family connections with the building, it was also the birthplace of Andrew Bell, the educationalist who founded the Madras system of teaching, after which Madras College is named.”
The shop celebrated IBW on Saturday last with the launch of local author Lorn Macintyre’s new novel, Adoring Venus.
“Books with a local link are hugely popular and we specialise in those, as well as in children’s books, toys and games. We have a long-standing relationship with Lorn Macintyre we launched his book on St Andrews, with photographs by Peter Adamson and we have hosted a lot of author events, for both local writers and very well-known names from Ian Rankin to Margaret Drabble.
“I’ve just put together a list of books set in St Andrews for the Visit St Andrews website five novels that people might not expect or know about in connection with the town.”
The list includes Lorn Macintyre’s new book, plus four others including The Death of Lomond Friel by Sue Peebles, Distant Echo by Val McDermid, Eye for an eye by Frank Muir and When Europa Rode the bull by Barbara Berot.
These are not easy times and the challenges to businesses can seem almost overwhelming.
“It is tough, everyone in town is feeling that at the moment. There are so many reasons for supporting local business apart from anything else, money is kept in the local economy and people are employed locally.
“We are also involved with Indiebound, an American initiative to celebrate independents across the world and on July 4, we’ll also be marking Independents’ Day, launched by Mary Portas to celebrate and encourage independent shopping.”
Technology is there to be used, too. Innes offers customers the chance to use Hive, a new bookselling website offering the convenience of ordering and paying for books online but also supporting local bookshops. The idea is to pick your bookseller of choice while you are ordering and choose to have books delivered to your house or free of charge to your bookseller.J & G Innes Ltd is at 107 South Street, St Andrews, KY16 9QW and online at www.jg-innes.co.uk and on Twitter. For more on Independent Booksellers’ Week, visit www.independentbooksellersweek.org.uk.